Wrenches' Energy Use (was American Energy Use) [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

A few Wrenches emailed their energy consumption and production. Please
excuse my editing and email back any errors. Several more Wrenches use
RE. See bios at http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Joel Davidson, Solutions in Solar Electricity
Culver City, California
Urban net metered grid-tie home and office.
470 kWh/month average total consumption.
32 each SP70 modules net metered through an SW4048 inverter.
240 kWh/month from PV.


David Palumbo, Independent Power & Light
Hyde Park, Vermont
Off-grid PV/Micro-hydro home. Family of five with frequent relatives and
friends living with us.
250 kWh/month consumption.
110 kWh/month from high head Harris turbine.
140 kWh/month from 2.8 kw PV array.

Doug Pratt, Real Goods Trading Co.
Ukiah, California
On-grid home.
251 kWh/month consumption average from 1996 thru 2000.
400-watt intertie system with 4 used Siemens 75-watt modules on an AES
MI-250 inverter plus 1 Solec 110-watt on a Trace Micro-Sine 130.
~30 kWh/month PV production.
Average consumption since Sept 2001 when Real Goods tech department
moved to Hopland and my EV-driven commute went from less than 2 miles to
about 38 miles per day is 434 kWh/month. Still cheaper than gas at
$1.30/gal. I'd need to get 48 mpg to break even.

Todd Cory, Mt. Shasta Energy Services
Mt. Shasta, California
Average year round consumption around 160 kWh/month.
1.4 kWp tracked array, SB50 MPPT, SW4024.
PV covers 99% of our usage (including the SW4024's inefficiency and
constant battery float charge waste).

Phil Undercuffler, Positive Energy
Cerrillos, New Mexico
476 watts PV (of mixed manufacture) meets all our needs for a family of
four. Propane fridge.

Lee Tavenner, Solar Plexus
Missoula, Montana
On grid home electric bill averages $12.00 per/month or 200 kWh/month.
500 KWh pelton hydro.
Our average annual sell to the power company is about 2,000
megawatt-hours/year.

Paul Wilkins
Santa Fe, New Mexico
PV system runs most of my house except a back-up water heater and
furnace motor. Summer bill is $1.00 (not counting fees etc.). I am
waiting to see about this winter because I just added more PV. I have
been using PV since 1980 and now make art on a solar powered Mac,
usually at night.

Peter Talmage, Talmage Solar Engineering
Kennebunkport, Maine
125 kWh/month consumption.
24 each BP590 modules net metered through an Omnion 4 kW inverter.
233 kWh/month from PV.

Tom Simko, Skyline Solar
Inkom, Idaho
Off grid for 26+ years. 1,200 watts of PV and a Whisper H-80 give my
single person household and large shop more then enough power year
round. I have to "waste" the rest! I got back from Sol West Energy Fair
to find a note on my driveway gate from Idaho Power that a planned
outage is scheduled and that they are sorry for the inconvenience. Think
I'll frame it.

Chris Daum, Oasis Montana
Stevensville, Montana
I am on utility power and I have a small RE system with eight 60W
modules and an Air 403. My average monthly usage is around 500 kWh/month
(less in winter when I heat with wood, more in summer when I run a big
water pump). My small system has reduced my power bills from an average
of $90 to $95/month to $30 to $40/month.

Jay Peltz, Peltz Power
Redway, California
My house uses around 1.5 to 2.5 kwh per day. Sunfrost RF12, Gibson
washer. Phantom load is answering machine. I'm on grid with a 880 watt
PV system (4 old Mobils with a GC-1000). Most days I'm running the meter
backwards, at least in the summer. Also I turn off my hot water heater
for 6 months while I have solar thermal!

Bob Galbreath, Geo-Lite Systems
Los Angeles, California
We averaged 316 kWh/month last year in a suburban Los Angeles house w/o
air conditioning. We're building a 3 kW Sunny Boy system that hopefully
will make a dent in that.

Matthew Tritt, Environmental Energy
Atascadero, California
We use an average of 331 kWh/month for our 60 year old ranch house, a
trailer rental and shop/barn on this property. That includes a 1950 GE
one door fridge (1.5 kWh/day), a swamp cooler, another 1951 fridge,
computer, fax, copier, seldom-seen TV and sound system, battery charger,
and lots of c.f. lights. We use propane for cooking and heating, along
with an older Jotul wood stove. For those as thrifty as me, the early GE
reefers are about as good as it gets for economical, repair-free
refrigeration. As long as a teeny-weenie freezer works for you. Mine has
been running for over 50 years with no trouble (according to the liar I
got it from!). Most of that usage is thanks to the heat this summer and
our swamp cooler. (At least we're cool).
We have about 1.6 kW of Siemens panels (take-outs from customer
up-grades), 2 old Zomeworks trackers, 12 pretty good newer L-16s, a
variety of recent charge controllers and a Heart 2500 Watt static-wave
lying in wait for me to stick em together.

