So...now that I've got that out of the way...here's a recap of what has happened since April 2015.
1) Generally speaking my electricity usage has stayed within my new 'Normal' Range. I've had my ups and downs...seasonally mostly, but there has been some hiccups, such as when my water heater decided broke again and needed new temperature sensors. I posted a table below. Yes, May to June looks bad, but Summer 'came early'. Compare that to December where is was a crazy 70F over Christmas. And from Halloween on, there's Energy associated with car charging included.
2) My electricity usage will be higher from late October on because I bit the bullet and bought myself an electric car: a BMW i3. A separate blog will detail that.
3) I will be installing a Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV). Getting back from a short vacation, the air is soooo stale. And I keep getting these bad allergies in the late fall/early winter which I've never gotten before. Looking back at my last energy audit my house is very tight....like way below ASHRAE standards for needing mechanical ventilation. So I'm going to remedy that and that'll hopefully significantly improve IAQ (indoor air quality).
4) If I were to look forward at my future projects...they will be these two:
a) Replace my doors. It is a chilly 16F this AM and I know that all my doors leak air. They are just old. And no matter how often I change out the door sweeps (which get destroyed in <1 year probably because they are made for modern doors and not these), I can still feel cold air. Shoot my patio door threshold had FROST on it this AM. At a minimum I'll replace 3 doors: Patio door to the screened in porch; Door to the Deck; and Door to the Garage. My front door is my least 'offender'. And I think I can just install a good sealing Storm Door to minimize that further.
b) Replace my windows. I know a couple leak. Shoot, I shrink wrapped my Master Bathroom window as a test and the other day, while it was windy, I watched the shrink wrap expand and contrast with the wind. So, yeah, that window leaks. I'll most likely try to do this systematically. I just have to figure out if I'm going to do this myself or 'farm it out'. I just had a poor experience with a window sales company that I'll save you from hearing (key point: LISTEN to your customer. If you do this...you'll look less like pushy sales people). And replacing a window really isn't all that hard...at least that's what Youtube seems to show. I'm going to choose a window that is pretty easy to get to first and then replace that window myself this Spring to determine how tough it is. And then I'll figure it out form there.
Anyhow, below is a table of my energy usage data since April 2015.
| Bill Period | Bill Date | kWh Used | kWh/d | Bill | Compared to last year |
| Mar 1 to Apr 1 | 4/18/2015 | 757 | 24.42 | 87.43 | 18.51% |
| Apr1 to May 1 | 5/18/2015 | 456 | 15.20 | 59.29 | -18.44% |
| May 1 to Jun 1 | 6/18/2015 | 801 | 25.84 | 96.95 | -119.45% |
| Jun 1 to Jul 1 | 7/18/2015 | 873 | 29.10 | 103.5 | -42.41% |
| Jul 1 to Aug 1 | 8/18/2015 | 841 | 27.13 | 100.19 | -40.17% |
| Aug 1 to Sept 1 | 9/18/2015 | 701 | 22.61 | 85.79 | -33.52% |
| Sept 1 to Oct 1 | 10/18/2015 | 615 | 20.50 | 74.47 | -9.24% |
| Oct 1 to Nov 1 | 11/18/2015 | 778 | 25.10 | 89.75 | -52.55% |
| Nov 1 to Dec 1 | 12/18/2015 | 934 | 31.13 | 104.37 | 22.30% |
You really have got a daring heart there. Nonetheless, it is interesting to follow through the blog even as the year progresses and see how things turn out for you especially with that electric car. I am so interested with that part. Either way, you are good at being energy efficient and that is something we should all be looking at and save some money.
ReplyDeleteLovella Cushman @ Perfection Plumbing