Personal Best Monthly Electricity

Pretty darn good,,, ~8 kwh/day,,,

Now to squeeze a few more therms out of the nat.gas bill.

Consider a split-phase inverter heat pump?

Icarus

 

We are nowhere close on electrical unfortunately. Too much overhead in this house at present that can't really be shut down without functionality/health hazard issues. As the opportunity for upgrades/replacements occur it should step down some more, but I don't foresee doing much better than the mid-300's.

We won't have the May bill for awhile as our billing/metering is typically to the 1st or 2nd week of the month. We are down to 14.4 kwh/day for this past month based on my meter reading. When I started we were running 27 kwh/day in non-AC/non-heat months last Fall. And as bad as that sounds, the previous owners were using over 37 kwh/day in their best months. We stair-stepped down the last few months: 26.7 kwh/day, 21.3, 18.3, 16.1, now ~14.4. I've used 12 kwh for AC so far, but that is about to skyrocket.

Among the electrical reduction projects have been a reasonably thorough CFL upgrade (a few LED's as well), new fridge, front loading washer, new moisture sensing dryer, LED PC monitor, and eliminating/powerstripping vampire loads. Habits have changed of course.

We used about the same as you in nat. gas this past month: about 16 ccF from my meter reading. The new HighSierra shower head will help a little. I'm going to try out the Roadrunner in the master bath when they get the brushed nickel one in stock (a few months out according to their rep.) We've insulated the hot water lines and jacketed the hot water tank. The front loader helped on hot water use since we wash some in warm--particularly in winter when the cold water is too cold for proper washing.

Water use is running about 5,000 gal/month. The washing machine and shower head are helping. I'll try the other shower head, and I need to replace the high flow toilet with a standard 1.6 gpf. I also intend to try a 1.28 gpf HET toilet in the MBR. I should be able to eliminate another 1,000 gal/month with these changes on top of the 1,000 gal/month reduction already acheived. I will need to water the lawn some during the drier stretches...but not nearly as much as the ~25,000 gal/month the previous owners used 5 months out of the year!

 

As far a insulating the envelope (shell) of the house,, I suggest your local weatherization social service agency. Most counties and or states have them. One of the big items in the recent stimulus package was money for home weatherization funneled through these local not for profits. They can do energy audits,, and do cost/benefit studies on your house to figure out what makes sense,,, and they may have funding to weatherize, or low interest loan/grant programs for the public. These programs coupled with tax credits can make most conservation affordable,,and in fact not making the improvements crazy!

Icarus

 

We just had a guy with a D.O.E. (dept of energy) badge come to the house on Saturday, asking us if we would like to have an energy audit done on our house. He mentioned that there were credits and discounts that could be had. I signed up. My ductwork under the house is very suspect (I know, I went under there a few months ago and found some of our galvanized ductwork "disconnected". I did a total hack quick fix job (duct tape and a plastic garbage bag) to try to minimize some of the furnace air we were losing under the house. We recently refinanced the house and fixing or replacing that ductwork can now be done.

Although, I would rather have a prius.....

 

Yep, if my calcs are correct, they were putting 8.5" of water on the lawn each month over the summer.

 

By deciding to do it.

Probably not at first. Few self-initiated businesses are successful right out of the box. But on the other hand, it's an area that will only grow. A good reputation is probably the most valuable thing to obtain.

The amount of capital necessary might be high, but certainly can be managed.

 

Tripp

My house is about 1,480 sq ft bungalow. Natural gas furnace (Bryant Evolution Plus 90i with Evolution control), natural gas hot water tank, natural gas Reznor forced air heater in the attached garage, and natural gas fireplace

The dryer is electric, so is the range. Washer is a Kenmore Elite HE 3T front loader, actually made in Germany, and matching dryer. Dishwasher is a tall tub stainless interior, Kenmore that is Energy Star rated

House has a basement that is not finished. Above grade walls are 2x6 with spray foam insulation, ceiling is R50. Tri pane windows throughout, dual Low E with argon gas fill

Dishwasher is used nightly, twice a day on the weekends. Clothes get washed every other day. Due to having an elderly person living with me, have to keep the heat around 76-78 F. HRV and furnace fan always run on low speed. Temps have ranged from 30-60 F, this has been a cold Spring

Last month, used 520 kwh of electricity and 8,800 cu ft of natural gas.

 

I find it amazing that my neighbors report about 40-80% higher electricity and natural gas consumption. FYI the 88 therms cost me $128, taxes in

 

We live in 600 sq ft, and we use ~.6 kwh/day and about 1/2 gallon of propane,, for cooking, water heat and fridge. The .6 kwh comes from PV solar. Come winter we burn ~2-3 cords of wood.

No AC cost up here,,

Icarus

 

How many therms/year is it taking for heat and water heating up there? You've got a much harsher winter than we do.

 

Well, the confusing part is that the gas meter reads in cubic feet. But Manitoba Hydro does a weird conversion to cubic metres. Just based on gas meter, it works out to 137,000 cu ft for 12 months, assuming I'm doing the reading correctly.

That's to heat the house, run the hot water heater, the gas fireplace, and the Reznor forced air heater in the garage. In summer, just to run the hot water heater, around $40 a month, taxes and fees in

So, if I'm converting correctly, that should be 1,370 therms. Let me know if I made a math error

Electricity for the year was 8,083 kwh. What I find surprising is that when I compare to my neighbors, my gas bill is about 45% lower - on average - than theirs, and my power bill is 40% lower, on average

EDIT:

Ok, as far as dollars and cents

For 12 months, the electricity came to $689 and the natural gas came to $2,130. These numbers are taxes and fees in. Yes, this is a very harsh winter climate

There is a lot to be said for energy efficient construction, HVAC and appliances. Neighbors with similar sized homes have significantly higher bills

 

Do you make use of passive solar at all?
South facing windows letting the sun heat the house in the winter can help a lot. This could be part of the difference between you and your neighbors.
Could also be their non-awareness of saving power. Could be simple things like type of light bulbs, turning off lights, not having a programable thermostat, etc.
We are almost completely on electricity. I wish we had more appliances on NG as we could reach parity much easier.
I still need to do a comparison of the amount of electricity used for heating compares to the amount of NG used for a similar house's heating to get a true idea of the efficiency.