Comments for Chris Gammell's Analog Life http://chrisgammell.com Combining renewable energy, analog design and some real life experience. A delicious stew of engineering! Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:17:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 Comment on Buying a House and Making It More Efficient by Elaine http://chrisgammell.com/2008/11/21/buying-a-house-and-making-it-more-efficient/#comment-455 Elaine Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:19:11 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=564#comment-455 How about doing your own composting? Yard trimmings and food scraps account for 24% of the trash Americans throw away (http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/composting/index.htm). Even if you live in a city with a composting program that will pick up your food/yard waste (like Seattle), it takes a lot of energy to truck the waste to a composting facility, turn it into compost on an industrial scale, then truck it back to the city parks or wherever the compost is used. <em>Brilliant idea! It excites me even more because you could do that in an old refrigerator! Double score! ~Chris</em> How about doing your own composting? Yard trimmings and food scraps account for 24% of the trash Americans throw away (http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/composting/index.htm). Even if you live in a city with a composting program that will pick up your food/yard waste (like Seattle), it takes a lot of energy to truck the waste to a composting facility, turn it into compost on an industrial scale, then truck it back to the city parks or wherever the compost is used.

Brilliant idea! It excites me even more because you could do that in an old refrigerator! Double score! ~Chris

]]> Comment on DC powered home by Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life http://chrisgammell.com/2008/10/09/dc-powered-home/#comment-454 Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:46:59 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=373#comment-454 [...] DC Power Outlets — Instead of plugging in cell chargers that are burning power no matter if you are charging something or not, why not have a few lines in your house that are set to a specific voltage, say 6V (most devices are running 3.3V these days). Then when the 6V comes to the wall, you could have a “tuner” based on a buck converter that would dial down that voltage to the one you need. Delivering power from a central source could be controlled remotely, so you could close a relay at the source and no power would be delivered to the converter unless “asked for”, and there would be very low losses in the system. [...] [...] DC Power Outlets — Instead of plugging in cell chargers that are burning power no matter if you are charging something or not, why not have a few lines in your house that are set to a specific voltage, say 6V (most devices are running 3.3V these days). Then when the 6V comes to the wall, you could have a “tuner” based on a buck converter that would dial down that voltage to the one you need. Delivering power from a central source could be controlled remotely, so you could close a relay at the source and no power would be delivered to the converter unless “asked for”, and there would be very low losses in the system. [...]

]]> Comment on The Great North by Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life http://chrisgammell.com/2008/09/19/the-great-north/#comment-453 Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:44:09 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=180#comment-453 [...] Windows are one of the best ways to lose heat and waste energy in the winter, especially in the great north. It feels like it literally is sucking the heat from your house. Sure, double pane and triple pane [...] [...] Windows are one of the best ways to lose heat and waste energy in the winter, especially in the great north. It feels like it literally is sucking the heat from your house. Sure, double pane and triple pane [...]

]]> Comment on Great resources for learning about analog electronics by Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life http://chrisgammell.com/2008/07/18/great-resources-for-learning-about-analog-electronics/#comment-452 Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:43:31 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=45#comment-452 [...] about what I can do with it. I think using it as an example for simple home fixes and ways that analog electronics projects can help to save money and carbon emissions will be good for my conscience and for this [...] [...] about what I can do with it. I think using it as an example for simple home fixes and ways that analog electronics projects can help to save money and carbon emissions will be good for my conscience and for this [...]

]]> Comment on Power Saving Techniques by Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life http://chrisgammell.com/2008/10/01/power-saving-techniques/#comment-451 Buying a House and Making It More Efficient | Chris Gammell's Analog Life Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:43:14 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=328#comment-451 [...] Power Outlets — Instead of plugging in cell chargers that are burning power no matter if you are charging something or not, why not have a few lines in your house that are set [...] [...] Power Outlets — Instead of plugging in cell chargers that are burning power no matter if you are charging something or not, why not have a few lines in your house that are set [...]

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