luvit's challenge: keep below 800 kWh each month.

luvit · Jan 28, 2012

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I've moved into a new [to me] house, it's larger and it's far from efficient.
My first full-month of electric usage, alone, was $186.61 for 1460 kWh.
Well, I won an auction on this whole-house power monitor when we moved-in, but never got it hooked-up until this week.

I want to return my power usage back down to 800 kWh / mo and I know it's going to take much more than just changing my lightbulbs to CFL lighting. -- If i'm gonna shell-out bucks, it's gonna be towards home energy improvements.

My power meter is mechanical, there is no off-peak-hours savings for operating the clothes washer & dryer.
And let's face it, when they do offer off-peak hour discounts, the power company jacks-up their peak hour charges to average-out the same total-cost to the customer.

My power company's first pricing tier changes after the first 800 kWh.. so that's the nearly-impossible goal I've chosen. That means we need to consume less than 25.81 kWh / day, on average..

Within a few days of hooking up the power monitor, my family's first day at achieiving this was yesterday at 23.7 kWh.. I'm irritating my teen daughters and wife pretty good, but they get it.. Daddy is a cheapskate, but gives them a small allowance.

Pretty much the only difference for yesterday was TURN OFF THE LIGHTS! -- even after converting the heaviest-used lighting to CFL.

I'll document my home improvements to conserving power here.
800 kWh is not impossible, I'm not a tree hugger.. I'd rather push my money towards home improvements than pay the power company.
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My only utilities I need to revamp are Power, Water, Trash Removal.
I've already leaned-out the bills for Cell Phone, Cable Internet.
I have two wells on the property, so this summer, I hope the Water Utility will go away.
Natural Gas is not available.
I will not pickup another dependency & monthly bill, like Propane.. I would rather grid-tie solar panels.
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Going for 30 consecutive days of success!
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luvit on 2/27/2012 said:
657.1 kWh !!
This ends my challenge period.
If this were my billing period, my bill would be $75.

The only things my family did which reached this success:

Luvit yelling: LIGHTS OUT! , when you're not using them. (we already have CFL).

Luvit yelling: USE FEWER LIGHTS! , use the accent or 'mood' lighting.

Water heater is off.

Mild winter, overall.

Just wait until I have to turn on my water heater and Air Conditioner...
Guess what, I don't yell turn-off the lights, very often, anymore.. habit, I guess.

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Honda guy · Jan 28, 2012

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Jagmandave · Jan 28, 2012

Where are you located?

Seems obvious that in a more temperate climate a whole electric house could be an efficient way to go, but in more extreme heat or cold (or both, like here in Kansas) it might be tough to do....

luvit · Jan 28, 2012

Jagmandave said:
Where are you located?

Seems obvious that in a more temperate climate a whole electric house could be an efficient way to go, but in more extreme heat or cold (or both, like here in Kansas) it might be tough to do....

I'm in the midwest. I have an outdoor woodburner and boiler.
Electric pumps circulate the water.
Electric operates the forced air fan to circulate the air.
Electric Clothes Dryer.
Electric Oven & Range.

Free Firewood, for now.
Free Hot water, for now, via the outdoor woodburner.
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MattT · Jan 28, 2012

Have you checked the thermostat setting on your hot water heater yet? You might be able to drop it lower to save a bit.

One thing I did that saved me more than I thought it would was a new TV. Replaced my girlfriends tube TV with an energy star rated LCD model and it dropped the light bill about $10 a month :shocking:

To be honest you're doing pretty well at 800kwh a month with a family. Our baseline usage, before heat and air, is in the 500 to 600kwh range just for the two of us.

luvit · Jan 28, 2012

MattT said:
Have you checked the thermostat setting on your hot water heater yet? You might be able to drop it lower to save a bit.

One thing I did that saved me more than I thought it would was a new TV. Replaced my girlfriends tube TV with an energy star rated LCD model and it dropped the light bill about $10 a month

To be honest you're doing pretty well at 800kwh a month with a family. Our baseline usage, before heat and air, is in the 500 to 600kwh range just for the two of us.

