I know. Not the most exciting news of the week but hey, I am kind of proud of myself this year.
I read somewhere in the spring that you would get some form of a discount on your power bill if you were below a certain amount each month. Please don’t ask me about the specifics but this stuck in my mind heading into the summer. Last year I had two consecutive bills averaging NT$3,000. I know. Very poor power managment.
But that was mostly because of my excessive use of the A/C.
So this summer my biggest bill so far, just received, is less than NT$1,000. Here is how I did it while still using my A/C. I received a NT$257 deduction for my low power output in the summer.
In the evening I kept most of my windows wide open and ran the fan to circulate the air. At night I still had most of the windows open and ran the fan in my bedroom. In the morning I would close all the windows after the sun came up to prevent hot air from coming into my apartment, while still containing the cool air from the evening. No use of the A/C.
It may sound simple but it is effective. I am also lucky because I live in a very quiet building so I know a lot of people can’t keep their windows open.
Anyway, around 11 am I would turn on the A/C for an hour exactly by setting the timer. Then it would keep my apartment cool until I went to work around 2 pm. When I got home from work I would just open my windows and turn on the fan. So even though I used my A/C every day, I still used much less power and my apartment was relatively cool by using the method above.
Perhaps none of this is news to most people but I used to be a horrible drain on power. Now at least I am beginning to use it economically while still having a cool apartment.
Well done Wonder.
I’ve also cut my bills over the last few years, but in my case it has been by buying new more efficient appliances (washing machine, air cons, fridge). Oh, and I got rid of my classroom tasers; they were a pretty heavy drain on the grid.
With a recent increase of around 30% on electricity supply, majority of us will have higher bills than before.
One Sogo made a rough calculation having to pay approx 4.5 million per month extra if keeping the same energy consumption ( thru should follow the approach of 3C whom changed majority of their stores to LED lighting )
When we moved to Linkou, all the old high energy level stuff got tossed and we decreased our bill on average by 60-70%.
Go green !
What a bunch of bloody idiots. Whenever I go in Sogo it’s like walking into a meat freezer. All they have to do is crank up the thermostat to something halfway normal. 22’C should be perfectly OK even for the delicate little flowers toting their bf’s credit cards around the makeup counters.
LEDs certainly last longer than fluorescents, but unless you’re using the latest generation types with proper power supplies, they’re not much more efficient.
Yep, a lot of white goods here are 1950’s spec. It’s nice that the newer models have finally been updated.
Anyway, congrats to wonder, who just proved that it really isn’t that difficult. Now you just have to convince 26m Taiwanese people that the world isn’t going to end just because they’re paying proper market rates for their energy instead of having it subsidized from their taxes.
I always laugh when I hear fellow Homo sapiens say things like, ‘Air conditioning is a necessity this climate’, as though the 200,000 years of anatomical modernity preceding AC simply never existed. Granted, the design of most buildings today assumes airconditioning but the climate itself does not require it.
Unless you’re not anatomically modern.
Anyway, sweating is fucking sexy. It’s just a pity omniloquacious is no longer here to write something about nipples.
And I always laugh at people who don’t know what life was like before air conditioning in the tropics. The rich had hill stations. The poor, and they still do this in India, slept on the roof or outside.
There is also the Heat island effect in cities along with air flow being blocked by density of buildings, the air and noise pollution and also mosquitoes getting in through the windows. Sure cutting it down is the ideal but it’s not easy.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with air conditioners - the technology itself. I think heat pumps are amazing machines. We ought to be using them more in cold countries. What’s bad is (1) architects who use technology to hide the fact that they can’t design their way out of a paper bag and (2) using heat pumps to reduce indoor temperature to a level that the average Brit would only expect to encounter in November. I use my aircon for about 3 months of the year (ie., about now) with the thermostat set to 26’C - and the wife still moans about it being too cold! We use it in heat-pump mode for another three months (winter). We barely even notice any difference in our electricity bill. I don’t have any aircon in my office - don’t need it, because it’s just me. I’m sure I don’t need to spell out what my low-tech solution is.
And what’s wrong with sleeping outside? Our next-door neighbour does that. Why not?
Bear in mind that the heat island effect is exacerbated by loads of densely-packed buildings pumping air into the outside environment. If convection is stifled, the outside temperature is actually going to rise higher than it might otherwise be. And then there are black road surfaces, which are essentially huge solar collectors. Again: pisspoor design.
