Project:EnergyConsumption
Current Consumption
We use a lot of power! At the moment we have a baseline of ~1.5-2 kW. We need to look at it critically so that we can keep our costs down and buy more cool stuff.
Survey
A survey of appliances in the space that could account for our energy consumption.
TODO
Get a kill-a-watt or equivalent to measure appliances. Please see this project: Energy Consumption Monitoring in order to help make this happen.
| Appliance | Min Power | Max Power |
|---|---|---|
| Flowers | ||
| Bell | ||
| Lovelace | ||
| Laser | ||
| Lights | ||
| Dishwasher |
Possible Solutions
These are more of an ideas list rather than actions that are needed to be taken. As with everything at the hackspace a chaotic concencus do-it-ocracy will decide if these are implemented.
No idea is the "one-true-way" and there is nothing to say that they cannot be implemented simultaneously.
Signs
Printed signs to go on switches to say "Please turn off when finished."
Heater Timer
Hard-wire timer boxes onto the heaters, so that those wishing to use it can only turn it on for a certain time. Heaters cannot be accidentally left on.
Re-Wiring Lights
The light circuits for both spaces are quite "large" with lots of lights connected to the same loop. It may help if certain areas were re-wired to make the switches more discrete. An example would be to have individual lighting loops (and therefore switches) for the foyer (Unit 24), old-workshop (Unit24) and main workspace (Unit24). Currently there are only two switches controlling the two halves of Unit 24.
Unit 23 could be partition depending on where most places get used. Maybe in half width-ways?
Light switches in Unit23 need to be re-routed or something. There is currently two sets of switches making it an arse to turn-on switch off lights.
PIR Workshop
Currently the workshop is used infrequently and left empty for long times. This means the lights can be left on consuming power. A PIR will turn on when someone enters and turn lights off after a pre-defined period of activity. But note that it must not be possible for the PIR to turn the lights off while someone is operating machinery. This might be avoided by broadcasting a countdown before the lights are turned off.
Turbine
TODO
- Need to okay with landlord
Solar Cells
TODO
Treadwheel
A large treadwheel in the space. An ideal way to make non-financial donations to the space. Also useful for tiring out wired children and bored hackers, particularly after sales of Red Bull or Club Mate.