My electric Hot Water Heater is actually turned-off. The water is heated by my outdoor wood boiler.
I do have an Energy Star LCD TV, but it's not on very much.
I've not achieved 800 kWh in this house, yet.. it may take me a year from now to make that a reality, month after month.
I'm losing heat from inefficiencies in this home's insulation, doors/windows.. something I was aware of at the time of purchase. Which means more forced-air fan time.
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Naturally the first thought is that I can offset my electric bill by purchasing gas, but I'm aiming for a larger improvement than that.
I can't make my own LP or NG, but I can make electricity.
I will likely choose to add solar and/or a wind turbine. For lower overhead, I would tie to the grid instead of purchasing and maintaining batteries.
This will not be an overnight success, it will require overcoming red-tape from the "cooperating" electric company. There are a lot of rules on their side, and for good reason.
I've been studying this for 4 years now, and I waited until I purchased a new home, knowing I was leaving my existing home, some day.. plus the costs and options keep getting more practical.

I'm not trying to save the planet, I'm not going to eliminate the electric bill, I'm just going to have the fewest utilities as possible and keep those few bills well under better control.

$20 to $80 saved here-&-there is already adding-up with the other changes I made to my other monthly dependencies.

This begins with better insulating my garage and home to conserve.. that will be better than producing my own electric or buying and maintaining a load of propane.
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MattT · Jan 28, 2012

Few thoughts. Since you're already using a boiler for winter hot water adding solar hot water for the warmer months would probably give you a good ROI.

And if you want to eliminate your forced air load you could switch to in room radiators.

http://www.runtalnorthamerica.com/residential_radiators/index.html

Agreed you can't make propane but you can store it. That's why when our electric cooktop went out I replaced it with propane. So when the lights go out I don't freeze or starve. We typically get about 4 outages a year out here in the woods.

You're right to do everything you can to limit consumption before going to solar. It's much cheaper than buying more panels to run inefficient loads.

A question on grid tied solar. What happens to it when the grid goes down? Will it still provide power during the day to keep refrigeration and such running? I'd feel pretty dumb with 20 grand in panels and no electricity at all.

luvit · Jan 28, 2012

MattT said:
Few thoughts. Since you're already using a boiler for winter hot water adding solar hot water for the warmer months would probably give you a good ROI.

And if you want to eliminate your forced air load you could switch to in room radiators.

http://www.runtalnorthamerica.com/residential_radiators/index.html

Agreed you can't make propane but you can store it. That's why when our electric cooktop went out I replaced it with propane. So when the lights go out I don't freeze or starve. We typically get about 4 outages a year out here in the woods.

You're right to do everything you can to limit consumption before going to solar. It's much cheaper than buying more panels to run inefficient loads.

A question on grid tied solar. What happens to it when the grid goes down? Will it still provide power during the day to keep refrigeration and such running? I'd feel pretty dumb with 20 grand in panels and no electricity at all.

Yeah, I have radiant heat in the scope. And thanks for that link, i haven't looked at the prices there, but it'll give me some ideas.. I aim to be cheap and efficient, but stylish..
I'm not gonna mess with storing propane, unless I upgrade my generator to propane.
I have a gasoline generator, 4hrs per gallon.. if the power is out, I'll operate with the minimum appliances, fridge, deep freezer, boiler pump & fan, and minimal lighting.. tv/internet if the outage is extended.

My goal is just to conserve, and if need be, offset my costs with electric production. I'm not gonna need $20K in solar panels, $6K would even be my high-mark.. but most likely around $4K.

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theoldwizard1 · Jan 28, 2012

Your electric stove and clothes dryer are your big draw. Either hang up ropes in the basement or dry your clothes outside (both of those will go over well with the wife - HA !)

Check with your electric company. They may have a discount (interrupt) service available for your clothes dryer.

Ban hair dryers and any type of electric heating device (including the toaster) except the microwave.

BTW, a BTU of gas for heating your house, your water or your clothes is MUCH cheaper than a BTU of electricity !

M10 · Jan 28, 2012

If you haven't already, clean out the dryer vent tubing -should be rigid, no screws. This can make a big difference on a electric dryer.
How old is the fridge? My new fridge is larger, has a bottom freezer and uses 1/3 the energy of the old one. I also have a DC variable speed furnace blower which makes a difference here on the frozen tundra.

