Energy Saving Devices

Posts Tagged ‘clean electricity’

he basic unit of measure of electric power is the watt. One thousand watts are called a kilowatt. If you use one thousand watts of power in one hour you have used a kilowatt-hour (kWh). Your electric utility bills you by the kWh.

The standard electric power meter is a clock-like device driven by the electricity moving through it. As the home draws current from the power lines, a set of small gears inside the meter move. The number of revolutions is recorded by the dials that you can see on the face of the meter. The speed of the revolutions depends on the amount of current drawn; the more power consumed at any one instant, the faster the gears will rotate.

When reading an electric meter, read and write down the numbers as shown on the dials from right to left. When the pointer is directly on a number, look at the dial to the right. If it has passed zero, use the next higher number. If the dial has not passed zero, use the lower number. Record the numbers shown by writing down the value of the dial to your extreme right first and the rest as you come to them. Should the hand of a dial fall between two numbers, use the smaller of the two numbers.

Note that some newer electric meters use digital displays instead of dials. The difference between one month’s reading and the next is the amount of energy units that have been used for that billing period.

You may also wish to contact your local utility company for more information about reading your electric meter.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy

Generating electricity using your own small renewable energy system fits the circumstances and values of some home and small-business owners. Although it takes time and money to research, buy, and maintain a system, many people enjoy the independence they gain and the knowledge that their actions are helping the environment.

A renewable energy system can be used to supply some or all of your electricity needs. Some people, especially those in remote areas, use the electricity from their systems in place of electricity supplied to them by power providers (i.e., electric utilities). These are called stand-alone (off-grid) systems.

Others connect their systems to the grid and use them to reduce the amount of conventional power supplied to them through the grid. A grid-connected system allows you to sell any excess power you produce back to your power provider.

These are some renewable energy technologies available for use today:

* Small solar electric systems
* Small wind electric systems
* Microhydropower systems
* Small hybrid electric systems (solar and wind).

Before you purchase and install a small renewable energy system, you should analyze your electricity loads to see if one of the small renewable energy systems can meet all or enough of your electricity needs—is it economically feasible? You will also want to research your local codes and requirements for installing a system.

If you’re designing a new home, you should work with the builder and your contractor to incorporate your small renewable energy system into your whole-house design—an approach for building an energy-efficient home.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy

The electricity industry is changing. At least 50% of customers have the option to purchase renewable electricity directly from their power supplier, and all customers have the option of purchasing renewable energy certificates. Such power is sometimes referred to as “green power” or “clean power.”

In most states, you can buy clean power through one or more of the following programs:

• Green pricing

  Customers pay a small premium in exchange for electricity generated by clean energy sources.

• Competitive electricity markets

  Customers choose to have their electricity produced by an independent clean power generator, instead of buying it from the power provider assigned to their area.

• Green certificates

  Customers buy the environmental attributes of the electricity that a clean power generator is feeding into our nation’s electricity grid.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy