Going Green

[ChristopherP]

For those of you that live in a house

How many KWh of electric do you use a day?

I found out how many we use in this house and i was astounded.

There was a program on TV where a family were using "Loads" - 26KWh a day.

We are using anything up to 60odd (!!!!!!!!!)

Its terrible.

But we are running 5 comnputers, 1 of which is 24/7/365 on 100% load... the others are 12/7/365 on 100% load with cheap power supplies, and one on a CRT display.

4 televisions (All CRT tube) + two sky boxes etc

1 American fridge freezer with ice maker and water dispenser

1 normal fridge

Plus all the usual stuff you find in an average sized 4 bedroom house.

Does anyone here live in a similar sort of scenario? Whats your usage?

 

[michael 118]

Its amazing if you really think about it. I mean water is another example, you dont have to look hard to find out how much is being wasted. Same with electricity as well.
I think i probably use more power than I should, however im pretty much always conscious of how much water and power I should be using.

 

[HGV2]

I have a friend who lives in Sussex who uses his bath/shower & basin water to flush the toilet with. He has water butts to save water to and recently installed a small wind turbine to make electicity with and also has solar panels for hotwater.

Total cost £10k, but his bills have gone so low that the local electicity company investigated him because they could not beleive that he was using so little power, when the met him they soon realised what he was doing, now he & his wife show others how to go "Green"

Their only outlay last year was for water, no bills for electricity and if their turbine makes to much power that theycan store, they sell it back to the power company. All this from one person who wanted to make a difference!

 

[Rush]

Common sense maybe !!

Existing supplies of leccy and gas are cheap(ish) ..just use them normally and dont abuse the basic needs we require...I have a bicycle ...my wife a car... she spends more on that than our heating needs...there thats my bit for ecology and body self presevation....indeed though Chris it does astound me how much some people use ...Great post m8


NB my Yearly energy costs were £900 but changed suppliers and got another £200 taken off so £700 per year...shop around for leccy and gas

 

[Ian]

Total cost £10k, but his bills have gone so low that the local electricity company investigated him because they could not believe that he was using so little power, when the met him they soon realised what he was doing, now he & his wife show others how to go "Green"

Good going I'd like to get some solar panels or some sort of renewable energy source once I've move out of the city in a few years.

Its not cost effective usually, but I like the idea of being self-sufficient and doing my bit. I think the government has grants available for things like this for anyone lucky enough to live in the countryside.

 

[PotGuy]

not all of us have £10k for a turbine though

We have 1 pc with a 250w power supply, 1 big fridge, a freezer and 2 large but old tvs.

I will try and look into how much we use, but I doubt it is a lot.

 

[floppybootstomp]

All very noble, now let's look to America and China to lead the way for going Green

Kyoto agreement anybody?

I use too much electricity, it's my biggest bill. Crunching 24/7 with several computers is probably the biggest culprit but it's kinda justified.

Little things, like not giving washing machine a full load and putting too much water in electric kettle, they make a difference.

I would love to become more self-sufficient, wind power and solar panels are great, but my circumstances dictate that ain't ever gonna happen

HGV2: Good story there, excellent.

 

[ChristopherP]

Kyoto agreement anybody?

Yeah - i wont buy esso fuel because of that

DONT BUY ESSO FUEL/PRODUCTS

 

[cirianz]

John wants to build a wind turbine out our back paddock (he's got books & stuff that tell you how to do it) & he's good enough at that sort of thing to do it, but... we're all snugged up in a nice little bay here & hardly get any wind

Water isn't really a problem down here...
(mind you, we were out driving on saturday through areas where the farmers would definitely disagree... huge chunks of hills gone, pasture lands flattened, big old trees washed over, more than I could begin to count, chunks of the road missing & one bridge completely washed out, 3 others classed as "water Hazards". Water levels marked by the debri caught in the fences still standing. It was scary. Made the damage we had from the floods round this side of the hills look pitiful. & this is over a month later... There were people out all over the place. Farmers still trying to clean up the mess. Judging by the look of it they still have a long way to go. I hate to think what it was like out there a month or so ago.)
...Although the council is talking about putting water meters in it is nothing more than money generation. If they do we'll just put in another water tank & to h*ll with them.

But electricity is a big issue. most of our leccy is hydro, a proportion from natural gas, & they're busy building wind farms. But power prices are going up & consumption will outstrip production eventually. At the moment solar cells are highly inefficient relative to the cost... but with the demand increasing hopefully it will start bringing the prices down & efficiency up. I hate being dependant on anyone & I Have to admit, being able to tell the power companies where to put it has just as much appeal as saving the environment at the moment.

Petrol, of course, is the big one.
& most viable alternatives at the moment seem to be using Electricity. Another limited resource.
It will be interesting to see how things develop with Ethanol fuel though. That has huge potential.

 

[HGV2]

not all of us have £10k for a turbine though

We have 1 pc with a 250w power supply, 1 big fridge, a freezer and 2 large but old tvs.

I will try and look into how much we use, but I doubt it is a lot.

The things is the whole lot came to £10k, but the grants from the goverment mean that the actual cost was a lot less. And now that their bills are so low it will take not take that long, may be 5 years to be in profit.

The amazing thing is that until they saw a programe by accident on TV my friends had never thought of it. In fact they were probably the worst recyclers i knew. Now everything they use must be able to be used again or recyled.