Teken · Jan 28, 2012

I look forward to reading your long term endeavors and seeing how they pan out. I know when I built my brand new home almost two years ago now. That to achieve the stated efficiencies, and low costs.

That I would have to make a huge initial investment to achieve these two goals. Since this was my first brand new home it was a no brainer to purchase all Energy Star rated appliances and devices.

From: Refrigerator, Dishwasher, Washer, Dryer, Stove, Microwave, Over head range etc. The ROI has been seen on each months utility bills and continues to do so.

The next big investment was insulating all interior walls with Roxul Safe N Sound. This ensured a fire break, noise barrier, and insulation. During the last two years even during the coldest months where it was a steady -26'C the house remained a steady 18.5'C for more than a ten hour period.

It goes with out saying that having a set back thermostat is mandatory and required. Mine is set to go to 17.5'C while we are all away or asleep. Only during the 4.5 hours during the day does the TSTAT ever go to 21'C.

I use a lot of home automation (HA) to ensure the heat is well circulated through out the home and any wasted heat is pushed back down from the ceiling to ensure that heat is well used.

The HA will turn on zoned ceiling fans once it detects a temperature threshold has been seen, and will start the zoned fans to circulate the air to ensure even heat through out the home.

The HA will raise and lower the south side facing window blinds to ensure all the natural UV rays are taken in and warming the ambient air. One of the key things I have in the works is a solar thermal wall. This device will allow me to collect the free UV sun light and transfer all the hot air through out the garage / home.

Everything in my home is automated for *Just In Time Use* and timed accordingly for that event, process, task.

As others have mentioned a lot of the key things that will allow you to achieve some of these goals is life style changes. Hanging up the cloths and allowing it to air dry. If you have to use the dryer to than ensure all loads are full.

The best invention was the front end cloths washer! The difference in water usage is easily 2-1 if not higher.

As you mentioned earlier changing all your lights to CFL is just part of the battle. What I did was record down what each area we as a family used in term of time use. This helped me determine the amount of light and the Kelvins to use in each area.

Case in point: Instead of using a 3 x 100 watt / 23 watt CFL, in the bedrooms I installed 2 x 60 watt / 13 watt CFL 3500 Kelvin bulbs. The difference in light output was barely noticeable from anyone in the household!

I did this in each zone, area, room, and the end result has been dramatic to say the least. My electric bill is *A Typical* of 400-680 kwh per month. In this area that equates to $45-65.00 a month for electricity.

Keep in mind our local rate is $0.063 per kwh . . . :bounce:

As you said earlier insulation is key: Just insulating my garage this summer has allowed me to maintain a 20 degree difference from the outside at all times. Keep in mind this garage is also unheated just simply insulated. There is no dry wall up yet, and one side is still missing vapor barrier! :lol_hitti

Getting back to the window blinds: You can purchase the type that have baffles. The intent is that they keep the hot air trapped with in the grids and this acts like a second layer. During the winters even with good double / triple pane windows. I install those clear window film barriers on all windows to ensure all the heat stays in the home.

The difference has been night and day here when the temperatures drop below -36'C here in the North Pole!

Having said all of this unplug all those devices which are not in use. Identify those devices which have vampire draw during standby, or when in sleep mode.

As others have mentioned: If you can replace any and all devices which are more than 10 years old. This will you pay back in the years to come. My plans are similar to yours in terms of doing a solar array system which feeds back into the grid. While also allowing me to have a back up power supply on top of a 21 kwh NG back up generator.

Keep us all posted as the months goes by . . . :thumbup:

Teken . . .

luvit · Jan 28, 2012

theoldwizard1 said:
electric stove, clothes drye, big draws.. hang up ropes in the basement or dry your clothes outside (both of those will go over well with the wife - HA !)

Check with your electric company. They may have a discount (interrupt) service available for your clothes dryer.

Ban hair dryers and any type of electric heating device (including the toaster) except the microwave.

