One can ensure that each device attached to a water system receives the predicted amount of water regarless of what is happening elsewhere in the system.

The following figures illustrate this principle best.

]]> http://www.easyenergy.co.za/controlled-distribution.html/feed 2 http://www.easyenergy.co.za/save-water-save-electricity.html http://www.easyenergy.co.za/save-water-save-electricity.html#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:12:54 +0000 justin http://www.easyenergy.co.za/?p=652 Save water, save water, save water is the message you get when driving around a lot of the towns in South Africa. A major water crisis is looming in South Africa as 98% of our water resources have been allocated for use already. The effect of what seems to be poor management at government level along with the effects of climate change means that South Africa’s water reserves will just not be enough.

Save water today and do your bit to help save water in South Africa. You will not only save water, but also save electricity at the same time by installing Easy Energy’s flow regulators. You will save electricity as you will no longer have to reheat as much water as you are saving water whilst showering and using the basin.

Easy Energy has the ideal solutions to help you save water and save electricity by using its range of flow regulators.

Easy Energy has a fantastic variety of water flow regulators that we would simply love to advise you on, and install for you in your home. All water devices in your building will deliver a constant amount water regardless of what is happening elsewhere in the supply system. By having a water flow regulator in place you will be saving on both water consumption and energy used to heat the water.

Allow Easy Energy to assist you with saving money and the environment – order your water flow regulator today!

Easy Energy is a company dedicated to helping people and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint on the earth by saving energy…and at the same time, saving on their finances too! Saving energy with Easy Energy is as simply as incorporating their devices and methods into your every day life and households. What are these devices and methods? Solar energy water heating kits, geyser regulating devices, water flow regulating devices and heat recycling are just some of the options that Easy Energy have for you!

Join Easy Energy in changing the way we live in order to save our resources and environment today!

Some theories on global warming suggest that global warming will cause more extreme weather conditions on the planet as the planet’s weather systems try and balance the excess energy held by increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This means that hot climates will get hotter, cold climates will get colder, dry areas will get drier, wet areas will get wetter and hurricanes will get stronger. If this is the case, South Africa’s current water supply will theoretically shrink in which case we won’t have enough water resources to counter the effects of shrinking rainfall, let alone the growing economy (once we get out of this recession).

I always remember my dad and grandfather referring to the big drought they had on our family farm down in the Langkloof in the 80’s and that the weather patterns are changing. My family settled on our farm in the 1760’s and if you read the family history things have certainly changed on the weather front. The Langkloof was originally called the ‘valley of thunder’ by explorers in the 1700’s because of the massive and frequent thunderstorms that they had in the area back then. Now days, they have a lot fewer thunderstorms and the rainfall pattern is changing. The farm is getting drier by the day and they have had to take preventative measures such as placing saw dust under the apple trees to reduce water evaporation from the soil, change from microjet irrigation technology to the more efficient dripper technology (saving roughly 30%). 30% saving on 60 hectares of apple trees is a massive amount of water let alone the 30% less water you had to pump and therefore saving in electricity.

Changing your water usage on a farm is not something that one does overnight, but rather over several years as there are several knock on effects. An example of such a knock on effect is that the trees need to adapt their root structures to collect water from a much condensed area. It also required immense foresight from my dad as well as capital injection to make the change else we would have run out of water and the trees would have bared smaller crops and we would not have been able to put food on the table to survive.

The point I’m trying to make is that every South African should take ownership of the fact that we have limited resources in our changing world and start promoting efficienct living and just live more efficient ‘green’ lives as a whole. Just like the closed farm environment where the farmer has to make a plan (boer maak ‘n plan) to survive given the limted resources they have, the rest of South Africa should do so as well. The current energy crisis and looming water crisis is not just going to fix itself. We all need to do our part and help solve these problems. Start saving in every aspect you can  as every drop counts – start minimising your general (water and carbon) footprint on earth today! We need to be efficient in the way we do things and live. It can only benefit you in every way in the long run!

Easy Energy has a wide range of energy saving and water saving devices which can assist you in reducing your water footprint as well as your carbon footprint. By saving water you don’t only save water but also save electricity – ‘killing two birds with one stone’!

