The business of energy conservation (voltage regulators, software automatically turns off pcs)

[Shallah Kali]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003625165_powersave19.html

{snip}

In the energy-efficiency arena, another area company developing a green business is MicroPlanet in Seattle. It created a technology to lower the amount of voltage received in homes or businesses to the minimum amount needed to power appliances.

Wasteful voltage

Many buildings receive power at a higher voltage than necessary, and that extra voltage goes to waste.

Cost of installing a voltage regulator can range from about $1,000 for a home to $8,000 for a company, and savings over time is about 5 to 10 percent.

Microplanet Voltage Regulator
http://www.microplanetltd.com

According to the US Department of Energy, due to inefficiencies in the electrical grid, up to 67% of energy in the form of electricity is wasted from the point where it is generated and enters the grid to the point where a consumer uses the electricity.


MicroPlanet technology reduces the total amount of energy we need to produce by significantly increasing the efficiency of the electrical grid. Our products save energy, lower electricity bills, improve utility services and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

So what do you tech folks think could this microplanet gizmo really save as much energy as they say? i know that electric companies can send out more power than needed. My Dad used to get mad when lightbulbs blew frequently because he would measure the power and say it was too much. He would call and complain to no effect because it was in the legal range.

some googlign found this article showing a test in California where the microplanet device reduced power used during the summer 7% to 10%-

http://tdworld.com/info_systems/MicroPlanet-voltage-regulator/

[don954]

1. light bulbs are just about the only things that this will help with

all digital electronics have power regulators. They will pull the same amount of watts at their entire range of voltage. If the volts-AC is higher, they will pull less amperage, if the voltage is lower, the amperage draw will go up. BTW, Volt X Amp = Watt. Incandescent light bulbs are resistive loads so they will eat more watts at higher voltages, more than they are designed for. A whole-house power regulator is pretty much needless, as it will have an inherent inefficiency, usually about 5%. Peoples voltage being high enough to pop light bulbs is very very rare..

[Shallah Kali]

3. what of electric water heaters, ovens, refrigerators, freezers, etc. do they come with regulators?

I am assuming by digital you mean things like vcrs, clock radios, microwaves. It would be very nice if a device like this actually did slash electric usage because it is is in more people's price range than solar panels.

[skids]

7. Yeah the "regulator" is called a thermometer.

Those appliances pull as much energy as needed to meet their target temperature, regardless of voltage.

[madokie]

5. have the power factor checked and corrected if need be.

at one of the plants I worked at several years ago we installed a power factor correcting bank of capacitors and they saved damn near 2 hundred thousand bucks the first month on an electric bill of 5+ million. Ductile Iron foundry using inductance furnaces.

splchk

[Turbineguy]

2. I think in A/C circuits

inductive reactance losses are coupled to voltage (as well as frequency). This in turn increases the power factor loss at the generator (In the systems I worked with which have a lot of inductive devices, like motors, this was about 25% off the top). However, since higher voltage results in lower heat generation in the house wiring this may be somewhat mitigated.

Since your residential power consumption bill is based on watts at the meter and not volt-amps at the generator (although obviously savings would accrue using supply side economics <snarky comment deleted>) I do not know if a household customer would see much benefit having such a device installed.

Industrial customers can get around the power factor dilemma by running over-excited synchronous motors which also act as large capacitors causing a shift to zero power factor, reducing the actual load the generator sees.

BTW, changing from incandescent lamps to fluorescent lamps increases inductive load and power factor losses (however this is far more than offset by energy savings).

There's a lot to be said however for cleaning the power by stabilizing the voltage (as well as the frequency) especially with electronic devices which operate better on a stable power diet.

I have a voltage meter on my sound system and the voltage will drop 3 volts during heavy base notes. In addition, inductive and capacitive load changes cause frequency phase shifts. I don't think the guys who wired my house were too concerned about such effects to my listening enjoyment. They were just interested in getting by the codes as cheaply as possible.

It's 3 am now.

[4dsc]

4. Simply UNPLUG devices you're not using

Why spend $1000 when unplugging all the electrical devices you don't use will save money and energy too??

[Shallah Kali]

6. I already do that. But what of devices I can't unplug like fridge, freezer, etc?

If the voltage regulator really works like they say it would reduce energy used by the things I can't unplug. and again if it really works they should be mandatory to reduce energy used by those who DO leave everything plugged in and running all the time.