BTW, a BTU of gas for heating your house, your water or your clothes is MUCH cheaper than a BTU of electricity !

our clothes do hang-out in the summer, but my wife is not going to hang clothes indoors in a finished basement.
i'm interested in this discount service.. can you explain more.. (interrupt?)
can't ban those appliances, my familiy does not "live with ed". lol.
i understand BTU difference, but i'm choosing a single source which can do everything and then i can eventually supplement with solar/wind.
i'm being conscious of the quantity of sources i pay & the quantity i use.

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M10 said:
If you haven't already, clean out the dryer vent tubing, rigid, no screws.
How old is the fridge?
I also have a DC variable speed furnace blower which makes a difference here on the frozen tundra.

dryer vent is new, 9" long, direct vent to exterior wall. lol.
fridge is new, 30 days, energy star
thanks for the DC blower fan tip!

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Teken said:
It goes with out saying that having a set back thermostat is mandatory and required.. away or asleep. Only during the 4.5 hours during the day does the TSTAT ever go to 21'C.

I use a lot of home automation (HA).. Everything in my home is automated for *Just In Time Use* and timed accordingly for that event, process, task.

The best invention was the front end cloths washer! The difference in water usage is easily 2-1 if not higher.

..Instead of using a 3 x 100 watt / 23 watt CFL, in the bedrooms I installed 2 x 60 watt / 13 watt CFL 3500 Kelvin bulbs.

..My electric bill is *A Typical* of 400-680 kwh per month. In this area that equates to $45-65.00 a month for electricity.

..Just insulating my garage this summer has allowed me to maintain a 20 degree difference..

Getting back to the window blinds: You can purchase the type that have baffles.. I install those clear window film barriers on all windows to ensure all the heat stays in the home.

Having said all of this unplug all those devices, vampire draw, standby, sleep mode.

..If you can replace any and all devices which are more than 10 years old.
Keep us all posted as the months goes by . . .

got the programable thermostat, it's in use. highest setting is 68'F
your HA is impressive, i will admit, it's more ambitious than i will take on, i know i would do it in the tundra. i salute you.
i did the step-down on the CFL equivalents from 60w incandescent to 40w equivilent. -- all my CFLs are 9W (40W equiv).
non-essential lamps are using 4W and 7W incadecent nightlight bulbs.
i have to tackle my canned lighting, yet. they're not CFL/LED, yet. we really dont' use them much, but when we do, they are dimmed low. i will eventually pick some new bulbs for those canned lights.
you have an impressive kWh each month, especially in the tundra.
i'll be doing the window films, but i'll leave the blinds to my wife.
i'm not going to unplug anything. i'll use timers for the enterainment system vampire draws while sleeping. (lowest priority).
oldest device is my 2yr old LCD TV.
i will definitely not spend a lot of time on this once i meet my goal of a stable $90 electric bill.

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theoldwizard1 · Jan 28, 2012

Most electric companies offer a discount for interruptable service for A/C or hot water heating. During peak usage, they may turn of that service for some short period, maybe 15 minutes per hour. There are some additional charges because they install a second meter and separate wiring. I don't know if they would allow you to use this for a dryer.

Electricity will never be able compete on a dollar per dollars basis with gas for any heating job.

I'm thinking about going the opposite way for a vacation house. Gas everything, including refrigeration. Solar/wind or possibly a generator for electricity. All my research says that natural gas prices will be more stable than electricity for the next 10+ year.

luvit · Jan 28, 2012

theoldwizard1 said:
..interruptable service for A/C or hot water heating. During peak usage, they may turn of that service for some short period, maybe 15 minutes per hour.

Electricity will never be able compete on a dollar per dollars basis with gas for any heating job.

I'm thinking about going the opposite way for a vacation house. Gas everything, including refrigeration. Solar/wind or possibly a generator for electricity. All my research says that natural gas prices will be more stable than electricity for the next 10+ year.

thanks for the details on the interrupt.
there is not a NG provider for my property.
electricity from the electric company, alone, cannot compete.. but wind/solar generation does allow electricity to viably compete.

luvit · Jan 29, 2012

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A second day of success:
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The Goal < 25.81 kWh
.Jan 27th = 24.70 kWh
.Jan 28th = 22.40 kWh

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SO CHECK THIS OUT!
Last night, before I knew my shop lights were hoggin' power, I replaced a water pump and belt with only a CFL treble light & the hood light. -- it was perfect. There were no shadows due to other light sources.