Mo Rousso, Urban Refuge
Fallbrook, California
We have 3 families/residences plus my parents use on our 1 meter.
420 kWh/month utility energy consumption.
20 BP2150s on 1 Sunny Boy.
450 kWh/month PV production.

Tom Elliot, Guffey Energy Works
Guffey, Colorado
Off-grid. We use around 150-165 kWh/month.
Produce a max of 195 kWh/month.
1.2 kW PV array.
Our production and usage does not vary much winter to summer, though we
are more likely to produce less in the summer than in the winter. We're
running a Vestfrost refrigerator and chest freezer which account for the
majority of power consumption. We have satellite TV, stereo, satellite
internet (modems for Direcway use around 35 watts) and a networked PC
laptop and iMac that are on about 75% of the time. Water pumping is two
stage, with a Shurflo submersible feeding a 1200 gallon storage tank and
a Flowlight Booster pressuring the house from the tank for very little
power draw. We use about $150/year worth of propane for cooking and
heating water.


Dan Whigham, SC Solar
Lancaster, South Carolina
Our use varies from 70 to 119 kWh/month from the utility readings this
year, though last year averaged 300 kWh/month per month.
1,390 watts of PV (8-SR100's and 2 SM55s on a tracker and 4 KC120s on a
ground mount), SW4024 and 12-L16 batteries.
We do not have net metering so I cannot determine our contribution to
the grid. We were told we were breaking the law and our meter will soon
be replaced by a digital meter. The digital meters will charge us for
the electricity we send back as if we are consuming it. Our loads
consist of lights, washer, gas-dryer, standard refrigerator, 3 computers
and all office equipment, various other items. We have our A/C and stove
connected to the grid, and dedicated outlets for power tools.

Blair May, Solarwinds/Northernlights
Waldoboro, Maine
1.5 kW from 16-BP585 and SW grid intertie inverter plus 1.5 kW from
16-BP585 input to GC1000 inverter from our solar trailer supplies my
house & shop plus summer time apartment. 2 fridges washer/dryer 3/4 HP
deep 365' well.

Ezra Auerbach, Xantrex
Lasqueti Island, British Columbia, Canada
Off-grid. 840 watts of PV plus a 800 watt Bergey wind generator supply
my 1,200 amp/hour batteries which in turn powers my SW4024. This
combination with the occasional help of a Honda 3500 generator powers my
home, office, workshop, irrigation etc. for a daily load of between 2.5
and 4 kWh per day.

Richard Perez, Home Power
Ashland, Oregon
We are off-grid 32 years. 465 kWh/month consumption.
3.4 kW total from 76 assorted PV modules via four different inverters.

Bob-O Schultze, Electron Connection
Hornbrook, California
Off-grid. About 180 kWH/month consumption for business, Kathleen and me.

1,050 W PV tracked,  1 kW Whisper, 400 W of hydro (seasonal).

Kurt Nelson, SOLutions
Cornucopia, Wisconsin
Off-grid. About 800 watts of various PV with the bulk of it on the house
and some at my shop/storefront a couple miles away. Some PV at the shop
comes home for the winter (shop closed). I don't know what my kWh usage
is, but both buildings are off-grid and I don't have a generator.

Bob Ellison, Alternative Energy Systems & Supplies
Theresa, New York
111 kWh/month average consumption. I  can probably cut that by 30% if I
let the inverter use sleep mode, but then my cordless phone goes dead.
Power is from a 1,500 Watt Whisper wind generator with backup from a
diesel that runs 3 to 4 hours per gallon. Worst case with no wind, 3
hours of diesel a day. Battery bank is 1400 AH @ 12 volt of Trojan L-16.

Jeff Yago, Dunimis Technology
Manakin Sabot, Virginia
500 kWh/month in summer and 300 kWh/month in winter metered energy use.
Summers in Virginia mean high humidity central air conditioning loads.
We live in a double walled 3,200 sq.ft. home that includes super
efficient lighting and appliances, whole house sound system, home
theater room, home automation system, security system, attached green
house, home computer, and 18 foot diameter pool. Most homes this size in
this area use 1,200 to 1,400 kWh/month.
We have 2.4 kW PV and 400 watt wind turbine.

Charlie Robb, Element Engineering
Edinburgh, England, Great Britain
Our small suburban 2 person house (20 year old "Superwarm" design) with
office and workshop that consumes 180kWh/month. "Normal" British homes
with some efficiency measures and no electric heating or cooking consume
5-10 kWh/day.
Workshop has 100 W PV (BP) + 90 W Marlec Wind turbine on a
battery/inverter system with changeover (microsine) to grid.
Home RE system is not metered; estimate 10 kWh/month or less production.

My 60 kW wind turbine on the other side of Scotland averages about
15,000 kWh per month.

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