Archive for the 'Steplight' Category

One Planet Week – Understanding Your Eco Footprint

Published 23 February 2012 Steplight Leave a Comment
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I’ve been thinking about an initiative underway this week by OzGREEN (‘One Planet Week’) to motivate people toward living sustainably.

One Planet Week 2012

Many people are now familiar with the term ‘Ecological Footprint’ and the concept of needing several Earth’s worth of resources to sustain our current lifestyles. But what does this all mean?

Ecological Footprints and how they are measured

An Ecological Footprint is a measure of the resources used by a person based on their activities, lifestyle and levels of consumption. This is measured in global hectares (gha), being the amount of land and sea required to supply the resources and deal with the waste generated.

See our related blog post: Calculating Your Eco Footprint.

For most people approximately half their eco-footprint will be from food consumption, followed by energy use, transport and goods and services.

Average Ecological Footprint

The average Ecological Footprint for an Australian is about 7gha. If every one of the Earth’s 7 billion people consumed the resources that we do, it would take the biocapacity of 3 or more Earth’s to support their lifestyle. The Earth’s biocapacity is the amount of biologically productive land and sea that is available to meet humanity’s needs.

As it is now, the Earth’s population has exceeded the Earth’s ability to support our current rate of consumption. We are depleting finite resources faster than ever before.

What can we do to reduce our Ecological Footprint?

Quite a bit really, and it’s easy by taking lots of small, simple steps. The simplest and cheapest thing we can do first is to reduce the amount of waste we create in all our activities, for example:

  • Become energy and water efficient (a good starting point is to understand your current usage).
  • Become foodwise.
  • Choose less packaging and use reusable coffee cups, water bottles, shopping bags, etc.
  • Compost and wormfarm organic waste.
  • Walk, cycle and use public transport, carpool and consolidate car trips.

Collectively our actions add up to enormous change.

Steplight can deliver a Sustainability Workshop on this topic. See our sustainability events calendar for an upcoming workshop in Pittwater Council.

- Marta Lett

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Wireless Power Monitor for Smart or Digital Electricity Meters – EW4030 FAQ

Published 17 February 2012 Steplight Leave a Comment
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Steplight recently released a new type of wireless energy monitor: the Watts Clever EW4030.

Unlike other wireless energy monitors (which use current sensor CT clamps to measure power usage) this unit works by sensing the LED flashes on your smart or digital electricity meter.

The great thing about this is that you can install it yourself – no electrician required. Listed below are some FAQ’s about this energy monitor.

EW4030 Box

Will it work with 3 phase power?

The EW4030 has one sensor so it can only read the output from one digital electricity meter at a time. It won’t capture all of your 3 phase loads unless all three phases are being reported by a single meter / LED impulse indicator.

In summary: if you have one electricity meter this unit will capture all usage. If you have more than one electricity meter, you can still use this monitor, but it will not measure all of your usage at the same time.

Will it work with solar?

The EW4030 will report back whatever the power going through your meter is. It measures the LED flashes (eg. 1 impulse = 1 watt hour) and sends data to the display screen so you can see instant demand in watts and consumption over time in kWh.

If, in the case of a house with solar power, the meter is reading net consumption, then that is what it will report.

See also our Watts Clever Solar Energy Monitor EW4009.

Can I use the EW4030 to monitor individual appliance usage?

You can monitor individual appliances using the EW4030 by looking at the changes in the power reading on display screen when the appliance is turned on or off.

For more immediate or direct feedback you would need to use our plug-in power meter and use EW4030 for an overall picture of your usage.

How often does the data on the display screen update?

The EW4030 updates every 30 seconds or so.

Will I need an electrician to install the meter?

No, all you need to do is mount the LED sensor on the front of your smart or digital meter inside your meter box. Adhesive stickers are included in the kit for this purpose. Here are some example installation photos:

EW4030 installation examples

How far can the wireless signal travel?

We have tested the range up to about 30m.

Can I carry the monitor around my home?

Yes, the EW4030 display is battery powered (2 x AA batteries, supplied). This means that you can walk around your home with the monitor and observe changes in energy use as you switch appliances on and off.

Click here to see our full range of power meters and monitors.