I took the old & new water pumps to the workbench so I could move the cooling fan studs between them. To do this safely, I turned on my regular shop lights. -- The task took less than 15 minutes (per the graph, below).
Out of curiosity, I looked at my kW graph. -- I was surprised that I tripled my property's power consumption just by turning on my shop lights.

Shop lighting is a top priority with my garage revamp plans ..now I have a good information to apply once I lay-out my lighting plans.

BTW, only about two thirds of my 1975 garage lighting actually works & my power usage lept from 700 kW to 2100kW.
My shop lights burn 1.4 kW !! lol.
If all my light fixtures were operating, they would have burned 2.1 kW !! all by themselves.

theoldwizard1 · Jan 29, 2012

luvit said:
there is not a NG provider for my property.

I had guessed that.

Wind and solar are expensive investments that will take many years to pay back.

The only way to speed the payback is over produce and sell it back to the power company.

Sell that clothes dryer and teach your wife to cook on a wood stove.

Of course if you have a lot of property, you could raise cattle, capture their waste and put it in a biodigester and make your own gas.

paranoid56 · Jan 29, 2012

what kind of shop lights do you have? and did that whole-house power monitor include the software you are showing for your graphs?

ForceFed70 · Jan 29, 2012

In a typical home, the electric cloths dryer is the largest draw of electricity. In your home using wood heat, etc you will find that the cloths dryer will be responsible for an even larger amount of electricity used.

Check your consumption when the cloths dryer is running. Your dryer is going to comsume 5kw/h or more when it's running. Average drying cycle is 1.5hrs... 2 loads and you've consumed over 1/2 of your energy budget for the day.

I would really look into alternatives if you can. You can even try experimenting with things like adjusting the heat level on the dryer (takes longer to dry, but uses less heat to do so).

Ultimately, turning off all of those lights (especially with the efficient lighting you have in place) won't make a big difference when you compare it to the energy your dryer is useing.

Let's put it in perspective: Running your dryer for 1 hr is the equivilent of leaving 38 13watt CFL bulbs on for 10 hours.

buzz4041 · Jan 29, 2012

Luvit whose whole house monitor are you using and did it include the software that produced the charts you show. I am about to do some upgrades at home and I want to document the changes as I go.

Teken · Jan 29, 2012

ForceFed70 said:
In a typical home, the electric cloths dryer is the largest draw of electricity. In your home using wood heat, etc you will find that the cloths dryer will be responsible for an even larger amount of electricity used.

Check your consumption when the cloths dryer is running. Your dryer is going to comsume 5kw/h or more when it's running. Average drying cycle is 1.5hrs... 2 loads and you've consumed over 1/2 of your energy budget for the day.

I would really look into alternatives if you can. You can even try experimenting with things like adjusting the heat level on the dryer (takes longer to dry, but uses less heat to do so).

Ultimately, turning off all of those lights (especially with the efficient lighting you have in place) won't make a big difference when you compare it to the energy your dryer is useing.

Let's put it in perspective: Running your dryer for 1 hr is the equivilent of leaving 38 13watt CFL bulbs on for 10 hours.

To add: If your cloths washer has a extra high spin cycle, use it! Once the machine rings out every last ounce of water out of those cloths. :thumbup:

The drying time will be reduced dramatically . . . :spit:

Everyone knows in the house to use the extra spin cycle . . . The longest dry time has been only 41 minutes. More often than not the dryer only runs 28 minutes as it has a self sensing unit to determine the level of moisture left in the chamber.

Besides the front end washer, this dryer was the biggest money saver I purchased. The only other thing that comes close is the dual flush toilets and slow flow shower heads.

My monthly water bill is $19.** per month. We receive our water bill every quarter which ends up being $58-61.** per quarter. This is for three people living in the home.

My next challenge is to get this solar wall, and solar array up and running in the next 5 years . . . :bowdown:

Teken . . .

luvit · Jan 29, 2012

paranoid56 said:
what kind of shop lights do you have? and did that whole-house power monitor include the software you are showing for your graphs?

