Daox's energy use tracking

[Daox]

Another long overdue update here.

October
283 kWh - 9.8 kWh per day
52 therms of natural gas - 1.79 therms per day

571 heating degree days / 2 cooling degree days
29 day bill

Last year this month was:
16.9 kWh per day
1.0 therms per day (571 cooling degree days vs 202 last year)



November
no info atm



December
300 kWh - 9.7 kWh per day
107 therms of natural gas - 3.45 therms per day

1079 heating degree days / 0 cooling degree days
31 day bill

Last year this month was:
17.8 kWh per day
4.55 therms per day



January
424 kWh - 12.1 kWh per day
159 therms of natural gas - 4.54 therms per day

1574 heating degree days / 0 cooling degree days
35 day bill

Last year this month was:
18.9 kWh per day
5.49 therms per day


So, overall things are definitely trending in the right direction. Gas use is down 20% with electric down 35% in January which is our worst month.

Looks like I need to start posting graphs and stuff though. Too many numbers to look at.

[Daox]

Wow, I just calculated my average energy usage per day with my spreadsheet... My house uses 91 kWh per day on average since I have moved in. Thats a crazy amount of energy! That could take you over 300 miles in an electric car... every day! Yikes.

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Daox

I would like to incorperate the heating degree days and cooling degree days into the chart somehow too to show that X month was significantly hotter or cooler than Y month. Just haven't gotten that far yet.

Ideas are quite welcome.

Excuse the necro bump.

I'd create a single line for HDD/CDD, using whichever was higher for that month. It's not like you're going to turn on the A/C if you have 50 CDD in April.

You can normalize that line to roughly the same scale as your KWh. I think =max(HDD, CDD)*.33 would do the trick, and give the rest of the data some context.

Thanks for sharing your data. How's it been going lately?

[Daox]

Yeah, I haven't updated this thread in quite a while. I have been keeping track of the data for the most part in the spreadsheet though.

I guess I'll break the news, but Ben has started working on the energy tracker for the site so we can all track the info here and share it! I'm very excited about this.

Anyway, here is what I have. Its not completely up to date, but a fair amount more than the last update.

raw data - can't find november's data




electric usage




gas usage




total usage - gas converted to kWh based on BTU conversion plus electric kWh usage




And this is the one that always really gets me down. This is the total average power usage PER DAY in kWh. Those numbers are so huge IMO. 86kWh is enough power to drive 300+ miles in an electric car. I'm using that much power on average EVERY DAY in my house. Thats just crazy to me.

[RobertSmalls]

A CNG Civic GX uses 0.41 therms/mi per EPA. So I figure you'd get 73mi in a CNG Civic, plus 40mi in an electric car, per day! That is quite a bit.

I see a BIG reduction in your electric usage this spring vs. last. How did you achieve that?

[Daox]

The first year in the house I had my cousin's family living with me (him, his wife and three kids). Now, its just me and my wife. We're also much more energy conscious than they are (kids leave lights on, leave fridge door open, etc.).

[Piwoslaw]

It's good to see your yearly average going down so fast. I started logging after ecomodding the house (cfl's, powerstrips, 1.25kWh/day fridge replaced with 0.7kWh/day model), so I didn't get to see the usage go down, only up (Dad-in-law keeps buying new energy hungry gadgets, like a 37" LCD and a r/c motor for the car gate which draws 30W 24/7)

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I see a BIG reduction in your electric usage this spring vs. last. How did you achieve that?

I noticed that too, but blamed it on the weather.

Originally Posted by Daox

I guess I'll break the news, but Ben has started working on the energy tracker for the site so we can all track the info here and share it! I'm very excited about this.

That's great news! Any idea as to when we can start alpha/beta testing?

[Daox]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

It's good to see your yearly average going down so fast.

I hope to continue it! I have many issues to address in this 100+ year old house.

The first overall goal is kind of to consistently get my daily usage of electricity under 10 kWh per day. That shouldn't be too bad to do in summer, but its going to take a lot less furnace use in winter. With continued remodeling and adding insulation the winter gas usage should drop drastically which I really look forward to.

Anyway, this reminded me to update my spreadsheet (also found my November mistake, woo). I'm not real sure why there was a big jump in energy usage in electric usage. I did install a window AC unit, but we really only used it a half dozen nights. I really didn't measure its energy usage with a killawatt though. Thats the only thing I can think of though.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

That's great news! Any idea as to when we can start alpha/beta testing?

Oops, almost forgot to address this.

I'm really not sure when he'll have anything usable. I hope soon and I will be bugging him to get it done. I've really wanted this feature for as long as we've had this site up.

[Daox]

To fix my November mistake, I signed up for online billing. They also had an energy analysis feature that I decided to run through. It has a fair number of questions that help you identify ways to save on energy usage. Anyway, I thought I'd post the results. Nothing really surprising, but one or two things I hadn't really thought too much about. Here is my estimated energy break down.





Sadly, it looks like I'm doing decently well compared to most. You can tell this isn't the most accurate estimation though. My last January bill was ~$225.




And, my top 10 ways to save energy (in no particular order) are:

1) Wrap water heater with an insulating blanket
Implementation Cost: $23-$38
Annual CO2 Savings: 49 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $3-$4

I may or may not do this, its pretty old and I plan on going with tankless unit.



2) Take shorter showers
Implementation Cost: $0
Annual CO2 Savings: 229 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $12-$21

Admittedly a weakness. I love a warm shower in the morning. Of course I'm using a low flow shower head. Just gotta make it an enclosed shower to increase comfort.



3) Maintain your water heater regularly
Implementation Cost: $0
Annual CO2 Savings: 74 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $4-$7

I actually do this already. Its basically just draining it once a year to get rid of sediment build up.



4) Install heat traps on your water heater
Implementation Cost: $45-$75
Annual CO2 Savings: 163 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $9-$15

This is one I really hadn't thought too much about. Apparently its a much larger deal though! This is one of the higher energy losses I'm having according to this rough analysis. I'd imagine this could be pretty easily fixed with a few shark bite connectors and some pex line.



5) Insulate hot water pipes if not already done
Implementation Cost: $19-$31
Annual CO2 Savings: 52 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $3-$5

Some of the pipes are insulated, some aren't, and the ones that are done really aren't done all that great. This is an easy thing to do for a small improvement.



6) Wash full loads of dishes when possible
Implementation Cost: $0
Annual CO2 Savings: 96 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $7-$11

Who doesn't do this, honestly?



7) Air dry dishes
Implementation Cost: $0
Annual CO2 Savings: 63 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $4-$7

I do this already too.



8) Control air leakage
Implementation Cost: $100-$300
Annual CO2 Savings: 1,119 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $61-$102

This is one I've been working on for a while, its a biggie for me in this old house.



9) Insulate your ducts
Implementation Cost: $169-$281
Annual CO2 Savings: 185 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $10-$17

I should definitely do this. I don't have a lot of ductwork in unconditioned spaces (the basement). But, that just means it'll be a quick and easier job to take care of it and just get it done.



10) Seal leaks in air ducts
Implementation Cost: $150-$250
Annual CO2 Savings: 608 lbs
Annual Cost Savings: $33-$56

I did this last year and saw a huge difference in the velocity of the air coming out of my vents. Very much worth while and actually nowhere near $150-$250, more like $5 for a roll of aluminum tape.