The Coffee Maker, and Some Follow-Up

Briefly, our coffee maker (Proctor Silex 48521, i.e., the cheap plastic one with just the on-off button)

used 100 Wh (0.1 kWh) to make one pot, with an additional 20 Wh to run the warming plate for 20 minutes. When brewing, the power draw is 950 W.

What does this mean?  At $.20 / kWh, the cost of the electricity to make a pot of coffee and keep it warm for twenty minutes is about $0.02.  CO2-wise -- about two ounces.

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Follow-up promised in earlier posts:

Follow-up #1: Charging the Nissan Leaf:  As our Nissan Leaf charges at home, the Kill-A-Watt

reports that our "Level 1" system draws 1350 W (1.350 kW).  Typically a recharge puts between 10 to 15 kWh into the car, which means that the charging process runs for 7.5 to 11 hours.  The cost per charge is then $2-$3, not bad for the fuel cost of a commute of 50-75 miles.  CO2-wise, a charge results in a release of 15-25 lbs, less if you charge with power from a renewable source.  To go the same distance range with an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) that gets 25mpg, the CO2 release is 40-60 lbs, while the gasoline costs $5-$8.

The charge time is something you might think you have to get used to as an electric vehicle (EV) owner.  Actually it's not.  What you need to adopt is a new paradigm about parking.  Parking no longer means just locking and leaving your car.  It now means locking and leaving your car *after plugging it in*.  For example, I now typically grocery shop at the Wayland Center Stop'n'Shop because they have 10 FREE Level 2 charging stations.  Level 2 adds about 3.5 kWh per hour, or about 15-20 miles of range per hour, depending on how aggressively you drive.  While I'm in the store for 30 minutes, the car gets nearly 2 kWh (8-10 miles) of free fuel.  It costs the store about $.40.

 

Three cars in the free charging location at the Wayland Center Stop'n'Shop.  Apparently electric models made by Honda, Caddilac and Mercedes-Benz (snark, snark).

The catch is that your destinations need to have charging stations.  Presently most destinations do not.  OK, it's a brave new world for now. However, there are fast charging stations at most malls and Nissan dealers in the Boston MetroWest area.  A fast charger is something to behold, pouring in 10 kWh in 15 minutes (10-12x faster than a Level 2 charger).  In most cases, on any given trip, you pass by one of the fast charger locations.  There's even a web site and an app from http://plugshare.com that show you where they are, along with some information about the current status (the voltage status, too, ha ha).  Also, the Leaf will navigate you to a charging station, whether or not you purchased the built-in GPS option.

Charging stations in the Boston area shown on the http://plugshare.com web site. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Another great charging destination: Maynard center.  With the Fine Arts Theatre, along with

"fine dining" establishments like Babico's and quite a number of others, there are lots of reasons to go to Maynard Center. While you're there, you can plug into one of two charging stations the town provides for free.  They're just across from the theatre.





One of the disappointing destinations is West Concord. Like Maynard, West Concord has quite

 a number of good lunch places (including a place with great fish sandwiches), and it has two charging stations.  Unfortunately these charging stations have not worked in months.  They belong to Concord Light (the local power utility), so a call to their engineering department (978-318-3101) might help get these charging stations back in service.




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Follow-up #2:  The basement dehumidifiers have been swapped.  At first glance, it seems that the unit that was by the cat litter has gone bad.  It runs nearly incessantly, makes a grinding noise, and draws 500W while doing its thing.  The other unit barely comes on (even in the suspected humid location in the basement), although it draws 750W while running.  Full report tomorrow.

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Guest posts: There has been interest among others who secretly own Kill-A-Watts to contribute to this blog.  The blog management has graciously accepted their offers.  Look for posts by guest contributors in coming days.