For charting the power monitor, I have chosen myeragy.com
I don't how to say what kind of shop lights i have other than they are mostly 4' or 8' florescent bulbs with one or two 6 footers.
The 4 footers have two 40W bulbs, the rest have two 60W bulbs with an occasional 75W bulb.. one mixed-up batch of lights.
1/3 of the do not light. lol. This is how I bought the place.

I added it up:

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ForceFed70 said:
Check your consumption / cloths dryer

I'm all too aware.
But the lights-out has been a very notable improvement. Remember I still have some incandescent canned lighting until I select replacement bulbs for them. Yes, choosing gas for appliances would be the conventional solution, but it's not a big enough reduction for me. I'm gonna generate electric with wind/solar to supplement the electric bill.
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buzz4041 said:
Luvit whose whole house monitor are you using and doid it include the software that produced the charts you show. I am about to do some upgrades at home and I want to document the changes as I go.

I'm using the Blue Line PCM BLI-28000 & the BLI-31100 WiFi Gateway with myeragy.com charting.
The chart updates about every 32 seconds.
I can view the live chart from my cell phone or PC which is just a webpage.
The charting is a free service.

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Teken said:
If your cloths washer has a extra high spin cycle, use it!
dryer/ self sensing unit
double flush toilets / shower heads. My monthly water bill is $19.** per month /three people living in the home.

Yup, we have optimal laundry practices.

I'm not focused on water, yet. I think it's $20/mo until I switch to one of these wells on the property. That's the minimum payment, which we have not exceeded with a family of 4.
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Gooch · Jan 29, 2012

Disconnect the shop lights that don't work. If they are electronic ballasts, they will consume some energy even if they don't light the bulbs.

rwreuter · Jan 29, 2012

Jagmandave said:
Where are you located?

Seems obvious that in a more temperate climate a whole electric house could be an efficient way to go, but in more extreme heat or cold (or both, like here in Kansas) it might be tough to do....

do you use propane by chance?

rwreuter · Jan 29, 2012

just curious....what is the black thing on your meter? is it part of that monitoring system that you have?

also, to get this straight, you don't use electricity to heat your house? the reason i ask is because i don't either and i easily use less than 600kwh in the winter months, often around 500.

my propane bill is another story......in the winter i typically use over 100 gallons a month...and to me that is a lot.

now to keep things in perspective, my house is 3500 square feet with over 350 square feet of windows (low E, argon filled)

so, having said all of that, i think you can get below 800kwh a month. now for the most part all of my bulbs are cfl's (except those that can't be)(plus i have 6 outside lights that are in the soffit that stay on all night)

YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

green.bubbly · Jan 29, 2012

Please tell me you will not start using these.

I am in the process of building a home and I find your thread very interesting. I am just as you are, not a tree hugger but hate blowing money on utilities. One of my biggest electrical demands is the air conditioning. Living in hot and humid Louisiana, there is not much I can do to get away from using it. I will have a central unit but will probably install a mini-split in the bedroom. No sense cooling the entire house while the wife and I are sleeping.

I am interested in that meter monitor you are using but I have to wait until I get my meter installed. Keep the updates coming.

rwreuter · Jan 29, 2012

yeah, info about that meter monitor would be great....

green.bubbly.....i just finished (2 years ago) building my house and there are several things i wish i would have done and kick myself for not doing it.

i opted for 2x6 exterior walls, so i could have r-21 insulation. I WISH i had gone with spray foam insulation......well worth it....DO IT.

i also opted for a 80% efficient furnace, i wish i would have gotten a 96% efficient heat pump......well worth it....DO IT. (i also considered a geothermal, the cost drove me away)

add the extra insulation in the attic, at least another foot.

if you can only do one....do the spray foam insulation....everything else can be changed or added at a later date.

luvit · Jan 29, 2012

Gooch said:
Disconnect the shop lights that don't work. If they are electronic ballasts, they will consume some energy even if they don't light the bulbs.

gooch said:
disconnect the shop lights that don't work. If they are electronic ballasts, they will consume some energy even if they don't light the bulbs.

