Power me up

By Mark Stinson
Posted Monday, March 12, 2007

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Siler City, NC - I have started back on making the house more energy efficient and my truck. The shop truck made it to a sustained mileage of 22.4 from 13. I feel I got all I could from a 35 year old 4000 truck with 250,000 miles on the engine.

I decided to start with a much fresher engine and a bigger challenge. Its the same 4000 lb truck but with a larger engine now. The old 350 cubic inch engine was very tired and now I have a 396 cubic inch engine with 400 plus horsepower to play with. It stands at 8 mpg so far without any modifications.

I am going to apply the same ideas to this engine as I did the old engine to see what we get. I had to go backwards with economy first to a nearly stock engine to see if things work on a bigger engine with more power.

The second thing I am tinkering on are ways to heat and cool my home with a minimum of electricity. I have a small working model of a new way to heat the house and cool it. I have most of the components for a larger version but I need a few things I cant get my hands on. I need a small metal lathe (36in to 4 ft ) and a small multipurpose machine to manufacture the parts I need to build the larger version.

I have a list of things I have incorporated in the house to cut my electric bill and energy usage without sacrificing comfort and livability. If anyone is interested in getting more for their energy dollar and would be willing to help me locate the two tools I need to build a bigger version of what I know works. I would be willing to build two units. I believe it will be a neat way to keep home feeling like home whether its 90 or 30 outside. I don't expect free help, just help to get what I need to do this.

The radiant barrier I spoke of some time back has made a big difference in my homes ability to retain heat during this cold weather. I would recommend it to anyone that is in the process of a light remodeling. If you plan to replace your vinyl or siding this needs to be installed under it.

I have found that the halogena electric lights and the (twister) type florescent bulbs put out as much light as conventional bulbs with a tremendous savings in electricity. The last thing I discovered is with a new lean too type top over my heat pump helps it works more efficiently. The worst month last year during cold weather ate $400 for my house electric. This billing period is actually colder than that time last year and it looks to be over a $100 cheaper so far.

I am interested in anyone else's energy saving ideas so drop me a line.