Covering Your Bases — Refrigerator, Lighting, and

Hot Water Base-Load Measures

Mark Bergmeier, State of Iowa

Larry KinneySynergistic Building Technologies

Synertech Systems CorpSunflower Corp

Session objectives Learn how to meter refrigerators; Use a database to determine energy use

of existing refrigerators; Assess potential lighting measures; Explore modern CFL improvements; and Understand reduced hot water usage and

assess suspect plumbing.

Benefits of Adding the Refrigerator Replacement Arrow to Weatherization’s Quiver

Delivery of much-needed services

Virtually sure thing conservation >1 SIR

Helps avoid new power plants (lowers demand)

Excellent economic development

Mastery of new skills akin to WX

Professionalization of the work force

Enhances relations with utilities and landlords

Environmentally sound recycling

Refrigerator / Freezer Replacement

State of Iowa

By Mark Bergmeier

Started Replacing 2000

Refrigerator / Freezer Replacement

Meter All Refrigerator and Freezers

Refrigerator 2006Removed 26

Replaced 1244

Cost $38.00 With savings 1021

KWH

Cost $683.00 With savings 869

KWH

Refrigerator ReplacementRemoval

$.09 x 1021 = 91.89

Replacement

$.09x869=78.21

Simple payback 38/91.89 = .4

Simple payback 683/78.21 = 8.7

Removed 22

Replaced 470

Cost $30.00 With savings 713

KWH

Cost $460.00 With savings 662

KWH

Freezer 2006

Freezer ReplacementRemoval

$.09 x 713 = 64.17

Replacement

$.09 x 662 = 59.58

Simple payback 30/64.17 = .46

Simple payback 460/59.58 = 7.7

Purchasing Agency will contact their local appliance

vendors. Vendors need to submit a price quoted for

a specified period of time. Vendor Agreement

Vendor Agreement

Appliance Data Sheet Agencies will have participating vendors complete an

Iowa Weatherization Program Refrigeration Appliance Data Sheet

The form will be completed for each brand/model of appliance for which the vendor is providing a price quote.

The form specifies the style of the appliance, the features of the appliance, the size of the appliance, etc.

Appliance Data Sheet

Baseload Appliance Rating Tool (BART)

Is an ACCESS-based software program. Used to calculate replacement ratings of the

appliances for which the agency received price quotes.

The replacement rating is a numerical rating that is applied to the replacement (new) appliances

Baseload Appliance Rating Tool (BART)

The rating considers the energy consumption (kWh) of the appliance, the cost of the appliance the cost of the electricity, the lifetime of the appliance.

A listing will be printed of the appliances and their ratings.

This list will be used by the field personnel in the field

Baseload Appliance Rating Tool (BART)

The rating is compared to the annual consumption of the existing (old) appliance(s) to determine whether it is cost effective to replace the existing appliance(s) with the new appliance.

Baseload Appliance Rating Tool (BART)

Appliance Metering If the evaluator doesn’t have enough

meters to meter all of the appliances in the home, the oldest ones should be metered.

Conversion TableThe field person can determine what the annual consumption of the appliance is by finding the short-term kWh reading on the table that corresponds to the logger reading and then following a line over to the column that contains the time (in minutes) that the appliance was metered. The number at the intersection of the short-term consumption line and the time column is the annual consumption in kWh.

MinutesReading 100 110 120 130 140

0.00 0 0 0 0 00.01 100 0 0 0 00.02 100 100 100 100 1000.03 200 100 100 100 1000.27 1,400 1,300 1,200 1,100 1,0000.28 1,500 1,300 1,200 1,100 1,1000.29 1,500 1,400 1,300 1,200 1,1000.30 1,600 1,400 1,300 1,200 1,1000.31 1,600 1,500 1,400 1,300 1,2000.32 1,700 1,500 1,400 1,300 1,2000.33 1,700 1,600 1,400 1,300 1,2000.34 1,800 1,600 1,500 1,400 1,3000.35 1,800 1,700 1,500 1,400 1,3000.36 1,900 1,700 1,600 1,500 1,400

Replacement Criteria The client has two appliances.