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11 tips to cut your food waste

Published 29 November 2011 Steplight 1 Comment
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The festive season is just around the corner and for the next few weeks many of us will be planning a gathering or two. There are Christmas dinners, summer barbeques and New Years parties and with that – plenty of food. Last year Steplight addressed the issue of e-waste, this year we’re focusing on wasted food.

Food waste is a major issue in Australia and around the world and during the festive season this waste increases. A national poll commissioned by ‘Do something’ found that 59% of Australians admitted to wasting more food than usual over Christmas. This is a lot of waste, especially when you consider that at any other time of the year we discard up to one in every 5 shopping bags of food.

In fact about 3 million tonnes of food is driven to landfill in Australia each year. This not only wastes our money (about $616 per household per year), it also wastes resources and generates methane (a greenhouse gas more potent than CO2) as it rots away in landfill.

Food waste per person per year in Australia

Perhaps the biggest waste of all is that good food is being thrown away while others in our community will not have enough food to share with their families and friends.  The good news is, if we all minimise our food waste it can add up to make a big difference and this festive season is a great time to start.

The Worldwatch Institute (USA) recently published an article addressing food waste and foodwise.com.au is a great resource for tips on how to reduce your impact. Below is a summary of some useful tips.

Shop smart

  • Plan out a menu and try to get an idea of how many guests to expect so that you can prepare the correct amount of food. There are a few online portion calculators such as ‘Perfect Portions’ that can help you with this.
  • Write out a shopping list and make sure you check for ingredients in your kitchen before you head to the shops to avoid doubling up. Make sure you stick to your list. Making a shopping list that corresponds to your menu also means you less likely to miss something which saves you from making several trips to the shops.
  • There are plenty of ‘2 for 1’ deals and offers at Christmas time that could lead to purchasing more than what you need. Only buy the quantity you need.
  • Never shop while hungry as you are more likely to make impulse buys.

Serve smaller

  • The look of all your delicious food presented on the dinner table can lead your guests to feast with their eyes and pile loads of food (unlikely to be finished) onto their plates. The simple solution is to use smaller plates and utensils. Guests are welcome to seconds and leftovers remain in the serving plates and are more likely to be reused.
  • Encourage guests to serve themselves. This reduces the amount of unwanted food on their plates.

Save leftovers

  • Store leftovers safely so that they can be preserved for future meals. Leftovers are also more likely to be eaten if stored in several small containers that are convenient for quick meals on the go.
  • Leftover meals and ingredients can also be used to make new meals. For example, Christmas eve ham and roasted vegetable leftovers can be turned into a delicious Christmas day cheesy bake.
  • Compost your food scraps. This will stop your food from filling landfill and will instead fill you gardens with nutrients and fertilisers – read our composting blogs for more information.
  • If your party is catered, donate leftovers to a food recovery program. There are several programs running throughout Australia such as ‘Oz Harvest’ that collect leftovers from catered events, restaurants and cafe’s and distribute it to those in the community that need it most. This service is usually free for the donor.
  • While raiding your  kitchen for ingredients for your party, take note of any non-perishables that you won’t need or use and donate them to your local charity. Those few forgotten cans of food can be donated to a charity that makes up Christmas hampers for the disadvantaged during Christmas. Contact your local charity for more information.

    OzHarvest logo and phone number

    Many options now exist to reduce food waste at a commercial level (such as OzHarvest 'food rescue')

- Alegria Alano

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Watts Clever Wireless Energy Monitor FAQ

Published 15 November 2011 Steplight 6 Comments
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Watts Clever Energy Monitor and TransmitterDo you have questions about the Watts Clever Home Energy Monitor (EW4008) or Watts Clever Solar Energy monitor (EW4009)? Read our frequently asked questions and answers below.

Will it work with 3 phase power?

Yes. To measure three-phase power you need a total of three sensor clamps. All you need to do is buy two extra clamps with your energy monitor (see purchase options on the two pages linked above).

Can I carry the monitor around my home?

Yes. Unlike other energy monitors which are only mains powered (and stay in one spot) or only battery powered (and run out of batteries all the time), the Watts Clever monitors are both mains powered and battery powered.

This means you can walk around your home with the monitor and observe changes in energy use as you flick appliances on and off. When you return it to mains power don’t forget to remove the batteries to prevent them from going flat. Running on battery power alone the screen will only last a few days.

