do you generate renewable energy ...

[saratogatan]

scott,
every day, I get to consume 10KwH at $0.059/KwH before E7 metering. With E7 metering, I believe it is $0.10/KwH off peak, which happens around mid-night.

stan

[philhunter]

Interesting difference between PG&E and SCE. With SoCal Edison, peak is 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The rate schedule is called TOU-D-2. The winter rates are $.572 per Kw peak, and $.188 per Kw off peak. Under the old system the top winter rate was $.389, and the baseline rate was $.189 but you only get 600 Kw before the increases start and they get to the top rate really quick. 600 Kw will hardly run the appliances. much less a pond.


Phil

[saratogatan]

Phil, there are huge differences indeed. In Nor Cal, businesses pay much higher rate for electricity, that is wh PG&E is paying $0.39 during peak.

By looking at the rate, I have to conclude that people in South Cal has a lot more $$$ than the North, and consequently, much better koi.

stan

[B.Scott]

Stan,
So if I understand it right, during the day you get the first 10 kw/hr for about 6 cents kw/hr and then pay the 36.5 cent premium for anything above that? Not bad really if you consider the peak rate I pay is $0.335 and the off peak rate only drops to about $0.26 a kw. Not much of a saving! It's the reason why I dont have a larger pond!

B.Scott

[saratogatan]

Scott,
for our home, the rate actually comes in tiers of
$0.06 : 10 KwH/day
$0.15 : 3 Kwh/day
$0.23 : 7 kwH/day
$0.32 : 10 KwH/day
$0.36 : the rest

For some reasons (???) the rate is slightly lower this year compared to 2006.

For our PV system, they (contractor) say should reduce CO2 creation by 150+ ton over 25 years.

A guy in the koi pond business (Not reuban) estimated there are few hundred koi ponds in the City of Cupertino and Saratoga, many are using big horse pumps. All of them can use some Solar power.

stan

[gregbickal]

I have a nuke plant less than 2 miles from my house And a company in Cedar Rapids Iowa (town where I work), is producing those large windmills. I see them trucking them down the street all the time now.

[Fishbreeder]

Living close to the plant, you get cheap electricity?

'Course if that were the case I oughta be gettin' anti-freeze for free...the glycol plant is only about six miles away. Every time I smell an overheated car it makes me think of catching red drum in the bay next to the glycol plant.

Do they call up in the middle of the night and try to explain in a recorded, monotone voice, message to your terrified daughter, "Do Not Panic, There Has Been An Accident...."

I betcha I'd swap with you in a New York minute. I swear, there are some nights that the ground shakes for miles and miles around. NObody should have thier hand on that BIG a stick...

Try and have a fish hatchery in that neighborhood, the state environmental regulators make you out to be ten times worse than any such plant.

We got a pretty good nuke plant down the coast. Trouble is, the one time we really needed it, it was shut down for repairs. "Rolling blackouts" is what they do around here in summer or winter if power consumption overrides production. Hence my building a genset of for the fish farm.

It is a made in India Petter style diesel, water cooled with a water pump and radiator, 1800 rpm, and can burn vegetable oil and/or diesel.

No windmills around here because the salty, warm, moist climate is too corrosive. My BIL says as technology improves we should see windmills along the Gulf Coast, just offshore.

Most of the powerplants around here burn natural gas.

Brett

[bekko]

There are two ways to reduce your energy footprint. Use renewable sources of energy, or just use less energy. The next frontier in koi keeping is better energy efficiency with less water waste. Our friend Luke is well ahead of his time.

I have looked pretty closely at both solar and wind. On this side of the island the wind is more predictable than the sun. Our electric rates are some of the nation's highest, but it is still hard to justify wind/solar based on hard economics alone.

The controllers and DC/AC converters really drive up the capital cost and reduce efficiency for a small system. The most expensive part of a wind turbine is the governor to control the speed in winds which are too high. Like Brett says, building the electrical components so they can resist corrosion from the wind coming in off the ocean also drives up the cost way up. If/when I pull the trigger, it will be for direct-drive wind-operated air blowers. The inherent advantages are that the back pressure on the air distribution system will create a governor and there will be no electric controllers or converters to contend with.

-stev ehop

[aquitori]

I told myself before that if I ever got a PG&E bill more that $500, because of my pond I would probably go find a second job. I think people over engineer their ponds, so people just have to expect that "Everything" in this hobby is expensive, even the bills that come with it to maintain it...

[luke frisbee]

Bekko,
as nice a compliment was never said about me...nor less deserved

I painted myself into a corner..I built the lake and then realized the energy usage issue...so I needed to find a way to move the water that is cheap... I can't let myself pay more than i have to...but I gotta tell ya...the prop pump is a big risk. i just felt and thought it should be done.