Daox's energy use tracking - Page 4

Daox · 09-23-10, 07:31 AM

Just got my bill for the September. Energy use is good considering last September has was a fair amount warmer. I can't attribute much to anything as the differences aren't too large, but I hope that reclaiming the attic heat will allow me to keep the heat off for a while longer yet.

strider3700 · 09-30-10, 01:56 PM

quick question. What temperature do you use for your degree days? I found a site that will give me the degree days for my location but it asks for the base building temperature defaulting to 15.5 C where other places I've read recommend changing it to 18 C

Daox · 09-30-10, 02:02 PM

I believe my utility uses 18C (65F).

RobertSmalls · 09-30-10, 04:39 PM

I used degreedays.net to populate my spreadsheet, and I used 60°F for HDD and 74°F for CDD, under the rationale that given that ambient temperature + typical sun loads, I might think about heating or cooling the place. But my degree days would probably better match my usage if I went with 55°F and 76°F.

strider3700 · 09-30-10, 06:07 PM

I considered using settings similar to my thermostat but that would really just work to flatten the numbers. I'd almost never have any CDD and the HDD would be lower then most other peoples calculations.

Sticking with 18 allows me to compare with others that used 18 but doesn't reflect the energy use reality much. For instance looking at the numbers I had 283.9 HDD and 53.1 CDD during the hottest July on record. I never once turned on the heat but did run the AC a couple of times...

Daox · 10-22-10, 09:16 AM

New bill came today. I'm loving the online notification. I also hit an all time low for electric power usage this month! 8.03 kWh / day. This is still very high to me, so I will be on a hunt to reduce this further. I think I'm going to get a TED to help out. I've reduced the plug in items down to a point where I don't think I can do much more without replacing items or doing work to the house (I would LOVE to eliminate the need for a dehumidifier in the basement).

What kind of power usage are you guys seeing as far as kWh/day?

Also, I recently added a new column to the spreadsheet, Gas in kWh to compare electric vs gas energy usage. As it stands, my gas in kWh is almost always higher than electric kWh usage, even in summer months. So, even though electricity costs more, gas is where most of my actual energy is being used by far.

Daox · 10-22-10, 09:27 AM

Here is a visual representation of how much energy usage is gas vs electric. As you can see in summer it almost evens out. But, in winter it is drastically swayed to the gas side.

Gas = red
Electricity = blue

Piwoslaw · 10-22-10, 12:38 PM

So during the summer you use gas only for hot water and cooking, right? Seems like a lot.

[does some quick math]

In our house it's also about equal: around 3.5kWh/day electricity and 0.25-0.3m3/day gas, which is something like 11kWh/m3, so about 3kWh/day. (These are just numbers off the top of my head, I may be waaaay off.) Hot water is from an oldish (~10 years) on-demand gas furnace, stove is gas, but oven electric. Hot water for drinking is from an electric jug.

I've never compared gas with electricity using kWh. Next year we plan to install an electric water tank, so I'll keep an eye on changes.

Daox · 10-22-10, 01:48 PM

Wow, less than half my power consumption... show off. :P

Good to know its being done though. I was thinking I'd like to get down to 5/day. I now know less is quite viable.

strider3700 · 10-22-10, 07:51 PM

my house is 2400 sqft and there is myself, my wife and two kids under 3. Our usage when you convert gas to kwh is quite similar although my winter usage is lower which makes sense since it's pretty mild here.

winters I spike up to 52 kwh/day summers it's down to 20ish kwh/day since I very rarely need AC. This is with a 7ish year old electric hot water tank and an electric heat pump with an electric back up heater. When that backup heater kicks on the meter really spins.

09-23-10, 07:31 AM	#31
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Just got my bill for the September. Energy use is good considering last September has was a fair amount warmer. I can't attribute much to anything as the differences aren't too large, but I hope that reclaiming the attic heat will allow me to keep the heat off for a while longer yet. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

09-30-10, 02:02 PM	#33
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	I believe my utility uses 18C (65F). __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-22-10, 09:16 AM	#36
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	New bill came today. I'm loving the online notification. I also hit an all time low for electric power usage this month! 8.03 kWh / day. This is still very high to me, so I will be on a hunt to reduce this further. I think I'm going to get a TED to help out. I've reduced the plug in items down to a point where I don't think I can do much more without replacing items or doing work to the house (I would LOVE to eliminate the need for a dehumidifier in the basement). What kind of power usage are you guys seeing as far as kWh/day? Also, I recently added a new column to the spreadsheet, Gas in kWh to compare electric vs gas energy usage. As it stands, my gas in kWh is almost always higher than electric kWh usage, even in summer months. So, even though electricity costs more, gas is where most of my actual energy is being used by far. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-22-10, 09:27 AM	#37
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Here is a visual representation of how much energy usage is gas vs electric. As you can see in summer it almost evens out. But, in winter it is drastically swayed to the gas side. Gas = red Electricity = blue Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-22-10, 01:48 PM	#39
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Wow, less than half my power consumption... show off. :P Good to know its being done though. I was thinking I'd like to get down to 5/day. I now know less is quite viable. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

09-30-10, 01:56 PM	#32
strider3700 Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver Island BC Posts: 745 Thanks: 23 Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts	quick question. What temperature do you use for your degree days? I found a site that will give me the degree days for my location but it asks for the base building temperature defaulting to 15.5 C where other places I've read recommend changing it to 18 C

09-30-10, 04:39 PM	#34
RobertSmalls Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2009 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 344 Thanks: 3 Thanked 17 Times in 15 Posts	I used degreedays.net to populate my spreadsheet, and I used 60°F for HDD and 74°F for CDD, under the rationale that given that ambient temperature + typical sun loads, I might think about heating or cooling the place. But my degree days would probably better match my usage if I went with 55°F and 76°F.

09-30-10, 06:07 PM	#35
strider3700 Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver Island BC Posts: 745 Thanks: 23 Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts	I considered using settings similar to my thermostat but that would really just work to flatten the numbers. I'd almost never have any CDD and the HDD would be lower then most other peoples calculations. Sticking with 18 allows me to compare with others that used 18 but doesn't reflect the energy use reality much. For instance looking at the numbers I had 283.9 HDD and 53.1 CDD during the hottest July on record. I never once turned on the heat but did run the AC a couple of times...

10-22-10, 12:38 PM	#38
Piwoslaw Super Moderator Join Date: May 2009 Location: Warsaw, Poland Posts: 961 Thanks: 188 Thanked 110 Times in 86 Posts	So during the summer you use gas only for hot water and cooking, right? Seems like a lot. [does some quick math] In our house it's also about equal: around 3.5kWh/day electricity and 0.25-0.3m3/day gas, which is something like 11kWh/m3, so about 3kWh/day. (These are just numbers off the top of my head, I may be waaaay off.) Hot water is from an oldish (~10 years) on-demand gas furnace, stove is gas, but oven electric. Hot water for drinking is from an electric jug. I've never compared gas with electricity using kWh. Next year we plan to install an electric water tank, so I'll keep an eye on changes.

10-22-10, 07:51 PM	#40
strider3700 Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver Island BC Posts: 745 Thanks: 23 Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts	my house is 2400 sqft and there is myself, my wife and two kids under 3. Our usage when you convert gas to kwh is quite similar although my winter usage is lower which makes sense since it's pretty mild here. winters I spike up to 52 kwh/day summers it's down to 20ish kwh/day since I very rarely need AC. This is with a 7ish year old electric hot water tank and an electric heat pump with an electric back up heater. When that backup heater kicks on the meter really spins.