Radical Carbon-cutting Retrofit =============================== Notes for 20101127 Talk at Youth Centre, Ham Close, off Ashburnham Rd INTRO I've been working since late 2007 towards making my family home (and office) "zero-carbon" for electricity and gas (and indeed possibly zero-bills). I was able over a couple of years to reduce electricity consumption at home by about 80 per cent, and then take us negative by putting lots of photovoltaic paneling on the roof. So far we've managed to knock 30% or more off gas consumption, though this very cold patch is going to bust my energy budget. Why: global warming and an engineering challenge. How: conservation (cheap) and microgeneration (grid-tied and off-grid) SECRETS OF SUCCESS Power cuts: home servers, cold washes and LEDs. Insulation, Insulation, Insulation: squirty foam, loft insulation and aerogel... Home generation: PV (east/west-facing but twice as much as usual) Best bang for the buck: conservation, insulation, stopping draughts PROS AND CONS Pros: protected against energy costs, wasting less Cons: capital cost, condensation, behaviour change and washing less! TIMELINE 2006 5.9t Oblivious 2007 4.7t Server fixes in August 2008 2.2t Server fixes kicking in, PV on roof, better fridge/freezer 2009 0.6t Gas/heating fixes (TRVs, doors, draughts), washing m/c, more PV 2010 0.2t More gas conservation (showers, insulation), more PV Gas consumption has dropped from 9.1MWh/y --> 5.5MWh/y (1.6tCO2 --> 1.0t) Electricity 9.7MWh/h --> -1.9MWh/y (4.2tCO2 --> -0.8t); PV was -1.5t WEB INFO My 'green' site: http://www.earth.org.uk/ Saving electricity and gas: http://www.earth.org.uk/saving-electricity.html#meter2010 Carbon footprint graphic: http://www.earth.org.uk/out/16WWYearlyEnergyCarbonFootprint.png ***CO2 costs about 20p/kg! Gas consumption: http://www.earth.org.uk/out/16WWMonthlyGasConsumption.png PV generation: http://www.earth.org.uk/WW-PV-roof/data-PV1/Eall.png Servers severed: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/11/diy_zero_energy_home_server/ Superinsulation for geeks: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/24/diy_insulation_with_aerogel/