powersave

[chris]

hi everyone. in my quest for electric efficiency in my home i stumbled across this product. Power-Save Energy Corp.- Save Energy, reduce electric bills, power save, save power, power-save, , low electric bills, lower electric bill, lower, electric, bill, lower heating bill (http://www.power-save.com/) I bought one and had a friend who is a electrician install it. this months bill was around 15% lower. my electrician friend bought him one as well. lol just thought i would pass it along.

[CarmieJo]

Wow! I am going to order one for us. My husband is the chairman of our church board and the power bill there is several hundred dollars a month. Once we see what it does for us the church will look at one too. Let me know what savings you see over the next couple of months.

[chris]

i will do that Carmie. the product video really sold me on it. did you get a chance to watch it? i have told everyone i know about it lol. my parents just got one as well. the video at the bottom of this link is pretty informative. Power-Save Energy Corp.- Save Energy, reduce electric bills, power save, save power, power-save, , low electric bills, lower electric bill, lower, electric, bill, lower heating bill (http://www.power-save.com/product.html)

[CarmieJo]

I did watch it. Natural gas is not available where we live so in an all electric house the savings could really add up.

[chris]

i believe it will help with all the reef equipment as well. motors and pumps would run cooler and more efficient. high power lighting would draw less amps. from my reading it really helps if you have older appliances. it would help more in an all electric home im sure. we have nat. gas furnace and inserts. plus a gas stove and water heater. we have been researching solar and wind alternatives. the wind where i live averages 20 mph yearly. my parents run wind generators on their place and it works out well for them. i hope it helps you out.

[Phurst]

Neat demo, but can someone explain how it works? I couldn't really find out on the site.

[chris]

This is in their FAQ.

How Does the Power-Save Unit Work?
The Power-Save reduces the amount of power drawn from the utility by storing (in its capacitors) otherwise lost electricity (watts) caused by the inductive motors in your home. (Some examples of inductive motors are Air Conditioning units, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, pool pumps, vacuum cleaners, furnace blower motors, fans etc.) The technology applied by the Power-Save 1200™ Unit supplies that stored electricity back to your inductive loads, thus causing you to decrease your demand from the utility. If you decrease your demand from the utility, your meter slows down, and you use less electricity. The thought is, you’ve already paid for that electricity, why pay for it and waste it when you can pay for it, store it, and reuse it again. This whole process is called power factor optimization.

and...

What is Power Factor?
Power factor is the percentage of electricity that’s delivered to your house and used effectively, compared to what is wasted. For example, a 1.0 power factor means that all the electricity that’s being delivered to your home is being used effectively for its purpose. However, most homes in America today have a .77 power factor or less. This means that 77% of the electricity that is coming thru your meter at your home or business is being used effectively, the other 23% is being wasted by your inductive load. With a low power factor, the utility has to deliver more electricity to do the same work. However, the Power-Save unit increases that power factor in most cases to .97 or .98, thus increasing the effective use of your electricity and lowering your usage.

i attached the US DOE report explaining power factor

[CarmieJo]

If I lived where there was strong and steady enough wind I would certainly look into windmills. We have traveled Amtrak cross country twice and all across the great plains we saw a lot of places where there were just a few windmills. Of course we saw the big wind farms that you see in photos but the places where there were a dozen or so where what surprised me.

[chris]

there are 2 large windmill fields with those huge windmills about 15 miles from my house. they are pretty neat to see. there are some real good solar options too. but they are a bit expensive initially.

[BrianPlankis]

Hey all,

I'm just tagging along to see if anyone installs this power-save device and see what their savings are. Sounds interesting.

Home wind power is rarely cost effective, unfortunately the smaller wind turbines are just not up to the quality needed to make them cost effective. I worked for a marine biology lab for a little over 5 years and we needed to power remote observation stations to monitor wildlife. We examined both solar and wind and tested both in Alaska. The wind generators kept breaking (mostly burned out motors) and we used what was supposedly the best residential wind generators available about 4 years ago. Maybe they have improved in the 4 years since I quit working there, but I simply don't know.

On the other hand, we used solar panels in Alaska (which has a very low level of solar radiation compared to the lower 48 states) and they supplied plenty of power to run our systems. Solar panels have really come a long way in the last 10 years and are cost effective in some setups. Further improvements in solar panels should make it cost effective almost everywhere with adequate sun soon.

I live in Texas where we get PLENTY of sun, however, our HOA prevents installation of solar panels because they would be unsightly! UGH! I would have to get enough people on the HOA board to change the rule and so far there are just not enough greenies in my neighborhood to do that.

Brian

[chris]

Hi Brian,
I have done quite a bit of research on the powersave, wind, and solar. As far as the powersave everyone that has one has said they are seeing results while all the skeptics say they don't believe them. lol. It's kind of like reading a solaris led thread on a reef forum. I figured i would give it a try for myself. The surge protection if nothing else was worth it. And i have some old appliances now that need upgrading.
I do believe the wind technology needs to mature a bit. This is a good link. Wind-Works by Paul Gipe (http://www.wind-works.org/index.html#top) They review wind generators at wind-works. Very few of them pass their testing but some do. My dad has never had any troubles with his. It is an outdated model now but it's still turning. If you've ever been to WY you know that it is always windy here. This is why i believe it would be worth it to try here more than in some other places that dont have the volume of wind. At least the wind howling wouldn't be depressing anymore lol.
As far as solar goes from what i've found the best panels are made by Sunpower. SunPower - Smarter Solar » Smarter Solar (http://www.sunpowercorp.com/Smarter-Solar.aspx) And they are solid black so they look better on your roof. My only worries with solar are that we have a lot of cloudy "yucky" days during our long winters. Thanks for the info about how the panels worked in Alaska. This is good to know. There are flexible panels being made now that can be used in more obscure parts of your property. Nanosolar - Home Page (http://www.nanosolar.com/)
Well again thanks for the info on the panels.

[chris]

for anyone that would like to know what their average, min, and max solar radiation is here is a good link. U.S. Solar Radiation Resource Maps (http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/) Also for a average wind speed map go here. Wind Powering America: State Wind Resource Maps (http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/wind_maps.asp)

[BrianPlankis]

Excellent links Chris!

This link came up in my google mail when viewing the talkingreef reply notification:

Honda - The Power of Dreams - Solar Cell (http://www.honda.com/solar-cell/)

Not sure what their "next generation" technology is, but there are a lot of interesting breakthroughs coming out soon in solar. I recently read an article that scientists were using the model of a plant leaf to develop a more efficient solar panel and it should be out in 5-10 years.

Brian

[CarmieJo]

Here is another article on saving energy. PC World - Save Money by Watching the Watts (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140796/article.html?tk=nl_ptxcol) I know we had talked about this a bit when Poppin Fresh got his Kill a Watt meter but I thought some of the points were well taken. How is it that a printer in the off position draws energy? I have to order one of these. And keep my husband away from the aquariums with it. :)