South Africa has in recent times been hit by so called load shedding which saw large parts of the country being plunged into darkness as the national energy utility failed to meet the electricity demands of the growing South African economy. The load shedding along with many energy saving and solar water heating campaings has raised a great awareness of how precious energy is in South Africa. Recent hikes in energy costs by the national untility and regulator has emphasized the energy crisis even more and most consumers are now looking to save energy and as a result save money. Saving the environment on the other hand has been a secondary factor in many people’s decisions and is typically not the primary goal when ‘going green’.

South Africa has long been a very dry country with most cities and towns around the coutry having had water restrictions imposed on them in recent times as dam levels reached dangerously low levels. Although many water transfer and storage schemes exist in South Africa, a shrinking gap between water supply and demand is inevitable as the economy grows. Who knows, we may just have a very similar situation on the water front as we did on the energy front!

People can choose to change their lifestyles and as a result become more water and energy efficient, however the majority of people do it for the first week or so and then revert back to the more convenient and less efficient ways of doing things.

Easy Energy has launched an exciting new range of imported products which allows one to easily save water without having to change your lifestyle. We strive to save water and energy without loss in comfort. The newly launched range of flow regulators do just that, they regulate the flow of water and as a result reduce the amount of wasted water. Substancial amounts of energy is also saved in the process as less water has to be reheated.

The flow regulators are extremely easy to install and come in many shapes and sizes to meet the requirements of 99.9% of applications. The flow regulators can easily be retrofitted to the majority of showers and hand basins to ensure that just the right amount of water is delivered to do the job. One typically sees a 50% to 60% reduction in water consumption with 6 litres/minute being delivered to basins and 10 litres/minute being delivered to showers.

Flow regulators have a payback period of between 2 and 4 months making them the ideal energy and water saving choice.

Please feel free to contact us either on +27 (87) 351 9220 or info@easyenergy.co.za for further information on this exciting new range of water and energy saving products.

• Reduced water and electricity
• Doing your bit for saving your environment and ultimately the world.
• Reducing your carbon footprint

How will Easy Energy help you to save water and the energy used to heat it? Easy Energy has a fantastic range of flow regulating devices and devices to reduce water consumption that act as the perfect water efficiency solutions.

Easy Energy doesn’t just offer you a variety of affordable water efficiency solutions, but also offers services to professionally install them on your home. Conserving water and energy has never been more convenient than with Easy Energy’s efficiency solutions.

Geyser Wise is a device that is used to control a geyser in a more efficient way as well as detect any problems in your hot water system. Substantial amounts of money can be saved by detecting problems in the hot water system at an early stage. The Geyser Wise is a device that replaces your geyser’s existing analogue thermostat and controls your geyser in a more intelligent way which saves you money.

Geyser Wise Remote Control Unit

Expected Savings

Geyser Wise will save you around 20% of your monthly electrical bill.

Benefits

• Save up to 20% of your electricity bill
• Move your electrical load to off peak periods
• Reduce your carbon footprint
• Detect hot water pipe leaks early
• Detect scale build-up in your geyser
• Prevent your geyser from over heating
• Automatically turn your geyser off during periods where nobody uses hot water

Typical Use

• Anybody with a geysers can have a Geyser Wise system installed and start saving immediately. Examples are:
• Households – turn your geyser off while you are sleeping or while you are at work, but ensure that you have hot water when you need it
• Offices – turn your geyser off at night and on weekends
• Shops – turn your geyser off at night and on weekends

How it saves

• Geyser Wise saves you money by turning your geyser off at times when nobody is using water. This prevents your geyser from unnecessarily heating water when it is not needed.
• Geyser Wise detects any problems in the hot water system at an early stage which ensures that hot water is not wasted.
• Geyser Wise allows you to set up to 4 periods per day when your geyser must be switched on
• Separate periods can be set for weekdays and weekends

Documents

• Geyser Wise Brochure [215kB/PDF]

SABS

Yes, the Geyser Wise unit has been tested by SABS Commercial (Pty) Ltd in terms of standard IEC 60950.

Installation

• Any qualified electrician can install a Geyser Wise unit.
• Easy Energy can arrange for the installation to be done, or you can arrange for your local electrician to install it.

