Power Company Controls AC

[clemsonfor]

Let the EPA allow more hydroelectric power plants...... thats the ticket. I pay $0.06/kwh with NO peak times or other nonsense. There is enough science now days to allow fish ladders, etc to ease the environmental impact. Hydro is the best green energy source but govt regs have strangled it.

Its not just fish or reduced water flow, there is the less silt reaching down stream, this has ill effects im places like the mississippi where silt wont replace the mississippi delta. Dont get me wrong im not against it but fish are not the only thing. Plus there is the eminant domain thing to aquire the land. Trust me i work for a federal lake project with many generators (big for the SE) and i still hear about "taking the land" back in the 40's and 50's.

 

[clemsonfor]

This was my initial understanding, but I was wrong. They measured your usage from 11 am to noon and gave you half of that. So if your air conditioner ran for 15 on and 15 off from 11am to noon, then they would only allow it to run 7.5 on and 22.5 minutes off from noon to 4 pm.

Yep this sounds like a disaster and cant work? Reason i say this is that i live in SC like i said. The wife and i both work, we have a programable t-stat. AC comes on for about a hour in the am about 6:30 to 7:30 on and off. The t-stat sets back to 80 at 8:am. It then cuts back to 76 about 4:00pm. And even though here in the summer it can be 90 by 9 am or 9:30, cause my house is cool the AC might not even come back on till like 12 or 1pm cause its like 74 in the house at 8am and it slowly warms in the day. I would not have AC in the afternoon ever except the hottest of hot days!! That is unless after 4pm it dosent matter what you use?

 

[grsthegreat]

There are not any big sites left. Small sites take the same effort. Also as you said the government and private citizens will stop anything. I guess when the rolling blackouts start we will start doing something.

Rolling blackouts wont happen to my system....just not the demand of the larger cities. If you really want to effect a change, dont go after homeowner a/c units, go after parking lot lighting, car lot lighting, big box store lighting (though there improving). Think about the loss of KWH in a large parking lot with 30 - 40+ lights each with 1-4 heads using 400 - 1000 watts per head. and sometimes burning all night (sometimes all day) long

 

[clemsonfor]

Rolling blackouts wont happen to my system....just not the demand of the larger cities. If you really want to effect a change, dont go after homeowner a/c units, go after parking lot lighting, car lot lighting, big box store lighting (though there improving). Think about the loss of KWH in a large parking lot with 30 - 40+ lights each with 1-4 heads using 400 - 1000 watts per head. and sometimes burning all night (sometimes all day) long

Or think of all the offices with floresent lighting. They can reduce bulbs in halls and put 35 instead of 40 watt tubes in and no one will notice the difference. The few that "say " they do have them put an efficient desk lamp on the desk.

There are plenty of places to cut. Those giant gas stations that are lit up like daylight! another example, if they just cut back a bit there is a huge savings.

 

[grsthegreat]

Or think of all the offices with floresent lighting. They can reduce bulbs in halls and put 35 instead of 40 watt tubes in and no one will notice the difference. The few that "say " they do have them put an efficient desk lamp on the desk.

There are plenty of places to cut. Those giant gas stations that are lit up like daylight! another example, if they just cut back a bit there is a huge savings.

Yup, but lets not rile businesses, lets go after the little guy. Calif makes all personal vehicles get smog checks and all commercial trucks to have the newer diesel engines.....but they exempted all State owner vehicles from complying. So the buses still belch out black smoke. Same mind set..lets regulate everyone else cept for ourselves.

 

[BobRip]

Rolling blackouts wont happen to my system....just not the demand of the larger cities. If you really want to effect a change, dont go after homeowner a/c units, go after parking lot lighting, car lot lighting, big box store lighting (though there improving). Think about the loss of KWH in a large parking lot with 30 - 40+ lights each with 1-4 heads using 400 - 1000 watts per head. and sometimes burning all night (sometimes all day) long

These are all during non peak times. I agree a lot of it is a waste, but the only thing you can do here is fix the lights that are running during the day and use more efficient bulbs. That will help some of course. Actually power companies love night lighting since it adds to their load when they have plenty of capacity.

 

[clemsonfor]

These are all during non peak times. I agree a lot of it is a waste, but the only thing you can do here is fix the lights that are running during the day and use more efficient bulbs. That will help some of course. Actually power companies love night lighting since it adds to their load when they have plenty of capacity.

And there is another problem esp for places with no storage or ways to throttle back production.

The reason why the hyro project i work at only produces at peak times, there is no way to store it!

 

[MicroPilot]

Or think of all the offices with floresent lighting. They can reduce bulbs in halls and put 35 instead of 40 watt tubes in and no one will notice the difference. The few that "say " they do have them put an efficient desk lamp on the desk.

There are plenty of places to cut. Those giant gas stations that are lit up like daylight! another example, if they just cut back a bit there is a huge savings.

I once worked in an office and had removed the bulbs in the fluorescent lights above my cube. I didn't like the harsh bright light. I had an inspector for OSHA come in and tell me that I didn't have enough light in my area, even though I had a desk lamp for reading. I had to replace the bulbs for a week while he was on site and then took them out again when I couldn't stand the bright light anymore.

 

[clemsonfor]

I have the building contractor come by about once a year or more and tell me i have a bad tube im my office. I have a privite office about 8ft x 12ft. Most of the time i never know that one is flickering as there is enough light. I also have a desk light its still a floresent tube say 16 or 18 inches. Some mournings its on when i come in (forgot to turn it out) an i may sit there an hour with out main lights on till someone says something or i flip them, its just easier on your eyes. And at my desk i can see fine. Now if im on the other side rummaging in a file cabinet yes i need the overheads but i see no need for the super bight lights that seems "standar".

 

[jonyyuma]

We had the" Cycle and save" program here several years ago.It did make the bills a little lower and we did not notice that much of a problem. It seems to be in how it was used and when applied? It was phased out after a couple years and the controls removed.