By Richard Keech

2019-01-18

Here’s a quick look at how I’ve transformed my home to zero bills.   Since the beginning of the transition I’ve now saved nearly $49,000 in energy.  I expect to have paid back my investment in solar and efficiency by the end of 2019.

Despite using much less energy, it’s also worth mentioning that the home is also much more comfortable than it was previously, thanks to the fundamental improvements to the thermal envelope.

Energy consumption reduced to less than energy generation

Continue reading “Zero-bill case study” →

by Richard Keech

2019-01-10

In Victoria, Australia, we now have a complete roll out of smart meters for our home electrical supply. It’s not unusual to find people who are of the view that smart meters are bad and that the roll out program was a costly failure.  I want to present an alternative view.  Smart meters give important capability, and the roll-out program has probably saved lives.

Continue reading “In praise of smart meters” →

(aka Why I’m a Voltage-Optimisation Sceptic)

Of late I’ve seen reports about how high grid voltage is supposedly a problem and why voltage optimisation may be the solution.  But is high grid voltage the villain it’s made out to be?

By Richard Keech

2018-11-08

Continue reading “Verifying the Voltage Villain” →

In selecting home heating, a common choice is a ducted system.  Generally I think ducted heating is a bad idea for homes.  Here’s my take on the problems with ducted systems.

By Richard Keech

2018-10-20  based on earlier work from 2013

Continue reading “Don’t do ducts” →

by Richard Keech

2018-10-10

The problem

Downlight fittings that you commonly see in Australian homes are often an energy and comfort nightmare.  They can be associated with up to five different problems.  Before you go replacing a halogen bulb with an LED replacement, read this.

Continue reading “We need to talk about downlights” →

This outlines a possibly novel approach to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of heat pumps used for home heating, cooling and hot water. This involves placing the units in the sub-floor space to exploit the thermal mass of the ground in both summer and winter.

By Richard Keech

2018-10-02

Continue reading “Earth-improved heat-pump operation” →

There’s been lots of talk of late about a hydrogen economy.  I’ve looked into this. In a nutshell I can’t see Hydrogen being widely adopted for energy storage within our electricity system. Likewise, I can’t see it being widely used for transport except in some very limited cases.  Its use within the gas network seems like greenwash. However there does seem to be some potential in using hydrogen as an intermediate product in creating transportable liquids like ammonia, methanol and methane for use as export feedstocks or as fuels.

by Richard Keech

Published 2018-09-23,  based on investigation done in early 2017

Continue reading “What’s up with Hydrogen” →