GeekPi

After a long wait, it finally came – the reservation form to order a Nissan Leaf . . . and now it’s time for another long wait! The Nissan LEAF is now firming up their reservations for the 100-mile range Electric Car and we here at GeekPi have signed up to (hopefully) be one of [...]

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Some big things are afoot this month in the GeekPi household and I’m happy to say energy use is way, way down. All thanks to:

Insulation
Air Sealing
ERV
Heat-pump tune up (proper amount of refrigerant)

All of these improvements combined are really starting to add up and the difference in the electric bill and household comfort is noticeable.
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Our heat pump is taking *three times* the energy it should to heat.

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Back in late May 2009 I gave my ‘official’ call to action against my steadily increasing energy utility bills by a minimum of 50%. I used to dread getting my monthly electricity bill, but now I look forward to it. I got my utility bill latest in my inbox yesterday . . .
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The Cold Hard Truth
Very chilly winter nights are now grasping the Seattle area, with the low temperatures now dipping into the single digits. Some months ago, I pledged to keep my maximum, monthly energy bill to below $100 but seeing as November was at $98.28, and the temperatures have plummeted since then, I highly doubt [...]

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There’s been a lot on my plate as of late, but I thought you may enjoy this initial rendering of my next solar project/expansion of the office’s 10kw PV array.

An integrated green screen & 2.8kw PV awning system that’ll shade the building’s south face during the hot summer sun. Even more interesting is that we’ll [...]

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Back in May, I declared an end to oppressive electric bills, never wanting to see another > $100 bill. Since then a lot has happened, and a lot more is about to be done to help reach the goal.
To give an idea of what I’m up against, I have a fairly typical 1970’s wood framed [...]

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So the lastest scientific instrument (aka. cool toy) to arrive at the GeekPi headquarters is a Fluke Ti25 thermal imager. As the cost of equipment continues to drop, and they’re used more energy auditing, expect to start seeing more of these in the future.
What Does It Do?
So what is a thermal imager? Think of it [...]

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In my last post, I described the weakness of LED lighting in the home and for general illumination – this product is what I see as an excellent implementation of the light emitting diode technology; low power consumption and rugged capabilities. Mid last year, the company SunNight Solar (www.sunnightsolar.com) sent me one of their first [...]

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LED! LED! LED!
When it comes to lighting technology, that’s what I hear on an almost daily basis. The thing is though, most of these writers know next to nothing about lighting, and are taking all of their facts from a press release; which of course always puts the product in a positive light (pun intended).
The [...]

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