Cob: Solar Power

[David & Sheila Knapp]

Robin,

Discovering them is easy, unplug the appliance from the wall socket and listen for the "click."  Your TV might feel warm on the rear top even though it has been "off" overnight.  I have a high accuracy current meter in our small PV system and I can plug in appliance one at a time and measure the Ghost load power usage.

Realgoods.com and others has an AC meter for about $100 that you can use to measure appliance loads instantaneous or over time.  They are cheap, but a gadget guru like me has a lot of fun with them.

Just switching one 60 watt incandescent bulb out for a 15 watt compact fluorescent lamp will put $45 - $60 in saving back in your pocket over 4 - 6 years above and beyond the $10 - $20 cost of the CF lamp.  CF lamps use about 1/4 of the energy and there are a half dozen styles that can be adapted to fit any fixture.

There are L.E.D. lamps out that use even less, but they aren't ready for prime time yet.  They are for the gadget guru to have fun with.  Give them a few years.

When you buy a new appliance, as around before you commit to get the opinion of a solar dealer or solar bum like me.  Also look for the ENERGY STAR label, which will have a smaller Ghost load.

Sorry to stray from Cob, but some of these details will certainly enhance the final Cob product!

Dave

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David & Sheila Knapp 
Winnebago, Illinois
http://www.esolarliving.com/
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robin Magee" <robinmag at independence.net>
To: "David & Sheila Knapp" <solar at aeroinc.net>; "coblist" <coblist at deatech.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 4:05 AM
Subject: Re: Cob: Solar Power


> Thanks Dave for the great and informative reminder of how much we can do
> before plunking down the money for a PV system.
> 
> I'm really interested in the "ghost loads" issue.  How did you discover
> them?
> 
> Robin