Excellent! That goes to show that people will eventually do something for the environment when it affects their wallet. Unfortunately, for most people here (and everywhere else for that matter) that’s the only motivation to act environmentally friendly.
This is true, in terms of hitting the wallet, but as Finley said the poor design of buildings and cities makes us reach for the aircon more than we would wish for.
As for sleeping outside…well why did we invent roofs, doors and walls then .
Well we don’t turn on the A/C anymore when sitting in the living room but I can’t sleep without. I simply can’t sleep sweating like a pig and I prefer sleeping nice . However we have a little A/C in a little bed room and our average electricity bill is around 1000 per month, sometimes less and the A/C is basically running all night, every night.
It really depends on your apartment. At my current place I use much less ac as the building is squished between others, and very long so interior rooms stay nice and cool all day long. Coincidentally in summer the sun goes behind the building across the street around 3pm this helping to cool down the front. In winter the sun sets at sunset so the front rooms are nicely heated.
I use ac more for dehumidifying that cooling these days.
A fan really helps. You can set your AC at a higher setting like 26 or 27, and have a fan on to keep you cool or keep the air circulated. Get a good strong industrial fan, don’t go with those wimpy plastic POS that 3C places normally sell… those 18" Tatung industrial fans can move a LOT of air.
Your AC needs to be properly sized for the room. Slightly on the small side isn’t a bad thing as AC becomes more efficient when it runs longer (to a point) and longer running time helps remove more humidity from the room, making the room feel cooler at higher temperatures. The problem with the government’s 2000nt rebate is that it only applies to certain, often high btu appliances that cools more air per kwh, but are only suitable for living room or large space usage. If its household usage a 1 ton (8000btu) unit will easily cool about 5-7 ping to a comfortable level, and even up to 10 ping. Given the size of most rooms in Taiwan a unit of more than one ton is unnecessary for household use except for living rooms. Putting a 3 ton split unit in a 6 ping bedroom is just asking for high bills, the AC draws a huge amount of powder when it runs, which it will only run briefly. The room will feel like Antarctica when it runs, and the Sahara when it stops running, and humidity level will be at an all time high and your bill will be so high that you will most likely pass out. Only time you need a unit like that in a small room is if you’re running server racks and mainframes in that room! In America 3 ton units are used for an entire floor or house.
If you have a high usage because you are running a store or something, consider getting a demand based pricing scheme. You can then (if its a really large store like SOGO) have a system that makes huge tanks of ice during off demand time (where the rate is lower) and the ice is in turn used to cool the building during the day when the rate is higher.
Did you read my post? This time of year it “sets” behind the building across from me at 3pm. In winter the sun is lower and more southern in the sky so I can see it, and feel its life giving warmth until sunset. Comprendo?
Did you read my post? This time of year it “sets” behind the building across from me at 3pm. In winter the sun is lower and more southern in the sky so I can see it, and feel its life giving warmth until sunset. Comprendo? [/quote]
Yes exactly. The main reason for the A/C reduction was because it was hitting me in the wallet. But after a while I realised that I just didn’t need that much air con use. Funny that my girlfriend hasn’t said a thing about it when she comes over to visit, even when we have sex. :discodance:
Agree that Sogo and 7-Eleven, etc. are horrid drains on energy…freeze to death everytime I am in there longer than five minutes. But speaking of that, when I worked at GVO in Tainan it was worse. They would keep the air con cranked even on rainy days.
So I would drive to work during the monsoon on my scooter and arrive soaked to the skin, walk into the school and almost catch pneumonia. If I said anything about the air con they would look at me like I was from Mars (which wasn’t that unusual come to think of it).
aaargh … it makes me want to beat the lao ban to death with the drowned corpse of a polar bear when I walk into a shop (or whatever) in the middle of bloody winter, or a rainstorm, and they still have the aircon on full blast. WTF are these people thinking?
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. However we have a little A/C in a little bed room and our average electricity bill is around 1000 per month, sometimes less and the A/C is basically running all night, every night.
This time of year it “sets” behind the building across from me at 3pm. In winter the sun is lower and more southern in the sky so I can see it, and feel its life giving warmth until sunset. Comprendo? 
