If you really want to find out the draw of an electric appliance, seek out an electrician who should be able to hook you up with an old, beat-up meter. Mount it to a plywood box maybe 18" wide x 12" tall x 10" deep. Install a couple of duplex outlets, Edison base sockets, an inexpensive amp meter and a few standard wall switches.
You'll be able to plug in an appliance and see what it's draw is. You can also put a compact fluorescent up against an incandescent and give demos as to their relative efficiency. Freak people out for maybe $20 in parts (US). Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: "murdoch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:50 AM Subject: [biofuel] OT: More on Measuring Appliance Energy Use > I was discussing my home appliances and how much energy they use. > But, as many already know, it's difficult to measure some of them > because they don't come with meters which show their exact kW usage at > any given time. For high energy use devices, such as refrigerators > and water heaters, this could be very important toward an owner > understanding their energy use. Understanding could, in turn, lead to > better usage of those devices, or replacing of perniciously > inefficient ones. > > Inclusion of some sort of power meter on home appliances could add > cost to those devices, but I think some appliance-buyers might find > this cost to be worth their while, particularly if electricity prices > get higher. Also, if such measuring meters are included, they could > be better-integrated with computerized-house-of-the-future plans, such > as Microsoft sometimes tries to cook up. > > I have a hot water heater which tells me on its energy star label that > it's going to use so many kWh per day that I won't repeat it because I > can't quite believe I haven't misread something. Further, I don't > know at all how much it's using because I have a solar water heating > panel on the roof that works in a very passive way, just sort of > supplementing whatever heating is there. > > So, going forward, it would be cool if our appliances were built to > give us more feedback on what they're using. A sort of fuel-useage > meter. > > Some of this might apply to cars, some not. They tell us how much > fuel they have, and they sometimes have meters we don't care about, > but they don't have a direct fuel-consumption-RATE meter. The > exception to this seems to be the Insight and perhaps some of the > other Hybrids and BEVs and FCHEVs that we've seen, in that some of > them give some very straightforward feedback to the driver on realtime > fuel consumption rates. I wonder what would happen if we did an > experiment and equipped a conventional 4 cylinder stickshift > gasoline-burning car with a fuel consumption rate meter and kept track > of various drivers and whether changing this one variable caused them > to drive with identifiably better mileage? > > > > On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 10:19:23 -0800, you wrote: > > >Hi All, > > > >I am trying to find out what the American personal average use is for the > >following categories: > > > >Fuel oil/Gasoline > >Electricity > >Natural Gas > >Water > > > >The average includes all ages, all living conditions (houses, apartments, > >public transportation, etc.). The average is for personal use only, however, > >and does not take into account the energy or water needed to manufacture the > >material/consumer goods used or purchased by an individual. It only takes > >into account what is consumed in the home or apartment, or used for personal > >transportation. > > > >Do any of you know where I might find this information? > > > >Thanks > > > >Paul Scott > >310-399-5997 > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
