So maybe you'll consider a new technology if it saves 20%? Good start.
What might stop that process and cause a move to old technology? The evil payback analysis. Hey look, I spend money, I get how it works. There is a reason I don't have PV covering my whole roof ... yet!
I am no pricing genius, but here is what I recall from a year ago ... before we had EISA driving the demand/cost curve: moving from probe-start 400W to pulse-start 320W in a architectural cast shoebox cost about $40. You save 90W. At $0.07/kWh, that is $27.60 in savings. You have a 17 month payback.
I don't know about you, but if I could get 17 month payback on a PV array, I might have my yard covered in panels.
It seems obvious, but as I continually discuss this with society, it seems missed; you have to massively decrease demand, and then you can go look for the panacea that removes us from fossil fuel dependence.
What makes us sustainable is reducing energy use. Buy a control system, buy an occupancy/vacancy sensor, just turn off the lights. Maybe the right answer is to retrofit instead of renovate? All that stuff you tear out has to go somewhere ...
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