Filling Out Our New Solar Economy

Since we have completed our PV expansion a few weeks ago, we have been piling up the KWh credits on our grid meter. According to our predictions, we could generate a surplus of 5 MWh (5000KWh) over the course of a year. This was no accident but a strategy to replace conventional fuels with solar power.
The main appliance we obtained was a high efficiency heat pump made by Mitsubishi. It's purpose is to replace fall and spring heating that we normally use propane. (We use wood in the deepest months of winter)
The unit we bought has incredible efficiencies in both heating and air conditioning. Heatpumps work by taking heat out of cool outside air and "compressing" it to a much higher temperature. This is called coefficient of performance or COP. When it is 47F ouside the COP is 4.11. This means if you put one KW in, you get 4.11 KW of equivalent heat. In this way, you leverage your precious solar energy to a much higher level. Then it gets even better compared to conventional heatpumps. At 17F outside temp, the COP is an amazing 2.77. Still leveraging your power at a strong rate. The COP finally becomes 1.00 at 5F, no better than straight electric heat.
All this is due to an advanced design of a variable speed rotary compressor, fan, and onboard brains to tweek the last bit out of the unit.
And yes, we have used the A/C part. Although we didn't have A/C before, there is a conflict of using it as it would expand our energy footprint, not shrink it. However, on the extremely hot days, we will run it for a few hours. I measured the amperage draw on a 90F day and was amazed to see only 500 watts being consumed. About 3 of our PV modules (out of 41) could run this thing during a sunny day. We will monitor our consumption and make sure we have plenty of power stored once cooler weather arrives.
Another device we added to our solar economy is a cordless cultivator made by Black & Decker. It has a lithium battery and claims to weed 300 sq ft per charge. Don't expect to tear up two foot tall weeds, but it will keep small weeds from gaining root around your garden plants. If you want one, get the lithium model not the NiCad battery unit. You can find them at Amazon.com for just over a hundred bucks. I hope this thing will put to rest the desire to get a mantis tiller. (which uses gasoline)
An unfortunate incident turned out to be rather fortuitous recently. Our 5 year old fridge fried the compressor. Of course, it was on the July 4th weekend, so we were obliged to go to Lowe's for an immediate replacement. To our pleasant surprise, they had a 15% discount on EnergyStar appliances that weekend.
It's hard to pick your favorite from so many units on display. But, I knew our old fridge was just too big. Food got lost in the deep recesses for unknown lengths of time. So we knew we wanted something around 18 cubic feet. We finally zeroed in on an EnergyStar Tier 3 model, the most efficient rating. It's a top mount freezer type with auto defrost. The energy sticker claimed a mere 335 KWh per year. Our old fridge consumed around 450 KWh/year. That's at least a 25% energy savings. We are also eligible for a $100 West Virginia rebate, however, they have run out of rebate money and we are on a wait list if it gets funded again.
The story above is mostly about conservation and living with a smaller impact on the planet. If you have a choice of efficiencies when deciding on a device or appliance, go for the best you can afford. You will get payback eventually and your purchase will be your voice, to the suppliers and manufacturers, that efficiency matters.