General Cycling Discussion - Can someone make me feel less guilty about using my electric garage door opener?

I'm starting to use my bike to commute and for errand running, groceries etc. I keep my bike in the garage, but I can't take it through my living room because we have a light colored carpet. I keep thinking how great biking is for the our non-dependence on fossil fuels. Yet, everytime I take my bike out, I feel guilty about using the electric garage door opener to get it out. <sigh>

I'm not sure how much electricity that consumes, but it's gotta be a lot. It probably takes a lot of juice to power that thing. Twice!

Why not just open the door manually, and if you can't with the type of design you've got why not get the door changed if it bothers you?

Then again the amount of energy it's going to use probably pales in comparision to the amount you're saving by not driving everywhere.

Do you have any realistic estimation about how much energy it takes to use the electric garage door? I wonder if it might be negligible.

try and put the bike in the back yard or another place that is more acessible when you know your going for a bike ride .. carry it thru the livingroom .? just a thought .
Cheers T

p.s
i have to carry my bike up to the second floor and park it in the livingroom with my wifes bike as well . and we have a 40kvm = 430 square feet apartment .. so you can tell this is TIGHT .. and we have 6 bikes in total and no room ..
hahahhaa .
1 - 1920's unknown modlel ( bad shape ,but rideable )
1 - 1970's Crescent womens city bike ( 3 speed )
1 - 2006 monark city bike
1 - 2006 Crescent mtn bike
1 - Cannondale bad boy 700 Disc hybrid
http://gb.cannondale.com/bikes/07/ce/urban/badboy/model-7BR700.html
1 - Nishiki 501 womans hybrid
http://www.nishiki.se/index.php?page=cyklar&id=81

gee, maybe you should also turn off your computer, TV, cell phone chargers, and all that other unneccessary electrical crap?

I'm starting to use my bike to commute and for errand running, groceries etc. I keep my bike in the garage, but I can't take it through my living room because we have a light colored carpet. I keep thinking how great biking is for the our non-dependence on fossil fuels. Yet, everytime I take my bike out, I feel guilty about using the electric garage door opener to get it out. <sigh>

I'm not sure how much electricity that consumes, but it's gotta be a lot. It probably takes a lot of juice to power that thing. Twice!


It costs you very, very little, my guess is under a penny everytime you use it, Your TV sets at home, even though they are turned off, use more energy in a day than your garage door opener does in several openings.

I did try to google it, but didn't come up with any estimates of how much it costs everytime a garage door goes up/down. The best I could come up with was estimates of how much the door to the garage should be insulated because garages are usually cold/hot and that could impact your home internal temperature.

Electric garage doors do serve a purpose up here: Snow and rain days.

It costs an awful lot less energy than taking the car, so don't worry about it.

gee, maybe you should also turn off your computer, TV, cell phone chargers, and all that other unneccessary electrical crap?

+1 Go off the net entirely. Shut off your AC, furnace and refrigerator. Don't use lights at night and don't burn a kerosene lamp. A candle would probably be OK. Only eat salted meats and fresh fresh vegetables, that you raise so you don't have to have someone else burn fuel in the delivery.Erect a windmill and solar panels if you really want to use electricity. Don't eat anything that requires packaging. Dig an outhouse so you don't pollute the water system.

If the OP didn't have a number of posts, I would suspect troll.

Heck, I use the garage door opener just about every time I go outside.

bugmenot, here's a link on appliance power consumption:
http://www.absak.com/design/powercon.html

According to this links power table, a garage door opener uses 350 watt/hr, so figuring an average time for an opening or closing is 15 seconds, (.004 hr) equals 1.4 watt/hr. At 12 cents a 1000 watt/hr that equates to .02 of a cent. Rest easy there bugmenot.

Thanks, dynodonn. I thought it'd be more than that.

I may even start packing my remote opener in my pannier! Just kidding.

Save the .02 cent. Take a piece of plastic of the appropiate width and length and lay it on the floor next to the door. Park your bike on it. When ready to leave-open door roll or carry bike out jump on ride away and ignore the garage door. Unless, of course, you are taking a picture of your bike in which case you will want to leave it down anyway.

gee, maybe you should also turn off your computer, TV, cell phone chargers, and all that other unneccessary electrical crap?
Exactly. You worry about how much electricty you waste by using your electric garage door open yet you fail to realize how much you are wasting by posting about it on the internet?
If you feel so bad about using the electric garage door opener, just open it manually. Its as simple as that.

I'm starting to use my bike to commute and for errand running, groceries etc. I keep my bike in the garage, but I can't take it through my living room because we have a light colored carpet. I keep thinking how great biking is for the our non-dependence on fossil fuels. Yet, everytime I take my bike out, I feel guilty about using the electric garage door opener to get it out. <sigh>

I'm not sure how much electricity that consumes, but it's gotta be a lot. It probably takes a lot of juice to power that thing. Twice!Don't feel badly about it. I enter and exit my house through the garage.