Purchasing Options

Click here to buy a unit from our Online Shop now.

Water efficiency is a critical component of enviromental and energy saving measures and is often overlooked. Substantial energy, carbon and water can be saved by installing various water saving devices around buildings and factories. Energy is saved as less water is used which results in less water having to be heated.

Benefits of using water more efficiently

• Reduction in water bill
• Reduction in electrical bill
• Save the environment by using less water
• Reduce your carbon footprint by using less water and therefore less electricity

How can I become more water efficient?

• Water efficiency can be achieved in various ways, including:
• Adapting your water usage habits to be more efficient
• Installing flow regulating devices to manage water usage
• Installing devices to assist in reducing water consumption

Easy Energy strives to assist its customers in becoming more water efficient without changing the original experience.

How do I know what water efficiency devices to install?

Easy Energy’s highly trained staff will be able to assist you in selecting the correct product as well as professionally install the water efficiency solutions.

Please contact us for more information on this exciting range of water efficiency solutions.

A flow regulator does just that, it regulates the flow of water independant of water pressure to provide you with a constant predictable flow of water. Various models of flow regulators are avaliable that provide a wide range flow rates and can be used in many applications.

The following graph illustrates how a 6 litre per minute flow regulator regulates the flow rate of water through it regardless of the pressure whereas the flow rate increases as the pressure increases in the unregulated scenario.

Regulated flow and Unregulated flow vs. Pressure

Benefits

• Flow regulators offer many benefits, including:
• Save Water by preventing excess water from being wasted
• Save Energy by preventing hot water from being wasted
• Accurately predict how much water is used per device – especially usefull in large buildings
• Achieve controlled distribution in your building – see section on controlled distribution below

How they save

Flow regulators ensure that enough water is delivered in various applications to do the job and no more. This prevents the additional water that would be delivered in an unregulated environment from being wasted.

Substantial amounts of energy is also saved as the amount of hot water that is wasted during various activities – such as showering and washing hands – is reduced substantially.

As can be seen in the graph above, the area between the Controlled Flow and Normal Flow graphs is tha mount of water that is saved.

Expected Savings

It all depends on the application, but the two most significant areas of saving are typically showers and wash basins. Approximately 10 litres per minute is saved per 5 minute shower which amounts to 18,250 litres per shower per year.

This amounts to roughly R1,200 per person per shower per year which will be saved in electricity alone! We have assumed that electricity is R0.70 per kWh, the average length of a shower is 5 minutes and that a person takes one shower per day.

How they work

Easy Energy’s range of flow regulators are built according to a very simple, yet ingenius design. As illusrated in the figure below, the each flow regulator is comprised of 3 parts:

• The Core
• The Dynamic Elastomer
• The Housing
• Components of a Flow Regulator

As illustrated in the figure below, the dynamic elastomer (black) is compressed as the water pressure increases which in turn reduces the size of the gap (blue) through which water can flow. This mechanism ensures that the water’s flow rate is reduced regardless of the water pressure.

How the flow regulator works

Controlled Distribution?

Controlled distribution is the process of ensuring that all devices connected to a specific water supply receive a constant amount of water regarless of any activity upstream. Many buildings suffer from the negative effects of unequal distribution.

Controlled distribution can easily be achieved though the use of flow regulators as illustrated in the figures below.

Examples of where controlled distribution is beneficial

Example of Use

Flow regulators can be used in various applications, some include:

• Showers
• Basins
• Large pipelines

Virtually and application that requires a fixed flow rate

Flow regulators can be used in any building, including:

• Homes
• Schools
• Boarding Schools
• Hotels
• Prisons
• Factories
• And many more…

Payback Period

The payback period all depends on the application. The payback for a flow regulator used in a shower is typically 2 months.

Comparison

Many water saving devices exist on the market, but very few provide the results that flow regulators do. The reason being that majority of water saving devices are flow restrictors and not flow regulators which means that the flow rate cannot be pegged at a particular flow rate independant of pressure.

Purchasing Options

Easy Energy supplies the product and can also install the flow regulators. Please contact us for further information regarding flow regulators.