In 2007, the electricity usage at my house was at 27,751 kWh for the year. In 2008, it dropped 8.71% to 25,528. As of 2009 (just missing December), it is down by 17.73% to 19,877. If we were to go as high as December 2007 (2,642 kWh), we’d still be at a 13.36% shift down. However, I think we will most likely clock in around 2,000 (16.69% drop under 2008).
I’m not entirely sure how we managed that, though. In 2007, the place was a bachelor pad, so Justin’s electronics may have accounted for a bit higher usage. Justin moved out in December 2007, and Amy moved in February 2008. The first 3 months of 2008 were higher than those of 2007 and 2009, and I’m not sure how. Sometime around March 2008, our old 1960′s era refrigerator started screaming, so we bought a new refrigerator and instantly saw a drop in our electricity usage. So those new, fancy Energy Star certified appliances really do make a difference!
The strange thing is that we managed to add electronics to our digital collection and still saw significant reductions in 2009 and a little bit in 2008. We have added a receiver, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, TiVo, 2 laptops, and 2 desktop computers to the mix in that time-span, but our consumption went down. Amy has been cooking more often, so even the usage of the kitchen appliances has gone up. AND we now keep the thermostat on a constant 72F year-round whereas it used to be at a mostly constant 70F. Needless to say, I’m still perplexed.
As far as energy-saving measures (they were more side-effects of other projects), we have replaced the storm door with a security storm door (2x panes of glass with plastic in the middle), replaced the door leading into the garage with a fiberglass door (instead of the hollow wood door) that also has a set of blinds in between two panes of glass. That’s about it as far as I can tell. I managed to finally close some storm windows that had been stuck for months (and years), but that was only this past weekend. I can tell a difference with the two new doors, though.
I have come up with a few more ideas that may help cut back for 2010:
- · Install programmable thermostat
- · New stove/oven
- · New washer and dryer
- · New water heater
- · Timers for a couple things in the house (like fans) that run at night but not during the day
- · Blinds for all the windows (even if they are always open, it would still deaden airflow around the windows)
- · Make another pass at eliminating “phantom” power* devices or switching them off more regularly
- · Put unused computers into hibernate/sleep mode and use wake-on-LAN when I want to use them
- · Install window treatment film on the master bedroom windows and the office window (facing east)
That’s about all I can come up with for now. New low-E windows are too cost prohibitive. We have been replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs whenever a bulb burns out. I also need to figure out a way to enclose the laundry room and maybe insulate it a little bit for those cold winter days where the dogs are outside or in the garage with their electric dog bed and heater. I think that even putting a ceiling over the laundry room will help retain heat that would otherwise be lost. It would also give us extra storage space over the laundry room.
Are there any other cost-effective ideas that are feasible and do not sacrifice the quality of life in our home? Is there such thing as a temperature-controlled outlet. Say, for instance, I want a heater to kick on when the ambient air temperature around an outlet (or device plugged into an outlet) goes below 45F. That would drastically help in the winter time when I forget to turn on the heater for the dogs in the morning or forget to turn it off at night.
* I have a tough time swallowing the whole “phantom” power theory. I purchased a Kill-a-watt and confirmed that devices like our cell phone chargers do not, in fact, consume electricity if they are plugged in with a phone attached. I have also tested the standby power of many of our electronics and the energy consumption is negligible there. About the only vampires that I am aware of are battery chargers for our gaming console controllers. I may consider putting them on a timer so that they don’t charge at night.
If you haven’t done it already….buy some blow insulation and put about a 2 foot thick layer in your attic. The blower rental is free if you buy from home depot or lowes and it takes about 3 hours to do.
We did our whole house for $150, got an energy tax credit (small), and saved about $20 on each of out power bills.
Putting the plastic window insulating kits over windows in the winter helps alot. I’m in the process of doing it now since we have 14 single pane windows from 1969. Putting a water heater blanket in helps a little, never knew what it was since my parents did it. Best thing for the water heater is to drain some water out of the bottom faucet on the tank to remove sediment and keep the thermostat set at 120. The problem with phantom power is that it all adds up. If an idle desktop burns 100 watts then every 10 hours it burns 1kWh which is $0.07. But the most expensive thing in your house to run is the furnace, unless you have gas which I guess you don’t. A programmable thermostat is very helpful especially if you’re both gone for the day during the same window and if you can tolerate a fair temperature at night. Dad had ours set on 55 at night during the winter. If you have a heat pump be sure to get a thermostat that can control your system, at Lowe’s there are only 2 in store that will control a heat pump with aux/emergency heat.
http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovators-Thermostatically-Controlled-TC-3/dp/B0006U2HD2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1264738548&sr=8-1
That one has fixed temp limits.
http://www.amazon.com/WIN100-Heating-Cooling-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B000E7NYY8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1264738548&sr=8-2
That one is programmable. Never used either.
We have storm windows on all of ours which seem to be doing a pretty good job. I’m considering replacing some of the weather stripping to see if that offers an improvement. There are a couple of drafty places on the windows that are a little cooler, but it’s not significant enough to cause any sort of air movement detectable with a flame or candle smoke.
I’m also re-considering the phantom power caused by all the standby devices or peripherals still plugged in when the TV is not on or a computer is not in use. However, at $22-31 a piece, and considering I could use up to 6-7 of these around the house, the cost adds up quickly!
I also intend to get a programmable thermostat. We had one before, but it wasn’t able to control the auxiliary heat. We now have one that enables the auxiliary heat, but isn’t programmable.
And thanks a million for the links to the ThermoCubes and programmable outlet thermostat. I’ve looked for devices like those several times and always came up with nothing. I guess I wasn’t looking in the right place. That will definitely come in handy in the winter since the dogs stay outside all day while we’re gone and have a space heater in the garage that runs all the time. I’ve been looking for a way to control that based on the temperature but haven’t found anything yet. This way I don’t have to worry if it gets too warm during the day to keep the heater running or too cold and I forget to turn it on. Pairing that with a timer will probably save us lots of time, worry, and money during winter!