I'm starting to use my bike to commute and for errand running, groceries etc. I keep my bike in the garage, but I can't take it through my living room because we have a light colored carpet. I keep thinking how great biking is for the our non-dependence on fossil fuels. Yet, everytime I take my bike out, I feel guilty about using the electric garage door opener to get it out. <sigh>

I'm not sure how much electricity that consumes, but it's gotta be a lot. It probably takes a lot of juice to power that thing. Twice!
Get over it and just open the doors... and by all means do it electrically. Because of the nature of our modern world... we have to use some electric power. You are using it now to post on this forum, do you feel bad about that?

Of course not! Nor should you.... but how much power do the bezillions of computers connected to the net each day use?

When it is practical to be green, be green... when it is not... do not be green. I am sure you are conservative in most ways... so you are allowed a little convenience. It is the guys who hop in the car to go to a store around the corner need to flogged... not you. It is also not so much about power, but the amount of Co2 you put in the air... the fact you use a bike helps a lot.

Maybe you should get ahold of ALGORE and buy some offsetting carbon credits. What will those libs think of next?

Worrying about the electricity the garage doow uses is just about the silliest thing I've ever heard. I have my remote control readily accessable so as I ride down the driveway I open the door like the batcave, all the while singing the batman theme... "dadadadadadadadadadadadada, batmaaaannnn".

The neighbours think I'm weird, and on some level I think they're right.

I'm starting to use my bike to commute and for errand running, groceries etc. I keep my bike in the garage, but I can't take it through my living room because we have a light colored carpet. I keep thinking how great biking is for the our non-dependence on fossil fuels. Yet, everytime I take my bike out, I feel guilty about using the electric garage door opener to get it out. <sigh>

I'm not sure how much electricity that consumes, but it's gotta be a lot. It probably takes a lot of juice to power that thing. Twice!
Please tell me you are being a troll. Please.

If you are really serious I suggest moving naked to the forest and building yourself a self-sustaining compound.

Worrying about the electricity the garage doow uses is just about the silliest thing I've ever heard. I have my remote control readily accessable so as I ride down the driveway I open the door like the batcave, all the while singing the batman theme... "dadadadadadadadadadadadada, batmaaaannnn".

The neighbours think I'm weird, and on some level I think they're right.

And all the while, you're always making sure your remote control's atomic batteries are up to power. :D

Install solar panels to power the circuit that the garage door opener is on, as well as one outlet to plug the rechargeable batteries that you'll install in the remote.

I've got some credits for sale... $100 will buy you a years worth of offsets so you don't have to feel guilty about using your garage door. Just PM me and I'll give you the paypal where you can send your $100!

Eff all you haters.

Last time I checked this was called "General Cycling Discussion"

Not "Lets Scrutinize Every Post to See if its Not a Troll"

Little paranoid are you?

Eff all you haters.

Last time I checked this was called "General Cycling Discussion"

Not "Lets Scrutinize Every Post to See if its Not a Troll"

Little paranoid are you?
It's not the I Suffer From Rich American Guilt Forum? This thread must be in the wrong place then.

U should be more worried about the flush toilet than the garage opener

It's tempting to think that the rest of the world would remain the same minus the energy use required by the door but that's not the way it is.

Schlepping your bike through the living room or disconnecting the door so that your wife has to open it manually in the rain can both cause significant new energy drains. There's the gasoline used by the process server and the verious lawyer's Mercedes, your share of the energy required to operate the courthouse and the rental truck when you move out. It's difficult to estimate the energy consumption from all of these and rthe related uses but I'm pretty sure that it'll far exceed what your garage door lift uses.

Do the world a favor and continue doing as you are now.

Eff all you haters.

Last time I checked this was called "General Cycling Discussion"

Not "Lets Scrutinize Every Post to See if its Not a Troll"



Well we're not the one who came along and posted a lame topic, now are we.

The hole in the ozone just got bigger due to this outrageously wasteful method of opening the garage door. Using a garage door opener is just downright....reckless. Lives are in the balance.

Eff all you haters.
I think most of the responses were pretty polite.

Eff all you haters.

Um... you have a nice day, too.

In terms of overall kilowatt/hours which is the unit of measure the power authority bills you monthly by, it's not very much power.

I don't think the door opener could be more than 400 watts maximum,
but really the thing that limits the *juice* used is the fact that the door opener is only on for ten seconds, each time you use it.

Do the math:

.400 kilowatts times ten seconds times 360 equals = 0.4 kilowatt hour

A kilowatt hour is only about 14 cents worth of electricity,

and you would have to stand there and open and close the door repeatedly for two and a half hours

before you would use one kW/H.

The door opener uses a negligible ammount of power because it's never on for more than 10 seconds at a time.

I've got some credits for sale... $100 will buy you a years worth of offsets so you don't have to feel guilty about using your garage door. Just PM me and I'll give you the paypal where you can send your $100!
:roflmao:

I have credits for sale, too... but, as I'm in WV I am obliged to offer to trade, too.....

should I feel ok about using my garage door opener since I have a solar powered garage attic vent fan?

I have my remote control readily accessable so as I ride down the driveway I open the door like the batcave, all the while singing the batman theme... "dadadadadadadadadadadadada, batmaaaannnn".

