The Importance of High Efficiency

When choosing appliances or equipment to use in a renewable energy powered home, efficiency should be one of the primary considerations. A small increase in efficiency can save a great deal of expense in electricity production, especially in the case of solar power. For example, if a vcr uses 20 watts less than another brand, and it is anticipated that the vcr will be used about 2 hours a day, the energy savings would amount to 40 watt-hours, or about 3.25 amp hours in a 12 volt system. While this may not seem like much, in a climate with 4 sun hours yearly average solar insolation it costs about $75 to generate that electricity on an continuous basis. In northern climes, the installed cost of generating that power could be 4 times that much! As you can see, speding a little more for more efficiency is almost always a good decision. In applications where the item in question is used on a continuous basis, as with refrigeration, efficiency becomes even more critical. If elecrical refrigeration is going to be used in your system, we highly reccomend using one of the high efficiency models available. (Sunfrost or an equivelent brand)