tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6375758753399469539.post3593234309555231685..comments2013-01-28T13:20:38.306-07:00Comments on The View From The Tree: A small energy savingsDan the Heretichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11128608513558140094noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6375758753399469539.post-9997209830446742762009-03-05T10:59:00.000-07:002009-03-05T10:59:00.000-07:00How I arrived at garage door opener energy cost:Fi...How I arrived at garage door opener energy cost:<BR/><BR/>First, I used the table from http://www.absak.com/library/power-consumption-table# to find the energy output of garage door opener (350 W) and associated two lights (120 W).<BR/><BR/>Second, I used the load calculator form from http://www.absak.com/pdf/docs/loadeval.pdf to calculate the load. A typical garage door opener run at .133 hours/day (8 minutes, 2 minutes per use at 4 uses per day) plus the two lights on mine (which stay on for about 5 minutes after door is used) at .333 hours/day each. There's also the Load Correction Factor: "Load Correct Factor compensates for losses in the system. Batteries and other power system components are not 100% efficient. We have found that increasing load value by 30% adequately factors in these losses." So the corrected Watt-hours/day is 124. This translates to 45.26 kWh/year.<BR/><BR/>Next is standby power, also known as phantom loads. According to http://standby.lbl.gov/summary-table.html, a garage door opener's average standby power is 4.48 W, or 40.32 kWh/year. Amazingly, this almost doubles the load! <BR/><BR/>Adding the two loads gets me 85.58 kWh/year total. At my current utility rate (0.06678 per kWh per month, or 0.80136 per kWh per year), this results in a cost SAVINGS of $68.58 per year. Just for the garage door opener!Dan the Heretichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11128608513558140094noreply@blogger.com