Noosa locals may have heard Mark Purcell speak at several public forums around the shire about his Electrify Everything journey, and the money he has saved through installing solar panels, a home battery, and heat-pumps for air-conditioning, hot water and pool heating.
Not to mention the savings he makes on fuel and maintenance from his electric vehicle.
Mark realised that he could save even more by optimising how and when he uses and charges electrical devices in the home, making sure he maximised usage when his solar panels were most productive.
“I had tons of solar power. It just wasn’t the right amount at the right time of day.” he explains, “I came across some open-source software that let me tune how fast my car was charging. I could also see how much solar I was producing and so I could actually match the two and I could ensure that my car wasn’t charging faster than how much my solar panels were producing.”
“I wanted to see how far I could take this. It was about having efficient devices and using them at exactly the optimal time.”
As part of his process of monitoring and controlling electricity use, Mark downloaded free software to his phone.
“Probably the biggest investment is the time, but it now means that I have all of these things in one app. I’ve now included the price of buying and selling electricity into my app. I’ve also now included the weather so I can see when more solar energy will be generated”.
Pool pumps are one clear example of the way Mark is maximising his energy efficiency.
Some of the newer heat pumps have wifi connectivity but Mark’s didn’t have this option.
However, with help from his electrician, he found outdoor power sockets at Bunnings which can be controlled remotely. These were installed and are now hooked into the pool’s filter pump and heat pump and can be controlled over the app on Mark’s phone.
“The standard rate for energy in Queensland is about 42 cents per kWh,” explains Mark.
“That would be quite an expensive proposition to heat and filter my pool, but because I run my electricity off my rooftop solar and I’m monitoring the wholesale spot price I only switch the pool heater on when the price is less than 5 cents a kWh. The impact for my family is that it really extends our swimming season.”
Mark’s home automation system is clearly bringing in financial and environmental benefits.
His system predicts whether prices will be higher or lower tomorrow or whether solar production will be more or less. This helps Mark to determine when to charge appliances, pool pumps and vehicles based on the best time of day and the price.
If you are interested in finding out more, visit ZEN Inc. website at zeroemissionsnoosa.com/rewiring-noosa. Here you’ll find Mark’s video about how he is monitoring his energy system; other video stories about home solar, home batteries and EVs, toolkits, online calculators and more. We also have video testimonials across a range of energy saving options such as electric vehicles, home solar and home batteries.
You can also contact us at info@zeroemissionsnoosa.com.