Can I use the energy monitor to look at individual appliance usage?

Yes. You do this by observing the difference in consumption when the appliance is turned on and off. The screen updates every 10 seconds.

To monitor individual appliance consumption in detail we recommend using the Plug-in Power Meter.

Can I download the data?

Yes. You will need to buy a USB Data Cable from the home energy monitor page.

To download the driver and software for the monitors please refer to the support tab on these pages:

Can I enter three time-of-use tariffs from my smart meter?

Yes. These monitors can have three tariffs programmed into them (see manual for details).

Bear in mind that no energy monitor on the market can account for the true complexity of a three tariff system. This is because these tariffs change depending on what time it is, the day of the week and whether it is a public holiday (i.e. the monitor would need a complete calendar in it).

Can I monitor my solar power production using this monitor?

Yes. Make sure you order the Solar EW4009 model to do this. Please note that you will most likely require the assistance of an electrician to make sure you clamp the sensor over the correct cables.

This is a simplified diagram of how it works:

Wireless Solar Energy Monitor Graphic

How far will the transmitter signal travel?

We have tested the signal to about 30 metres.

My meter box is over 30 metres away, can I still use the energy monitor?

Yes. You should be able to clamp over the incoming supply cable before it gets split off into individual circuits at your household switchboard. We recommend using an electrician to do this as it is often ‘behind the board’. If you have a circuit breaker at your switchboard, you may be able to do this yourself (clamp around the cable which goes into the breaker – if this is on the outside of the board).

What size are the sensor clamps?

The internal diameter of the sensor clamp is 25mm (red clamp pictured at the top of this page). This accommodates all cable sizes you are likely to encounter on a residential or small business meter board.

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How thermal imaging cameras identify energy wastage

Published 9 November 2011 Steplight Leave a Comment
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Steplight is now offering for purchase or rent the FLIR i7 thermal imaging camera. It’s the most recent addition to our suite of energy monitoring tools.

What exactly is it good for?

Most wasted energy consumption ends up as heat

The thermal imaging camera picks up on the fact that almost all wasted energy consumption ultimately ends up as ‘waste heat’.

Take lighting as an example: the electricity not converted into visible light ends up as waste heat. As a result, you can see a more efficient light from a less efficient one with a thermal imaging camera.

We run the relatively energy efficiency 20 watt ‘infra-red coated’ halogens in our office. Even so, when you point the thermal imaging camera at the ceiling you can still see they generate a considerable amount of heat. You can also see the waste associated with each lamp’s transformer (the hot ‘smudge’ seen next to each of the three lamps below). This is obviously not something which can be seen with the naked eye.

3 halogens lights and transformers in ceiling thermal image

Here’s another lighting example of the spotlights often used in conference booths and motion sensor lights:

Two PAR38 spotlights thermal image

Having said all that, lighting is not usually the main focus of thermal imaging studies. I was just having some fun pointing the camera at different objects, like my dog:

Jack Russell thermal image

The real value of thermal imaging comes when analysing things like hot water, heating and cooling. This is often where the biggest savings can be made to a building’s energy consumption.

For example, the priority areas for pipe insulation can be seen in this image of the hot water pipes next to a storage tank.

Uninsulated hot water pipes thermal image

Energy leakage through windows and doors can also be identified. In this image you can see three air conditioning vents pumping out 16 degree conditioned air, straight in front of a glass roof sitting at 30 degrees (and it’s not even in direct sunlight).

Infrared image of air conditioning vents and glass roof

This image shows the difference between having a window covered by a blind (right hand side) vs uncovered (left hand side). A six degree difference in this case.

Covered vs uncovered glass infrared image

In summary, thermal imaging cameras are a useful tool when conducting more indepth energy audits. They can uncover energy wastage which you simply cannot see with the naked eye. They are also an excellent tool for conducting ‘before and after’ analysis. This is particularly useful when evaluating the effectiveness of a certain energy efficiency measures.

It is true, however, that these cameras are very expensive and therefore inaccessible to most energy assessors. You can now overcome this hurdle by hiring a FLIR i7 at a very reasonable rate from us.

- Ryan McCarthy

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