The two units were metered for 2 hours, and showed consumption of 0.252 and 0.180. We extrapolate these values to annual consumption rates using the Conversion Table and find the rates of 1,104 kWh and 788 kWh, respectively. The total annual energy consumption of these two units is 1,892 (1,104 + 788).

Client Refrigerator Appliance Agreement

Installation Frequencies and AverageEnergy Savings (maximum SIR)

Measures that result in the greatest electric savings (in order) High-efficiency water heaters (Electric water heater replacement) (6) Refrigerator removal (1) Standard-efficiency water heaters (Electric water heater

replacement) (3) Refrigerator replacement (4) Freezer removal (2) Freezer replacement (5) Compact fluorescent lighting (3)

Top Ten Measures in CY 06First-Year Client Bill Savings and Installation Rates

• Hi-Eff Heating Sys Replacement $181 46% • Wall Insulation $156 66% • Std-Eff Heating Sys Replacement $128 11% • Refrigerator Removal $99 1% • Refrigerator Exchange $87 44% • Freezer Removal $74 1% • Ceiling Insulation $68 86% • Freezer Exchange $67 17% • Foundation/Crawlspace Insulation $57 40% • Hi-Eff WH Replacement $46 19% NOTE: Omitted other Heating Sys Repl due to very few installations

even though they had relatively high savings

How a refrigerator cools: The vapor compression cycle

Evaporator Condenser

Motor

Compressor

Low pressure High pressure

Capillary tubeLiquid

Vapor

Refrigerantcondenses

Refrigerantvaporizes

Heatabsorption

Heatdissipation

Test chamber and data loggers This chamber can test four refrigerators at a time, monitoring up to 11 streams of data from each. Keeping constant temperatures with refrigerator doors shut makes it possible to study specific elements of performance while keeping other factors constant. That allows the effects of control settings or ambient temperatures to be quantified precisely.

Effect of defrost cycle on fresh food and freezer compartment temperatures

Tem

per

atu

re (

°F)

19 21 23 25 27 291 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17

Time (15-minute intervals)

Freezer temperature

Fresh food temperature

Ambient temperature

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Compartments

Fresh foodFreezer

High Midpoint Low

36.4–9.1

38.81.6

43.912.4

Average temperatures at each control setting (°F)

kWh

/yr

90° 80° 70°

High MidpointControl settings

Low0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Energy consumption vs. ambient temp and control setting for a 15-ft3 Maytag

Savings-to-Investment Ratio (SIR) The ratio of dollars saved to dollars invested to

achieve the savings. SIRs >1 are cost-effective. It’s a convenient way to express the

cost-effectiveness of both the program and particular measures.

Computed by multiplying annual savings times the lifetime of the measure, times a discount factor versus costs.

Use 20 years and 4.8% discount factor.

Average consumption before and after replacement for three pilot refrigerator programs

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1 2 3

Avera

ge k

Wh/y

ear

SIR dependence on initial kWh 4.65, 2.60, 1.82

Picking the high users takes time, but it pays benefits.

SIRs descend with initial consumption, in spite of better new units and lower costs.

Critical question: How to be selective but save time?

Energy costs and replacement costs to achieve unity SIR

Source: Synertech Systems Corp. [7]

Minimum energy use (kWh/yr)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

$0.14/kWh $0.12/kWh

$0.10/kWh$0.16/kWh

Co

st f

or

rep

lace

men

t (i

n d

olla

rs)

One option for marrying utility with DOE funding when replacement thresholds differ

Assumptions: Utility avoided cost is $0.06/kWh; Retail electricity cost is $0.10/kWh;New refrigerator consumes 386 kWh/yr; Cost of new refrigerator +

recycling old unit + overhead = $550

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Total number of refrigerators in sample = 177

1 37 93

Utility and DOEreplacements

1,117 kWh/SIR = 1(util)

DOE WXreplacements

825 kWh/yr SIR = 1(WX)

Not replaced

47 1 1

Unity SIR for a utility’s residential customers = 855 kWh/yr

If replacements cost utility $375 each, at 6.4 cents/kWh, it’s cost effective to replace all units that consume > 855/kWh/yr, 98 W/hr.

