Kill A Watt-updates

Television - uses 44W on standby! 200W when powered on.

If you leave it on all year....

44/1000*.115*365*24= $44/year

Our computers and server had wattages of between 130 and 103W when running, and around 5-12W on standby. We replaced both of their power supplies with ultra-efficient 80Plus ones, and are now running between 93 and 69W respectively. The server is on all year, 24x7 and we will save approximately 30W - around $30/year. The power supply costed around $50, so in a year and a half, it will have paid for itself. That is good return on investment, especially since the power supply will be much more reliable.

Everything else was fairly standard in terms of energy consumption. The microwave used some phantom powerand has now been put on a power bar.

So, it is definitely very interesting to see how much goes to waste inside your home when you have things plugged in and think that they are not using any energy whatsoever. Go to the library and get yourself one of these energy measuring devices because it will save yourself and your family a lot of money.

Phantom Power + Kill A Watt Meter - free from Library!

Check this out:

http://catalogue.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=12023D08DB437.6847&profile=hpl&uri=link=3100006~!1526125~!3100001~!3100043&aspect=subtab431&menu=search&ri=3&source=~!horizon&term=Energy+saving+meter+Compteur+pour+%C3%A9conomies+d%27%C3%A9nergie.&index=ALLTITL

This is from Conserve Nova Scotia. You can get this power meter (Kill-A-Watt) from the library for free. It'll tell you how much energy is running through those appliances even though they're turned off!

Try it! We'll publish our results in a later blog posting, probably.

Open source software

Do you need something to write PDF documents?

Do you need something to encrypt a partition on your hard drive or USB flash drive?

Do you need a lean operating system to run your file or storage server?

Why not try open source software?

Just type "open source PDF document creator" or "open source" anything, and you may find software that is suitable for your needs but is absolutely free. Caveat emptor: open source software is constantly in evolution by its development community, so the bugs may not be 100% worked out. Most software in production also has bugs, so it really isn't much different.

If you're running the water to get hot water....

There is a Chinese saying that "water is money". Well, that is true in many ways. For those of you with water meters, you see that your consumption of water relates directly to your water bill. In developing nations, water is a sacred resource and clean water is moreso.

When hot water sits in your tap for a little while, it can get cold. If you need hot water, often you run the tap (i.e. your dishwasher needs hot water to help it clean; babies need warm water for cleaning bums) until the cold water in the hot water tap goes warm or hot.

That amount of water, we've measured, amounts to a two litres or four depending on how far away the tap is from the hot water source. The water, nonetheless, is just water.

So, what do we do? We run the cold water in the hot line into a Brita water jug and we use it for drinking or cooking. Conversely, you can save this water for watering plants around the house.