The neighbours think I'm weird, and on some level I think they're right.[/QUOTE]

I use the one for my condo building all the time. It's much easier than carrying the bicycle up/downstairs, and it's become a game to see if I can get it to open before I need to use both hands to go over the bump at the end of the driveway. I figure the energy I save by running errands on the bicycle offsets the cost of opening the door, and can sneak in or out at times when the doors been opened by someone else.

Hook up an old bicycle crank in place of the motor if you feel so bad about it.

It takes a lot of energy to make a bicycle. Better to walk. After exiting a manually operated door or jumping out a window.

Don't wear shoes. They probably contain lots of petrochemicals. Same for synthetic clothes. Cotton production requires diesel tractors. Best thing? Wander around naked until Al Gore gives you a lift in one of his many gigantic SUVs.

I posted this from a computer made entirely from compost.

To be honest, I've wondered about exactly this problem before. We're renting a house, so I couldn't change the garage door if I wanted to, but I need wonder no longer.

We're renting a house, so I couldn't change the garage door if I wanted to,

Sure you can. All you have to do is pull the emergency cord that disconnects the lift from the door.

To be honest, I've wondered about exactly this problem before. We're renting a house, so I couldn't change the garage door if I wanted to, but I need wonder no longer.
Forget about a house and garage! Live/Sleep in the woods; no more worries! :rolleyes:

I may even start packing my remote opener in my pannier! Just kidding.

I have my remote in the side pocket of my backpack. I hit it just as I'm turning onto my street and the door is nearly open by the time I roll into the garage.

How much energy is lost when using the house front door in winter or summer when house is climate controlled?

Many garage door entrances have a load lock, so lost heat/cold is less when going into garage, not only that but if one stores bike in garage, one needs to get it out of garage into house, then out of house thru front door.

Al

In an air-conditioned room with a thermostat regulating the temperature, it costs money to breathe.

I may even start packing my remote opener in my pannier! Just kidding.

I carry my remote in the back of my seat pack wedge. All I have to do is tap the back of the wedge, and, presto, the door opens or closes. I use it twice a day, and love it! It's incredibly convenient, probably the cleverest thing I've done in setting up my bike.

I think most of the responses were pretty polite.

I agree, but there we're a couple that weren't.

I'm starting to use my bike to commute and for errand running, groceries etc. I keep my bike in the garage, but I can't take it through my living room because we have a light colored carpet. I keep thinking how great biking is for the our non-dependence on fossil fuels. Yet, everytime I take my bike out, I feel guilty about using the electric garage door opener to get it out. <sigh>

I'm not sure how much electricity that consumes, but it's gotta be a lot. It probably takes a lot of juice to power that thing. Twice!







Ask Al Gore

You should feel bad if it's a coal powered door...
or is opened with slave labor...
or open it with plans of world domination.

CE



Where do you think electricity comes from? (Just a hint COAL).

By the way, I could have opened my garage door a dozen times with the energy it took to launch this reply on the net.

OK, I have electricity via the normal hook-up, but I also have a backup generator that runs on natural gas, which, at my house, is free.... So, we could, if we wanted to listen to the noise, run the Generac and not pay for electric, but why bother? The power co is making the electricity anyway, and if we don't use it, where would it go?

And, where would those coal miners get the $$ to pay for thier trucks, SUVs, boats, ATVs and other toys if the rest of us didn't partake of thier well earned goods?

Ask Al Gore

Who himself spends about $20,000 a year on electricity...but enough about that sensationalist fool, let's do the math:

The garage door opener in my house says 1/2 HP on the side. That's about 370 Watts. I'll be generous and suppose it takes 30 seconds to open or close the door, and that it draws the entire, rated 370 Watts regardless of direction (extremely conservative assumptions). For a complete open/close cycle:

1 minute x 0.370 kiloWatts x 1 hour/60 minutes = 0.0062 kiloWatt hours...enough to run a normal lightbulb for about 6 minutes. Doing a little bit more math, that's the energy equivalent of about 1/10th of a granola bar (~5 food calories)

At Portland electricity prices, using your garage door costs you about 1/20th of a cent each cycle.

You're being scrupulous. You're far better off worrying things that can make a measurable dent in your energy usage like making a habit of turning off lights when you leave a room or powering down your computer at night.

--

apclassic9, the generator is much less efficient and dirtier burning than a coal power plant. From both an economic and an environmental perspective, you're better off saving the generator for emergencies or RV'ing.

bugmenot, here's a link on appliance power consumption:
http://www.absak.com/design/powercon.html

According to this links power table, a garage door opener uses 350 watt/hr, so figuring an average time for an opening or closing is 15 seconds, (.004 hr) equals 1.4 watt/hr. At 12 cents a 1000 watt/hr that equates to .02 of a cent. Rest easy there bugmenot.
Thanks DynoDonn!
I use my electric garage door opener/closer about a dozen times per day. (I never use the front door!) :p
Glad to hear that I'm spending less than a cent per day doing so! :D
Now I'm going to go turn on the AC, plug the refridgerater back in and post silly replies to BF's! ;)

And the wife just told me to open the garage door to take the recycling out! :lol: