Green, Eco Friendly Class A Monoblocks



Every time the power goes out where I live, I am reminded how much my life and interests revolve around electricity.

So as I contemplate a new house, with a dedicated circuit for audio equipment, I am wondering if there is yet any sustainable, green, or eco friendly technology which could supplement or perhaps even meet the demands of the hungriest audio and video systems.

Could anyone please comment on the latest solar or alternative energy sources which could meet the demands of a traditional high end audio system?

(Not as excited about switching to class D amps and/or renewable iPods.)

Thanks and hope this is of interest to others.

cwlondon
cwlondon
Peter_s,
Apologies to CW in advance on going slightly OT... do the heatpumps generate electricity or only generate air/water-heating capacity? I have yet to find a heatpump which can generate electricity well without having the input significantly above ground temperature. Also, from what I have read over the past few years, in colder climes, boring deep and sinking "U tubes" gives better energy efficiency than digging horizontal trenches with a backhoe (which is obviously a lot cheaper); that said, it is obviously not a bad idea in the desert (or in places where the bedrock is very shallow).

Back on topic...
If you just want a system to generate electricity to cover the audio, using efficient speakers and matched 'small' amps will go a LONG way to making it possible, but the first 100 watts of solar installation is the most expensive (per kWh). If you have a large property in windy area, using mini windmills plus a bank of batteries can be a way to generate smallish amounts of electricity. If you want to use "green" power to cover 2kW of usage, then you are probably talking upwards of $10k of kit plus further installation costs. If you want 2kW for the audio and another several kW for the rest of the house, it is a fair bit more.
Hi T_bone,

You're right, they just generate heat, not electricity. If you are going closed loop, I'm not sure of the trenching depth that gets you pretty well far away from the seasonal and diurnal temperature fluctuations at the surface - a borehole definitely does that. Even more efficient (and costly) is an open loop system using two wells, where groundwater is extracted, heat exchanged, and reinjected. It gets you up to an efficiency factor of 4 rather than the low 3's with a closed loop system (for those wondering, efficiency factor means for every 1 watt of energy you put into the system you get 4 watts of heat out of the system).
Peter_s,
Water Furnace Envision series (dual-speed versions) will get you a COP of 5 on closed loop, but they are probably the exception as that is the most efficient one out there I think. Disclosure: just based on my research; never bought one or sold one and no economic link to anyone in the business.
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Karan Acoustics amplifiers might fit your criteria for 2-channel. They do not draw much current at idle. They also do not get hot.