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Old 09-21-12, 03:51 PM   #17
strider3700
Master EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island BC
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My august/september electric bill arrived (man I wish I was billed monthly)

Anyways numbers are

HDD (18.5C) 157.1
CDD (18.5C) 79.2
Days Covered 61
KW.h used 1123
cost/kwh 0.08398
kwh/day 18.41 - The new alltime low for me
kwh/hdd 0.751

This bill allowed me to complete the 10% challenge. I reduced usage by 21% over the year according to them. In the end they didn't give me an exact amount reduced so but according to the spreadsheets I saved 1984kwh or 17% over the previous year. On the previous bill they stated I had saved 2700 kwh so I'm assuming that's an adjusted for temperature value or something. Either way finances doesn't care about temperature sp 1984 kwh at 10.4 cents/kwh works out to $206 in savings before you take fee's and taxes and other such charges into account. This means our reduction was actually worth $281

There was very few physical changes to the house during this timeframe that can account for the reductions. I found and corrected some leaks in the furnace ductwork. I air sealed the panel covering the circuit breakers better. .. not much. I did however get serious about the clothes line. During the challenge I did 116 loads on the clothes line vs 56 in the 11 months before that. I still did 121 loads in the dryer. Winter weather sucks here what can I say. Those 116 loads however saved me about 538 kwh on their own though.

Comparing this last bill to the years previous the reduction can entirely be linked to the extra use of the clothes line. Last summer I used the dryer 26 times during the same period vs 2 this year. That is worth 120kwh right there. My total reduction was only 106kwh.

Anyway it currently looks like my new insulated with a heat trap in the line 60 gallon hot water tank is using about the same amount as my old poorly insulated no heat trap 40 gallon tank.

The challenge ended by showing that my house and family used 49% less energy then the average comparable house and family in this area. It then let me sign up for another 10% challenge which I did. I need to reduce another 967 kwh over the year. To be honest I think purely on behaviours I don't have 10% to reduce. I've got a few IC bulbs to change over to LED but that will make a difference come winter but not a lot. Last spring I used the heatpump instead of the woodstove in feb/mar and apr/may. I think I can get about 400-500 kwh reduction there. If I sleep this PC from midnight to 8am that should save me .8kwh/day or 292 kwh over the year.
Having done that math I'll set it up tonight and see if it will work correctly.

Of course if I ever get the solar hotwater installed I'm currently estimating hotwater to be 50% of my summer time bill or roughly 3300 kwh a year. playing with PVwatts 2 50% efficient 4x8 panels at a 65 degree angle in front of my back fence with zero shading should generate about 2873 kwh in savings.

Last edited by strider3700; 09-21-12 at 04:26 PM..
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