Solar Monitoring RX3000-U30-GSM
When Governor Schwarzenegger signed the landmark Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007, he launched a massive solar water heating program. The new legislation calls for a 10-year project aimed at installing approximately 200,000 solar water heaters in homes and businesses in California. By creating the program, lawmakers hope to reduce harmful emissions, increase energy efficiency, and lower electricity bills.
A recent study showed that households below the poverty line spend 19 percent of their income on utilities. To alleviate this burden and ensure energy conservation is widely accessible to California residents, the California Department of Community Services and Development and the Southern California Forum of Energy Efficiency, Environmental and Human Service Providers (SCF) launched a renewable energy pilot project. As part of the program, solar hot water heating systems have been installed in four 22 low-income, single-family testing houses across the state.
Escrowed by the National Petroleum Violation Account (PVEA), this program, in particular, will monitor and study each household's energy and gas consumption to determine the efficiency of solar hot water heating systems.
Arleen Novotney, executive director of Self-Consistent Fields, is currently leading the project.
“Our goal is to provide low-income households with access to renewable energy solutions designed to reduce energy consumption and lower energy bills,” Novotney explained. "For this project, we installed solar water heating systems in various climate zones across the state and will monitor the efficiency of the solar water heating systems."
For monitoring system performance, Novotney chose the network HOBO® U30-GSM/RX3000 (RX3003-00-01) remote monitoring system (AC current sensor T-ACT-0750-020, T-ACT-0750-050, T-ACT-0750 -100, T-ACT-0750-250, T-MAG-0400-05, T-MAG-0400-20, T-MAG-0400-50, T-MAG-0400-75, T-MAG-SCT-100 , T-MAG-SCT-200, T-MAG-SCT-600, T-VER-971BP-200 (DC current), energy sensor T-WNB-3D-240, T-WNB-3D-480, T-WNB -3Y-208, T-WNB-3Y-208-P Work Sensor T-VER-8051-300, T-VER-8053-800, Power Sensor T-VER-8044-100, Energy T-VER-E50B2, Water Flow sensor T-MINOL-130-NL, voltage sensor T-MAG-SPT-150, T-MAG-SPT-300, T-MAG-SPT-600, wind speed sensor T-DCI-F900-LO, T-DCI- F900-LP, T-DCI-F900-SO, T-DCI-F900-SP, CO2 sensor TEL-7001, compressed air flow sensor T-CDI-5200-10S, T-CDI-5400-20S, air differential pressure sensor T-VER-PXU-L, T-VER-PXU-X, pressure sensor T-ASH-G2-100, T-ASH-G2-200, T-ASH-G2-500, VOC sensor T-ION-TVOC, Pulse input S-UCC-M001, S-UCC-M006, S-UCD-M001, S-UCD-M006), by Massachusetts-based Computer Corporation. The monitoring system consists of a GSM mobile phone based data logging unit and sensors to monitor gas usage, hot and cold supply water temperature, solar collector water temperature, and hot water flow.
The HOBOU30-GSM/RX3000 (RX3003-00-01) collects data at one-minute intervals, 24/7, and the information is available through the network.
Novotney and her team can start by accessing the data from the HOBOlink™ website. "With HOBO link, we can look at the data at any time, we can access the Internet." Novotney said. "Being able to view the data remotely allows us to see the hot water heating unit perform without having to go back to the site to manually collect data."
According to Novotney, many factors were considered for this study. Assessments of these systems will include a snapshot of the owner's costs associated with gas and electricity usage, as well as post-installation energy costs. Energy savings will reflect climate zone, home size, and fuel type.
"And since there's never been a state-monitored solar hot water installation in our state, we wanted to track gas consumption while the solar was on and when the solar was off," Novotney explained.
The data collected so far indicate that solar hot water heating systems help. During the day the system shuts down and only turns back at night. "This is the type of data we need to see," Novotney explained. “We want to determine if the system is performing the way we want it to. The data shows we don’t need the system’s gas or electricity to be on during the day, which will ultimately save the owner money.”
According to Novotney, the HOBOU30-GSM/RX3000 (RX3003-00-01) system will continue to monitor the current test house until October when she and her team plan to change the location of the HOBO loggers to include additional testing.
"We plan to use the HOBOU30 system in each of the 22-day test house pilot studies," concluded Novotney. "We hope to have comparative data for the solar water heating hearing system within the next year."
