[Noisebridge-discuss] PG&E Bill

[jim]

right, although we might get significant cost savings 
if we re-hang the existing eight-foot fixtures into 
singles or small groups and switch them separately. 


On Mon, 2009-12-07 at 11:19 -0800, Jonathan Foote wrote:
> Purely out of my a**, the modest efficiency gains from going to
> solid-state ballasts are not worth it -- it will take a long time to
> recoup any costs. Even old-school transformer ballasts are not that
> bad (and miles better than incandescents).
> 
> Plus, the minute I bring in a little space heater so I can get
> something done in the chill I will blow any savings for decades. ;)
> 
> 
> On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 10:40 AM, Rachel McConnell <rachel at xtreme.com> wrote:
> > Jim, do you have any sense as to the power efficiency or lack thereof of
> > the current fluorescent ballasts?  It seems worth at least doing some
> > math to figure out if replacing some or all of them would be worth the
> > cost.  The math should of course include the significant additional time
> > required.  I can do a first pass at this math if you can help me with
> > starting points for the current ballasts.
> >
> > Rachel
> >
> > jim wrote:
> >>    probably good to start a lighting thread.
> >>
> >>    one conceptually easy fix is to separate the
> >> existing flourescent lights and switch each on or off
> >> separately.
> >>
> >>    we've estimated something like 1.5 Amps for each
> >> eight-foot fixture. also, it's possible that fixtures
> >> without bulbs are leaking some power.
> >>    i'm for LEDs but suspicious of the current crop of
> >> socket-ready lamps, mainly wrt mechanical aspects.
> >>    CFLs are probably more efficient, but we have only
> >> a few fixtures that'll take them.
> >>    note that there area bulb sockets in the ceiling
> >> that are likely switched--we'll have to do the PITA
> >> hunt to figure the wiring out.
> >>
> >>    maybe we can come up with a mix of LEDs for
> >> low-level general lighting and flourescents to
> >> illuminate particuar working areas.
> >>
> >>    as to other power aspects, the cold season is upon
> >> us, and it looks like "the kitchen" is coming
> >> together: both suggest greater power bills.
> >>    what's the possibility of using propane or similar
> >> room heaters? and what's the possibility of
> >> controlling the kinds of cooking and refrigeration
> >> appliances we add? also, we should be aware of the
> >> efficiencies of ventilation systems ("fart fans" in
> >> the toilet rooms, darkroom vent fan, others).
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sun, 2009-12-06 at 15:46 -0800, Jeffrey Malone wrote:
> >>> Rather than starting a new thread, I'll just revive this one.
> >>>
> >>> We have received our new PG&E bill for the period of 11/4-12/4.
> >>>
> >>> The bill may be viewed here:
> >>> http://tehinterweb.com/PGE/PGE120609.pdf
> >>>
> >>> To summarise,  the bill is for $353.73, a drop of about $115 from the
> >>> previous bill.
> >>>  We used 2214Kwh over the period, at 71.4 per day, as compared to the
> >>> 73.6 we used for the previous billing cycle.
> >>>
> >>> The reason for the drop is due to a power rate drop. If you compare
> >>> the bills, you'll see the cost per Kwh in the last billing cycle was
> >>> approx $0.187880254, whereas for the most recent, it was approx
> >>> $0.131825327 -- about 1/3rd less.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I would still encourage us to look into what we can do to help reduce
> >>> power usage.  The lighting, I believe, is still the largest drain and
> >>> one of the most unnecessary ones.
> >>> The amount we're using is about $11.41/day or $0.48/hour, which seems
> >>> small, but if we were to cut out half our current lighting, we'd
> >>> likely cut our power usage by as much as a third.
> >>>
> >>> Anyone have any ideas on lighting?
> >>>
> >>> Jeffrey
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 12:49 AM, Jeffrey Malone
> >>> <ieatlint at tehinterweb.com> wrote:
> >>>> At some point I'll have a better method of posting these, but right
> >>>> now I'll just throw this out there since I'm sure people are curious:
> >>>>
> >>>> http://tehinterweb.com/PGE110509.pdf
> >>>>
> >>>> In short, it's $468.44 and we used 2136Kwh (that's 73.6Kwh per day and
> >>>> 3Kw per hour!).
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Anyway, read it if you're curious, bitch if you think we're using too
> >>>> much, whatever.
> >>>>
> >>>> Jeffrey
> >>>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> > _______________________________________________
> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>