On Wed, Nov 02, 2005 at 10:11:22PM +0200, Peter wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 2 Nov 2005, Byron A Jeff wrote:
> 
> >Electricity: $0.0517/khw
> >NG: $1.679/therm
> 
> How come your power is so cheap ? Is this a regional thing ?

Three reasons. The first is that electricity is a regulated industry here. So all
price changes must go through an elected public service commission. The second is
that electricity in the area is generated with coal and nuclear, whose prices and
production have not been affected by the hurricanes which have thrashed the Gulf
coast in the last couple of months. Finally as I stated in my first post, I'm using
a Time of Use rate system that prices the kwh based on the time that you use it. 
Off peak times, which includes all winter, are priced as above. However in peak 
times, which is 2-7 PM during the summer months of June/September, the price
soars to $0.20/kwh! That's a problem that I have 8 months to figure out. Even during
the summer it's worthwhile because the off peak price outside of the 2-7PM window
is nearly $0.03/kwh cheaper than the standard rate. 

I have a twofold basic gameplan for dealing with peak hours. First is energy 
timeshifting. Simply put I'll store energy in batteries during the 19 off peak
hours/day and use the battery bank during the 5 on peak hours/day. The second
is that the primary peak hours load is cooling. I'm been thinking up alternative
cooling strategies for peak hours. My current off the wall idea is using a freezer
full of ice as a heat exchanger, along with an automotive heat core/blower combo to
cool the air. So the only power requirements would be for the pumps and the fans,
which can be handled (I think) by a sufficiently powerful battery bank. I can use
the normal central air to cool the house during off peak, possibly even loading up
a bit in the late morning/early afternoon hours, and using the alternative cooling
during the peak hours with off grid power. 

I've also thought about using some artificial shading with greenhouse sunshade to
keep the sun from beating on the house during the middle of the day. Along with the 
increased insulation and weatherstripping that I'm already putting in, I can get
away without running the central air for 5 hours/day in the summer.

It's a project that I have all winter to work on. I just need to be ready by June 1
of next year.

BAJ
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