THANKS! I have been wondering, but I haven't gotten around to asking since I'm not ready to take action.
BTW, I assume this is a Mercury Vapor, with no ballast. How do I determine this? lol.
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luvit · Jan 29, 2012

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rwreuter said:
what is the black thing on your meter? Is it part of that monitoring system that you have?

Also, to get this straight, you don't use electricity to heat your house?
i easily use less than 600kwh in the winter months, often around 500. My propane bill is another story / 3500 square feet
you can do this!!!

correct & good job on your kW consumption.
i can do this!!! :beer:

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green.bubbly said:
air conditioning in hot and humid louisiana, central unit but will probably install a mini-split in the bedroom. No sense cooling the entire house while the wife and i are sleeping.

I am interested in that meter monitor you are using but i have to wait until i get my meter installed. Keep the updates coming.

Great idea on the bedroom air. I'll do that too after I kick out our teen daughters!
The MSRP of these monitors begin around $260, which could probably add a layer of insulation to my attic, but I only paid $75.
Somewhere in this thread I have posted a link to my monitor manufacturer and myeragy.com.
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rwreuter said:
spray foam insulation......well worth it....do it.
96% efficient heat pump......well worth it....do it. or geothermal

add the extra insulation in the attic, at least another foot.
If you can only do one....do the spray foam insulation....everything else can be changed or added at a later date.

I was just going to roll/blow additional insulation into my existing attic. I've not yet studied all the choices for my existing structure built in 1975.
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djjsr · Jan 29, 2012

You should get one of those "Kill-a-watt" gadgets. You can monitor the power consumption of anything that plugs into a wall outlet, refrig, computer, tv, etc.

If you get the EZ model, you can enter your kwh rate and it'll tell you not only the consumption in kwh but also the cost per day, week, month and year.

They're around $25 for the EZ model but it seems the ROI is pretty good.

luvit · Jan 29, 2012

djjsr said:
You should get one of those "Kill-a-watt" gadgets ..enter your kwh rate ..per day, week, month and year.

luvit kill-a-watt pool pumps coffee

Charles (in GA) · Jan 29, 2012

Mercury vapor lamps all have ballasts. They emit a bluish light and were used for years, before the orange sodium lights came along. I still see a few for sale, but I don't think its legal to manufacture the fixtures any longer. They are quite inefficient and of course, have mercury in them.

Charles

RAYJAY · Jan 29, 2012

luvit said:
For charting the power monitor, I have chosen myeragy.com
I don't how to say what kind of shop lights i have other than they are mostly 4' or 8' florescent bulbs with one or two 6 footers.
The 4 footers have two 40W bulbs, the rest have two 60W bulbs with an occasional 75W bulb.. one mixed-up batch of lights.
1/3 of the do not light. lol. This is how I bought the place.

I added it up:

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I'm all too aware.
But the lights-out has been a very notable improvement. Remember I still have some incandescent canned lighting until I select replacement bulbs for them. Yes, choosing gas for appliances would be the conventional solution, but it's not a big enough reduction for me. I'm gonna generate electric with wind/solar to supplement the electric bill.
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I'm using the Blue Line PCM BLI-28000 & the BLI-31100 WiFi Gateway with myeragy.com charting.
The chart updates about every 32 seconds.
I can view the live chart from my cell phone or PC which is just a webpage.
The charting is a free service.

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Yup, we have optimal laundry practices.
I'm not focused on water, yet. I think it's $20/mo until I switch to one of these wells on the property. That's the minimum payment, which we have not exceeded with a family of 4.
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if your water bill is only $20 per month don't even try to use the well the power you will use on the pump will be way over the price of your water now

ElectroLight · Jan 29, 2012

Great thread, subscribed. Have you thought about breaking the garage light circuits into zones? Looks like you could do a Low-Med-Hi config and still have decent coverage. I put pull string switches on the two 4 footers over my garage door so I could turn them off when the door is up (most of the time in summer). This would be a real low-tech/low-buck solution for you.

luvit · Jan 30, 2012

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Day 3 success:
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The Goal < 25.81 kWh
.Jan 27th = 24.70 kWh
.Jan 28th = 22.40 kWh
.Jan 29th = 25.0 kWh

