[Winnipegger]

Of course you realize I'm proposing new houses, not retrofit. When I bought my house in Winnipeg in 1990, purchase price was $46,500. When I moved in, one neighbour laughed. She said the previous owner paid $36,000, and the one before that paid $24,000. Today the city assessment property tax is $102,000, and this is a tiny house built in 1907. A typical Winnipeg bungalow today is a quarter million. As an example: a new house in a new housing division, 2 story with double attached garage, 3 bedroom, 1778 square feet, 42'x118' lot, list price is $479,00. At that extreme, the house should be descent. So why not install DC wiring and DC appliances for new houses? It doesn't require custom power cables, existing AC cables can be used for DC. Just ensure AC appliances aren't plugged into cables carrying DC power.

CFL bulbs run on 12V & 24V DC

[ShepherdsDog]

We bought our place in River Heights (close to Oxford and Academy) in the 90s, and just sold it this year.....we made a nice profit, even after the renovations we had done to it.

[Xort]

I'd say your upgrades would add another $30,000 to the price tag. (about the cost of wiring a home for AC)

We would also need to create all the devices to accept DC power, a new standard, and all the issues of DC power and how to hold voltages stable to deliver the power a device wants.

Not impossible but expensive. I don't think we need to restart and rebuild our electrical systems just to save on the costs (money and power loss) of inverters.

This suggestion I think goes to far to be desired, even in a new home. 15% energy loss doesn't justify the DC electrical wiring and devices in standard homes.

For remote locations without grid power those are possible and maybe even desired.

It would be like switching to left hand driving. Sure we could do it, but even with a 15% gain in safety or something, it wouldn't be worth the extra cost.

I'm sorry but I will need more than 15% to sell me on it. (even if many devices also convert back into DC to use electricity)

[DrCaleb]

Xort Xort:

This suggestion I think goes to far to be desired, even in a new home. 15% energy loss doesn't justify the DC electrical wiring and devices in standard homes.

How did you get 15% losses? The resistance of the home wiring doesn't change just because the phase of the power running through it has.

[Xort]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Xort Xort:

This suggestion I think goes to far to be desired, even in a new home. 15% energy loss doesn't justify the DC electrical wiring and devices in standard homes.

How did you get 15% losses? The resistance of the home wiring doesn't change just because the phase of the power running through it has.

Inverters run between 80% to 95% efficient.

To convert solar/battery power (which is DC electric) to standard useable AC power you must use an inverter.