reduce home energy consumption

... electric bill was about $7 less than what the bill has been the last few months. We made a few small changes like getting rid of two cable TV boxes, the upstairs television and not using the ceiling fan in our family room during the cooler weather.

Our daily averages for electricity:

July 29.20 kWh (2008: 38.85 kWh | 2007: 46.34 kWh)

August: 25.76 kWh (2008: 37.07 kWh | 2007: 59.13 kWh)

September 16.59 kWh(2008: 32.93 kWh | 2007: : 30.21 kWh)

October: 13.93 kWh (2008: 25.09 kWh | 2007: 24.59 kWh )

November 13.37 kWh (2008: 24.27 kWh | 2007: 21.48 kWh)

Our gas bill is also lower. I noticed our level pay account has a credit of almost $200.

Our electric bill has been the same for the past four months and I thought it was time to make additional changes to help lower the amount of electricity we use. I unplugged most things that aren’t used daily, like kitchen appliances, power chargers and a few lamps months ago and the power strips we used for other items weren’t always getting turned off.

This week we added Bye Bye Standby smart socket adapters to lamps, fans, cordless phones and a printer that were plugged in 24 hours a day. It’s really easy to turn items on and off using a wireless remote control and not having to unplug them. I’m going to buy another set of the Bye Bye Standby adapters to use for the dishwasher and microwave to help save energy. I also ordered a Smart Strip Energy Saving Power Strip for the office computer and peripherals.

Both Televisions, TiVo’s, cable boxes and the Roku are still plugged in 24 hours a day and may need to change that setup in our next effort to conserve energy.

Our daily averages for electricity:

March: 14.78 kWh (2008: 22.65 kWh – 2007: 29.86 kWh)

April: 15.43 kWh (2008: 28.25 kWh – 2007: 28.55 kWh)

May: 16.73 kWh (2008: 24.83 kWh – 2007: 28.85 kWh)

June: 16.12 kWh (2008: 40.21 kWh – 2007: 37.72 kWh)

We still need to replace our air conditioner, pool equipment and some of the windows to reduce our energy usage even more.

Our gas bill has dropped since I started hanging the laundry outside to dry. We have also made a few other changes so we don’t use as much hot water. Three months ago our gas bill was $41 and the last two months have only been $6. We use gas for cooking, including our barbecue, run the dishwasher and do a load of laundry (using warm water) almost daily so I am surprised the bill was so low.

We have an energy efficient gas dryer (Whirlpool Duet) which sometimes takes longer than normal to dry clothes because the poor venting of a Concrete/Foundation dryer vent. In the past, I have hung shirts up to dry in a spare bathroom. I just bought an outdoor clothes dryer and clothespins so that I can stop using the gas dryer in warm weather.

I hung my first load of clothes outside today and they were dry in less than an hour, which is less time than it takes in the dryer.

Our daily averages for electricity:

June: 40.21 kWh – last year: 37.72 kWh

July 38.85 kWh – last year: 46.34 kWh

August: 37.07 kWh – last year: 59.13 kWh

September 32.93 kWh – last year: 30.21 kWh

October: 25.09 kWh – last year: 24.59 kWh

November 24.27 kWh – last year: 21.48 kWh

December: 21.61 kWh – last year: 19.38 kWh

January 18.14 kWh – last year: 18.60 kWh

February: 16.28 kWh – last year: 20.40 kWh

Although not every month is an improvement over last year, I am pleased with the progress we have made on using less energy. We probably just had a few more 100 degree days during the higher months or used the pool pump more during that time period than the previous year.

Last month was our lowest electric usage at 16.48 kWh. Our highest was July 2006 when we used 85.48 kWh of electricity for 31 days. The weather makes a huge difference!

Since moving from a 2b condo into a 3b house my bill has gone from $20-60 to $80-$150. While I realize this includes an extra person and a washer/dryer I am disappointed to see how much energy we use, especially since we have gone from whole house heating to a very limited use of space heaters (possible b/c we are in southern cal). We have also implemented the low watt energy efficient lights in every room in the new place. I suspect that the increase is simply that we have at least twice as many rooms and lights including exterior lighting.

In 2009 I would like to cut our electric/ gas use by 30% and water consumption by at least 20%. To do this I just bought a smart surge protector and low flow shower head. I would like to:

buy dual flush toilets
use grey water for my garden
water the landscape 2 our of three days in dry times rather than every day

Other Suggestions?

Our daily averages for electricity:

February: 20.40 kWh – last year: 30.45 kWh

March: 22.65 kWh – last year: 29.86 kWh

April: 28.25 kWh – last year: 28.55 kWh

May 24.83 kWh – last year: 28.85 kWh

We used more energy than previous months since we ran the swimming pool pump more than usual because of problems with the water. Next month should be better!

...our energy usage is less than it was this time last year but feel like we could be doing better. On Saturday it was 115 degrees and when the indoor temperature reached over 90 degrees, we decided to turn on the air conditioner. The air is currently set to to 82 degrees. Since the temperature has cooled down a little, I will probably turn the air off at night.

Our swimming pool has been using more energy than usual while trying to get the water back to a normal pH. We ended up draining the pool and refilling it this past weekend, so the pool pump won’t need to run as many hours as it has recently.

Check out this fun personal ecological footprint calculator http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=calculator. Sadly, I am at 4.7 planets – even with working from home! I compared to my old life in Denver which was even bigger at 5.1 – more bus, less local food. With a pledge to reduce the amount of animal products I eat in half and purchase products that use less or recycled packaging I can get down to 4.1. The biggest piece of my pie is services, followed by mobility. All that airplane travel for work adds up. My company buys offsets but that feels a bit like cheating. If I stopped flying I could get town to 3 planets. The ave American is at about 9 planets.