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Old 08-24-14, 08:19 PM   #12
ICanHas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AC_Hacker View Post
I don't know why this thread is in the Geothermal & Heat Pump area of the Forum. It has nothing to do with any of these things, or with any of the innovative and worthwhile projects and efforts that are here.

It is not project oriented, and is really just an editorial or opinion piece.
-AC
I disagree. There are YouTube videos about using surplus industrial VFD at home and discussions advocating it. I think the creator of video has good intentions, yet unaware of harmful effects when more people start doing it.

The air conditioner compressor is the largest motor that gets any significant number of hours at homes. Discussions pertaining to VFD that maybe used for this purpose is a pertinent topic. Things that are harmless when kept to a drop in a bucket don't stay that way when it becomes more concentrated.

Increased losses in the distribution system is wasted energy.

Products that induce power quality problems and require intervention by energy provider are social expenses. Straight through VFD has the lowest manufacturing cost and a fairly high device level efficiency. When some jerk hooks up a industrial 2.4kW 5kVA VFD at home on a 30kVA residential service, the demand distortion is significant. It's no biggie when you're only using them in a small quantity in an industrial setting so that the demand by VFD only adds up to a drop in a bucket. That is how it was two decades ago. Modern residential use inverter ACs do have a fairly effective harmonic mitigation. Cheap China made VFDs sold in the internets will also be the most harmful type that omits harmonic mitigation that adds to manufacturing cost.

The "green industry" is composed of significant amounts of marketing companies that thrive on getting in touch with the consumer's warm and fuzzy feeling about saving the environment using crafty numbers or emotional stimulation. Environmentally unsound projects or solutions disguised as "saving the mother earth" for financial gains and the less visible and delayed harmful effects in the bigger picture negate the benefits, the overall effect can be an environmental and social HARM.

It maybe very well intended but unaware of harmful effects or it could be sham looking for whatever reasons to create demand for products or indifferent to indirect effects or hiding them for the sake of profit. Ruthless bottom line driven green marketing that preys upon the uninformed public is dime a dozen. It's not exactly news flash that businesses hide harmful effects for the sake of protecting profit even if its a total showstopper to the benefits touted. Earlier LED light bulbs and patented, proprietary parts driven embedded systems based appliances with a fairly short factory warranty that wipes out any saving by ONE service call are some examples.
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