Finished insulating walls

Yep - it's all done. (Except for under 3 windows.) Read the full details on the cheap wall insulation project.

New web server installed, but adds 2 kWh per day!

Just upgraded the machine that runs my home web server to a second hand Compaq Proliant 460 with dual RAID array drives. But it's noisy as hell and a real power hog. The old machine was a no-name P3 box that used less than a third of that.

Looks like it may suck up as much power as I save on the solar water heater!

Doh! This is a classic problem that has been warned about concerning energy efficiency - people tend to use up any savings they make "to improve their lifestyle". I'm just as guilty.

Starting wall insulation project

Have started blowing polystyrene beads into the south facing wall for insulation.

It's a lot of fun.

Solar hot water

Finally got the solar hot water system up and running.

Of course, we're not going to see much use out of it till at least spring.

"Upgraded" to more expensive power

When we moved into the house we found it was connected via pre-pay system. You go to your local Blockbuster video store and buy "power" from them with $20-$100. They give you a 16 digit number which you then punch into a keypad next to your power meter at home.

It sounds a bit micky-mouse, but had the advantage that it (a) gave a digital usage reading and (b) didn't include a daily "line charge".

Eventually the power company (Genesis) decided to upgrade it systems to rectify that. So today we are paying 33.750 cents/day plus 17.500 cents/unit, but there giving us $15 per month to keep our custom. (My plan is to stay 12 months then switch to Meridian who generate power using more "renewable" energy sources.)


The other benefit of this new system is that it provides an indoor control-monitor panel - so I don't have to read the meter out in the rain anymore.

Solar powered house lights

Just finished installing my baby solar power system.

I've got a single 80Watt PV panel, connected to a charge controller, connected to 4 car batteries, which drive a small 12DC to 230AC invertor. Which then runs all the CFL lights in the house.

Doing this in mid-winter doesn't make much sense but - really - I'm just playing with this stuff.

Upgraded water heating insulation

I used some left-over sissilation (aluminium foil) to double wrap the water cylinder in two layers of blanket/foil combo. That should give about as much insulation as is practical.