Ice to Ease Crunch???

[laverda]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060811/D8JDUDT00.html

Seams like solar would be a better way to go then this! but it is a different idea.

 

[GTR]

At that price and payback only the Government will be able to justify installation. 5% savings, they could do that by unplugging the water coolers and have everyone bring an ice chest from home. :lol:

SteveU

 

[jjirsa78]

Governments do silly things to save small amounts of money - the military research base in Norco was almost closed/moved to save $200k over a 10 year span. $20k/year. They could have saved that much money by recycling aluminum cans.

This system isn't that novel - I question the ice method, though. Seems like it would be more valuable to spin up a large, super-efficient flywheel over the offpeak hours and then use that kinetic energy to push back into electricity during peak - much more generalized savings, and doesn't involve phase changes that suck energy and efficiency.

 

[Freed]

I had an on peak/off peak meter installed a little over a week ago and it is already cutting my electric bill in half.

 

[bassnman11]

The coolist set up I heard of was where a guy took a 55 gal barrel with a 100 ft coil of copper tube in it. He attached the copper to the condenser of his a/c unit, the rigged up to circulate swimming pool water through the barrel. Water is a much more effecient cooling medium than air. He stated it lowered the air temp of the a/c considerably, so it only ran half as often and heated his pool for free to boot!.

 

[laverda]

Seams like for that amount of money they could get a decent sized solar set up and save a lot more then 5%