Assumes new unit uses 386 kWh/yr, lasts 20 years, and discount factor = 4.7%.

Also assumes energy costs exactly track inflation.

If energy prices outstrip inflation, cost effectiveness of replacement increases.

Making decisions on replacement Once lower-threshold for annual kWh consumption is

decided, how will specific cases be estimated? If trying to make a “go/no go” decision,

in most cases it’s as easy as looking in the AHAM manual for DOE test results; you should apply a factor for age (1.2 routinely used).

Replace all of the really old ones? How about those that are green or gold; have R-12

refrigerant? Measure if no AHAM match or if a close call.

Electric energy meter by Kill a Watt

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

The best and the least expensive

Tracks kWh, voltage, current, power factor, peak demand, time since reset.

Available for <$17. New model which does

the math, keeps data in memory for $34.

Kill A Watt (P3-P4400)

www.teledynamics.com

800-847-5629

Testing procedure Plug in the watt-hour meter, then plug

the fridge into the meter. Try not to interrupt a compressor

run cycle. In all events, move fast! Check time at beginning of run and at end.

Test for at least 2 hours—more if possible. Record accumulated kWh.

Look out for defrost periods (watts >380).

Computations Annual kWh = Test kWh * 8,766

Test time (hours) Express time as a decimal (divide

minutes by 60). Multiply results by 1.08 if no defrost heater

runs during test (for frost-free units only). If defrost heater runs, test for >24 hours and make no correction for defrost run.

Make correction for temp if appropriate.

Defrost cycles obscure the truth!

0

50

100

150

200

250

Time (15-minute intervals)

Fresh food compartment temperature

15-Minute Demand (W)

Tem

per

atu

re (

deg

rees

F);

wat

ts

Freezer Temperature

Why test for several hours with frost free units?

One-hour tests are usually insufficient to draw useful inferences, as they are within 10% of an accurate estimate only 18 times out of 100. Three-hour tests are within 10% of an accurate estimate 90 times out of 100. (See Home Energy, September 2000)

This judgement is based on many thousands of data points in the test chamber and careful analysis.

Temperature compensation The difference in temperature between

ambient temp. and the temp. inside a fridge affects performance by 2.5% per degree F.

If tested in a cooler-than-estimated annual temp. environment, add correction.

Otherwise, subtract correction. If it’s a close call, don’t bother. Example: Tested at 68˚F, estimated kitchen

temp. average = 72, and multiply measured results by 1.1.

Check out the power line to help avoid electrical fires!

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Sure Test stresses the line, can find weaknesses in circuits.

Useful for all plugs, not just the plug for the fridge.

Use before and after insulation in attics and walls.

Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFL) Economics (and related matters)

Footcandle The illuminance on a

surface one square foot in area on which there is a uniformly distributed flux of one lumen.

The lumens incident on a surface = footcandles x the area in square feet.

Luminous efficacy (Lm/W)

Luminous efficacy and the sun

When applied to electric lighting, it refers to the amount of light produced per watt of electric energy required to produce it.

Since the watts of electric energy are directly dissipated inside a building’s envelope or are indirectly dissipated after light is absorbed, they also contribute to a building’s cooling load.

In the case of the sun (113+ lm/W), luminous efficacy refers only to the ratio of the light produced to the heating effect within the building envelope.

CFLs Produce over four times more light per unit

of electrical energy than do incandescents Produce four times less heat per unit of light

than do incandescents. Have much lower surface temperatures, so

are safer Lower air conditioning bills Produce beautiful, hum-free light whose

color properties are excellent.