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ElectroLight,
That was my first immediate thought after the eye-opener last night over my expensive lighting.
Just as I simply used a treble light to swap a water pump, I could use simple task-area-lighting for simple things, yet still have the option flooding the room.
For safety, I would turn on all the lights for when a car is jacked-up, cutting torch, or perhaps even the drill press, etc.
I would easily adapt the habit of task-lighting, something which people would scoff at because it would be be troublesome to build that habit.. like the habit of wearing mechanic gloves/rubber gloves.
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theoldwizard1 · Jan 30, 2012

Charles (in GA) said:
Mercury vapor lamps all have ballasts. They emit a bluish light and were used for years, before the orange sodium lights came along.

From Wikipedia

Self-ballasted (SB) mercury vapor lamps

There are mercury vapor lamps with a filament inside connected in series with the arc tube that functions as an electrical ballast. This is the only kind of mercury vapor lamp that should be connected directly to the mains without an external ballast. These lamps have only the same or slightly higher efficiency than incandescent lamps of similar size, but have a longer life. They give light immediately on startup, but usually needs a few minutes to restrike if power has been interrupted

theoldwizard1 · Jan 30, 2012

Check the power draw on that mercury vapor light !

They do make CFL flood light bulbs (standard screw in base). They put out a lot less light, but you could probably install 10 of them and draw less power than one mercury vapor.

bacpacker · Jan 30, 2012

Excellent project Luvit. I will be beginning something similar at my place by March. Currently we have my MIL living with us (Alzhiemers) who can't turn a light off to save her life. So not much point starting it until she goes back to Michigan.
I have picked up a Kill-a-Watt and will start monitoring our appliances and seeking to reduce our electric load. We built our place in 1994 and went with 2x6 walls stuffed full of insulation. Have 12-18" in the attic. Double pane windows, etc. We had a new heat pump installed about 20 months ago and it's a hi-effeciency unit. It dropped out bill over $20/month.
We had a bad hail storm come thru last spring and destroyed our siding and roofing. We went back with a vinyl siding, but had a double layer of foan insulation put behind it. We also went back with a Pearl Grey metal roofing, instead of dark shingles. Our problem is more cooling in the summer than heating in the winter. If we get cold temps, say 35 or below, we use the wood stove to heat and the furnace hardly comes on. But summer time the AC runs a lot. Still looking at ways to reduce that.

Teken · Jan 30, 2012

luvit said:
.
Day 3 success:
.
The Goal < 25.81 kWh
.Jan 27th = 24.70 kWh
.Jan 28th = 22.40 kWh
.Jan 29th = 25.0 kWh
.

.
.
.
ElectroLight,
That was my first immediate thought after the eye-opener last night over my expensive lighting.
Just as I simply used a treble light to swap a water pump, I could use simple task-area-lighting for simple things, yet still have the option flooding the room.
For safety, I would turn on all the lights for when a car is jacked-up, cutting torch, or perhaps even the drill press, etc.
I would easily adapt the habit of task-lighting, something which people would scoff at because it would be be troublesome to build that habit.. like the habit of wearing mechanic gloves/rubber gloves.
.

What have you identified as the largest power hog in this home right now? I ask because this number still seems rather high for a daily usage?? :headscrat

Is this really just the electric heat & lights??

Teken . . .

ixlr8 · Jan 30, 2012

Hmmm. I am working on the same challenge. I have found that most of the local libraries in my area have the Kill-A-Watt meter available for 'check out'. You might want to look into that. I took one home for a week, I was surprised at the power some things were using especially when "off". My cable box uses the same amount of power, 33 watts, on or off. Apparently when you turn it "off", it just shuts off the front display. Do you have a X-box game console or the like, if left plugged in 24/7, they can use the same amount of power in a day as a refridgerator.

paranoid56 · Jan 30, 2012

ixlr8 said:
. Do you have a X-box game console or the like, if left plugged in 24/7, they can use the same amount of power in a day as a refridgerator.

where did you get this info?
a typical frige is like 72 wH/hr where as an xbox on standby is 2 wH/hr

luvit's challenge: keep below 800 kWh each month.

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