House Electrified Exclusively by DC Power

Researchers at Purdue University have proposed a solution for making your home more energy efficient (and cost-efficient). Watch how they transform a 1920s-era West Lafayette house to run on its own DC-powered nano-grid.

“This gives us the opportunity to perform both cutting-edge research on energy-saving opportunities and observe its potential benefits in a truly real-world setting, rather than just relying on simulations,” said Eckhard Groll  , the William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of Mechanical Engineering.

Transcript

00:00:00 The DC Nano-Grid House, a completely electrified  home that runs on its own nano grid, and makes the   overall house more energy efficient. Typical  houses are connected to our cross-country AC   grid. But the fact is that most home appliances  run on DC voltage. This includes your computer,   your TV, all of your lights. If you bring AC to  the house, you have to convert it to DC voltage,   and each conversion has some losses. In the  DC Nano-Grid House, we're now generating   our electricity via solar panels. -On the roof of the house,   it's equipped with 42 solar panels. They  generate a maximum 14.3 kilowatts. So now   we're down in the basement and this big tall guy  right here is our main inverter, the interface   between the DC and the AC world. So as soon  as I flip this on, everything will come alive.   Our refrigerator comes on, and our nice  bright DC efficient lighting comes on.  

00:01:08 You get the same light for 90-plus percent less  cost in energy. Can't beat it! The battery system   is perfect because it can store energy from your  AC conventional input, or it can store energy from   the DC sources like wind or solar. And then that  battery is available whenever you need to use it:   not for a few minutes or hours, but possibly even  days. It's more energy efficient and it's cheaper,   which is exactly the use case that  a homeowner would be looking for.  -In this house, which is a  regular house built in the 1920s,   we have three graduate students living to provide  real life data to us. So we're not simulating   occupancy in a lab: three people using the house  on a regular basis, giving us real life data. In   every room, we have sensors that measure  temperature, humidity, occupancy, and CO2   to see what the air quality inside the room is. -If somebody's not in this room, let's close the  

00:02:12 vents off. Let's not waste energy trying to heat  or cool the space, because no one's using it.  -You want to have the most energy efficient  house, but you don't want to compromise on your   comfort or usability. It's very exciting and it's,  so far, super successful. The people living in the   house are comfortable. The appliances so far are  all working. So it's very exciting for us to see.