August Energy Bill

My Demo'd Laundry Room

Well another month of summer has passed and fall is looming.  I've been busting my butt making sure everything is ready for the impending arrival of the twins.  And somehow I got the bright idea to renovate my laundry room to a mudroom.  Now, I will admit that I had been talking about it for a while, but just hadn't 'pulled the trigger' on it.  I guess I saw this as my last opportunity so I had better get moving!

Without further delay, below is my energy results...

August 2012 Bill
Total consumption:  758 kWh
Number of Days:  30
Average Daily Consumption:  25.27 kWh/day
Cooling Degree Days:  517
Energy Consumption per CDD:  1.47 kWh/CD
2012 Bill:  $85.62

August 2013 Bill
Total consumption:  631 kWh
Number of Days:  31
Average Daily Consumption:  20.35 kWh/day (19.44% reduction from 2012)
Cooling Degree Days:  394
Energy Consumption per CDD:  1.60 kWh/CD (9.23% increase from 2012)
2012 Bill:  $70.78 (Bill Savings:  $14.84)

What's interesting about this month is that while I show a nearly 20% reduction in energy usage, the cooler than normal weather had a high influence as shown by the ~9% increase in consumption per CDD.  This is mainly because my pregnant wife has taken full control over the A/C.  I've found the A/C down to 72F at times...as compared to the set point of 77F.  But she gets the benefit of the doubt on this one since she's carrying around 2 little ones.

Looking at the Ecobee stats for the geothermal system, last month had the following:

Upstairs
Runtime:  152 hrs
Runtime per CDD:  0.41 hrs/CDD
Avg Indoor Temperature:  74.7F
Avg Outdoor Temperature:  85F

Downstairs
Runtime:  53 hrs
Runtime per CDD:  0.14 hrs/CDD
Avg Indoor Temperature:  75.6F
Avg Outdoor Temperature:  85F
 
So....can you guess which thermostat my wife has latched onto?  Yeah...she likes it nice and cool when she sleeps.  There's times I wake up and I'm cold!  This is not the way it normally is.  But, in about a week, maybe we'll be able to allow the thermostat to stay at some normal temperatures..just .maybe...