Energy Audit

Well.... today was a real eye opener - at the Renewable Energy Fair we were proud to know that we have installed the Apricus 30 Tube Solar Hot Water System with 315L tank, http://www.apricus.com.au/ and we have become self sufficient in water storage as well by having installed new gutters, 2 phase gutter sieves, new downpipes and pipes in the ground, 4 new 5000 Gallon tanks to add to our small 3000 Gallon one that look like this http://www.duraplas.com.au/bigimages/products/products12.html holding 87,000L of water , the UV Light cleaning system, a sediment filter and a chemical filter....oh yes baby... by the time we drink our water its pure H2O. And then in the name of sustainability we are building extensive gardens to grow our food. So........we still need to find the way to become self sustainable power wise.

The first thing I have learned alot more about today is how to go about doing a real Energy Audit of our life. We have purchased the first of many power usage meters we are attaching to the appliances in our house that are not hard wired. From there we plug in the cost per KWH and then it displays the cost to us in Days, Weeks, Months and Years. (And oh boy.... since I turned this computer on about 15 minutes ago along with the surround speakers and my printer I have already spent $1.60 argggggghhhh) So I think this is going to have a profound effect on our thinking and usage. There is also another device for about $200 that we will have wired into our circuit board outside to track all the other things like lights and so on.

With all that information then available, there are a few things we need to do;

1. Become far more aware of how we can minimise usage


2. Change appliances that are consuming too much power


3. Track usage over a 12 month period to understand each appliances stats


4. Review the past year and make changes to our habits and household


5. Track another 12 months to establish where we can naturally improve


6. Prepare projection for future usage requirements


7. Research grid feeding and stand alone power generation systems


8. Calculate the investment will achieve total self sufficient sustainability


9. Make the initial investment in the system that gives us scalability

So... that was exciting and I am now onto further research in this area.... possibly via a book cause I am now up to $1.58 for this session online......