| Solar Heaters: In October I made a solar heater to place over one of two windows. I have two windows that are the same size and are on the same wall and both receive the same amount of sun. The window without the heater on a given day reached a temperature of 80 degrees. The window with the solar heater on the same day and time reached 90 degrees. The window at 80 degrees allowed the sun to shine through and gave light and had much more surface contact area. The solar heater is made from a sheet of card board painted flat black on one side. The painted side is exposed to the sun. It has a opening at the top and bottom as wide as the window and about 3 inches tall. This allows the warm air to rise out the top and cooler air to be drawn in from the bottom. I'm not sure yet which one is better. 11/5/08 |
| Solar Shades: I had installed solar shades on all windows that are exposed to the sun for about 75% of this time frame. I’ll give an example of how the solar shades have helped. Today I had shut off one room that before installing the solar shades would get hot during the day very quickly. I shut the door and left the AC off. I checked back around 4:30pm and the temperature outside in the shade was 89 degrees, the temperature in this room was 81 degrees. Before installing the solar shades this room would have been as hot or hotter than the temperature outside. Again as I have mentioned before, if the glass is hot then it is producing heat. This is great in the winter but not in the summer. The picture shows 3 different shades The one in the middle was bought at Lowe’s, it’s just a screen door but already had a solar screen in it. It can easily be took down. The one on the left is the one I made, the screen was almost to narrow for this one. You don’t have to make a frame you can replace an existing screen with a solar screen shade. This one can be taken down as well. The vine on the right side is also a natural solar shade as it blocks the sun from heating the brick up. In the winter the leaves on the vine die off letting the sun come through. Anything that blocks or reduces the sun’s impact and prevents the heat up in the summer will work. You may want that heat in the winter though. A solar screen looks like a very thick bug screen. A regular screen works a little like a solar screen as well. 7/1/08 |
| This is a meter that can be used to see how much electricity devices use when turned on and off. Some will show Watts, Amps, and volts and can calculate, daily, weekly and monthly operating costs. I have one similar to this one and using it learned that my AA battery charger used 4 watts when not charging just because it was plugged up! Multiply by 24/7 and it adds up over time. 11/6/08 |
| I added around 6-8 inches of blow in insulation to the attic the last week of October. This will put my R-value around R-51-53 |
| Update- I remade my solar heater out of paneling and added some metal sheets and made and extra one for the other window. I should have these up this week. 1/21/09 |
| 5/24/09: I have replaced most of the Appliances with Energy Star rated or with more efficient models if not available with a energy star rating. I use a timer on a air purifier so it only runs when we are active in the room. It's easy to forget to turn off or on. |