Renewable energy solutions and technologies are suddenly popping up everywhere, and with all of the government money being poured into Federal and State incentive programs it is very easy to get caught up in the possibilities that these systems can bring to reality in your home or business. I would like to bring to light a consideration that very few take the time to think about before diving head long into making the purchase of a solar, wind or geothermal system.
How efficiently is your home or business already using the power you are paying for at present before adding any energy generation system into the mix? How is energy usage efficiency measured? It is measured in what is more commonly known as Power Factor Rating.
The average American home or business has a power factor of .77 which would be the same as saying an efficiency rating of 77%. Now if your car was operating at this rate of efficiency you would probably be taking it into your local mechanic for a tuneup. Another fact relating to power factor that your local electrical utility has not shared with you is the fact that you actually get charged an additional fee by many utility companies for having a poor power factor rating.
So how can we prevent this in preparation for that new solar panel, wind turbine generator system you want to have installed this spring? The answer is very simple, very affordable, and extremely effective. Companies such as Global Team Direct sell devices know as Power Factor Conditioners which when installed will begin saving you money on your electric bills immediately. These devices are capacitor based which when properly installed by your electrician into the electric panel of your home or business will increase your electrical distributions power factor to as close to 1.0 or 100% efficiency as possible. In most cases you will see the power factor come up to between .90 - .98 and by so doing you will literally be using less electricity on every appliance in the home than you previously were prior to its installation.
Why is that you might ask? Most appliances such as your freezers, refrigerators, washers & dryers and even your HVAC systems operate on AC motors which are considered to be an inductive load which when are turned on inherently cause a voltage drop due to the amount of power required to bring the motor up to speed. This voltage drop also induces the current or amps being used to increase dramatically to compensate for the voltage loss so that the device still receives the power it needs to operate. During this momentary period of the motor starting however your electric meter is spinning much faster than it normally would given a proper power factor rating being present.
The power factor conditioners ability to keep your power factor at or near 100% prevents these voltage drops therefore there is no sudden increase in amperage to get your appliances motor up to speed. The required power is simply there and it is the conditioner which experiences the voltage drop but as a capacitor stores energy it has it readily available to send to the appliance that requires it at that instance and therefore will not make your meter spin any faster when providing this voltage to the appliance. It should also be pointed out that without proper power factor the motors in your appliances during start up experience adverse heating and cooling which is very bad for their life expectancy and can significantly shorten their life cycle in your home.
So how much can one of these devices save you in cost savings on your electric bill? Typically we see savings of up to 25% on average in a home, but this will entirely depend on how many appliances you run, how big your HVAC systems are as in some instances we have noted savings up to as much as 38%. It may not seem like a huge savings each month but given that electric costs are rising sharply and the fact that these devices come with a 5 year manufacturers warranty and also have a 20 life expectancy, they are well worth their costs in energy savings and extended life cycles of the appliances in your home.
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