High-quality, long-lasting light four more energy efficient than incandescent

Characteristics of Autocell’s CFLs

They are Energy Star rated They have a lifetime of 12,000 hours They use the least mercury of any CFLs They are inexpensive, particularly in bulk The company will do special art on the boxes

and fixtures themselves if buying in bulk (“This energy-efficiency CFL is brought to you by

the folks that weatherize your home!”)

Ceiling fixture

Can cover “can” lights; providing better, diffuse light and allows the cans to be air sealed and insulated

Includes hard wired CFL, electronic ballast Saves electricity and gas!

Computing economics for CFLs Conventional wisdom holds that one estimates the

on- time, calculates pay back period, then makes a judgment about cost effectiveness.

Instead, why not ask the question: how much savings will I reap over its 12,000 hour lifetime if I purchase a 23 W CFL for $2.50 instead of a 100 W incandescent for $0.30?

When electricity costs 0.10 per kWh, the national average, the answer is $92! (924 kWh saved)

This “life-cycle costing” is the preferred methodology to use with energy-saving systems.

In short, initial costs are effectively the same over the 12,000 hours of the lifetime of the CFL except that one must replace a dozen incandescent bulbs, wasting gas to make runs for bulbs and multiplying the risk of falling off a ladder by 12. Savings are pure profit, tax free.

How far will it get you? 923 kWh, the lifetime savings associated with

replacing a 100 watt incandescent with a 23 watt CFL, saves 10.6 million Btus at the power station, the equivalent of 10.6 person years of labor.

It’s also the energy equivalent of 85 gallons of gas, which will get you 4,250 miles (e.g., New York to LA and back to Denver) in your shiny new Prius.

Average American home has 38 incandescents

Let’s assume that the average home has 19 60 watt incandescents and 19 100 watt incandescents

Replacing with ENERGY STAR 13 watt and 23 watt CFLs produces net savings of 26,500 kWh, $2700 over the lifetime of the new CFLs.

Will save over 10 tons of coal and 13,000 gallons of water.

It’s the energy equivalent of enough gasoline to drive your Prius around the earth at the equator almost five times.

“Half Gas, Half Electric Car, total California Cool”

Title of a June 6, 2002 article in the Washington Post on hybrids

“Half of Hollywood is getting a Prius”

Larry David: “I'm doing something good, and my wife has sex with me more often”

Water Can save it at the power station by saving

electric energy, for each kWh saved, one saves a half a gallon of water.

Can save it in weatherization by stopping drips, installing water efficient appliances, moving to low flow shower heads, educating clients about the genius and delights of showering with a friend.

Low flow showerheads work well and save!

There are a variety of new models that give good showers and even have a massage function—but don’t waste much water or energy.

Replacing high flow rate showerheads can save $100 per year in many cases, plus thousands of gallons of precious water at no loss of comfort.

Savings depend mostly on the difference in flow rates of old and new showerhead. Here, the new assumed to be 1.5 gpm.

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

$0 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 $400Annual savings

Old

sh

ow

er h

ead

flo

w r

ate

(gp

m)

Annual total savings w/ electric heater ($/yr)

Annual total savings w/ gas heater ($/yr)

Details in next session

Baseload Measures — Addressing Failures; Avoiding

Lost Opportunities

Feedback’s Welcome!Larry KinneySynergistic Building TechnologiesSynertech Systems CorporationSunflower CorporationBoulder Green Building Guild

LarryK@SynergisticBT.comwww.SynergisticBT.comwww.SynertechSystemsCorp.comwww.SunflowerCorp.biz303-449-7941

Mark Bergmeier

Iowa Department of Human Rights

Lucas State Office Building

321 E. 12th Street, 2nd Floor

Des Moines, Iowa 50319

mbergmeier@kca.net

319-240-3619