Re: Power Supplies, Saving Money, and switching vs. Linear?

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

Here's a brief comparison of various energy sources from an Audubon Magazine
article a few years back.

     http://magazine.audubon.org/features0109/beyond_oil.html

"Andrew(N)" <andrew.ward@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>The move of this thread to Solar power is VERY interesting... Because
>this is what I am doing.
>
>I now have 28 200+ watt SunPower Solar panels on my roof feeding an
>inverter that will take advantage of California's NetMetering regulation
>which allows me to put power back into the grid. So, during Peak hours
>(M-F Noon - 6 PM) I will be pumping watts back into the grid at the
>elevated Rate. No storage batteriies in this system. System is designed
>to be a 5 KW system. (Contractor is ReGrid Power, BTW). The panels and
>inverter are installed, but these guys haven't gotten back out to make
>the connection to my AC mains yet. This should be this week or next. The
>panels are wired to give about 400V DC into the inverter and 120 V 2
>phase out.
>
>Either way... This is the reason for my huge persuit of power savings...
>to cut the usage wherever possible, to get my savings up.
>
>BTW... people are always curious.  Raw system cost is arouns $47K, after
>California rebates, my cost is ~34K. I might be eligible for one more
>tax credit totaling ~3000.  If I use power at the existing levels, and
>if PG&E increases rates consistent with the past 22 years, payback is in
>11 years. But, with some conservation, and if PG&E really jacks up
>prices, as they are expected to do, then payback could be in as few as 8
>years.
>
>My goal is not to be self sufficient, nor to get my bill to 0. That
>would be stupid. The real goal is cut off the top two or three tiers
>where electricity is as high as $.31 / Kwh.
>
>This is why I am running around with a spreadsheet and two Watt's Up
>power meters measuring everything. This linear supply is hard-wired, so
>I could only put an amp-clamp on it. I will try to put a cheater cord on
>it for a while and re-measure the actual wattage soon.
>
>Thanks everyone for the interesting discussion.
>
>-Andrew