Holy Power Costs, batman!

We're using about 2800 kwh a month, and I expect that to go up now that the pool pump is on full time.

I figure the first step to reducing that usage is to measure it. I have a few Kill-a-watt's on their way, but I'd like to have visibility into the whole house over time. Does anyone have any suggestions for whole home power monitoring w/logging? I have a Powercost Monitor from Blueline, which is pretty slick and has certainly increased our overall awareness, but I'd like to log and graph usage over time. I'd prefer something that will talk to a PC in realtime via serial, usb or ethernet. (vs something that logs into memory and needs to be dumped periodically)

Powermeterstore.com seems to have lots of options, but I'm not an electrician, and it isn't really clear what kind of work is involved in hooking them up to my panel.

thanks
Paul
 
86turbodsl said:
IVB said:
Holy cow, I just found my latest powerbill. We have 113 Kwh @300% over the baseline, total kWH of 1025 (does that seem seriously high to anyone else?). That's $0.34878 per Kwh.

I broke out my Kill-A-Watt, my HTPC is running about 150W on average. At a 31 day month, that's 111 Kwh, which means that PC alone is costing me $39/month.

My god man, suddenly I get ROI on a Sage HDExtender plus IP-Serial Server or miniITX in <12 months.
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Welcome to the world of 24/7 computer costs....

My power bill is $250+ / month. I take it back on geothermal and solar where I can...
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well I just got our new bill... server has been powered off for only 16 days of last months bill and my bill went from $192 to $150!!!!
I know there are some other factors in there...... but not many....
 
Cool, just got the latest electric bill, it's down from 1048 Kwh to 791Kwh, so ~250Kwh and ~25% from 2 months ago. Only one data point so not enough to spike the ball, but that's certainly noticeable. And, at $0.30->$0.36/Kwh marginal rate, that's $70-$90 less (per month)

All I really did so far was turn off 1 PC (~70Kwh/Month) and replace half the incandescent light bulbs with dimmable compact fluourescent lights. I still got the other half to go, plus there's a variety of wallwart plugs that I could either leave unplugged or put on a power strip (ie, cellphone chargers). I don't know how much lower I can go, but every little bit I do saves money and reduces overall dependence on foreign energy sources.
 
don't forget, the month before last was really hot & smoky. we used the AC a lot then but not at all last month. i've hit on wall on reducing our power consumption, not making much progress over the past year.
 

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True, but we don't even own A/C in our house. I live in Oak-town baby, not nearly as hot as the peninsula.
 
beelzerob said:
IVB said:
Only one data point so not enough to spike the ball, but that's certainly noticeable.
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Go ahead and spike it...it's the only time it'll happen in Oakland this year anyway....
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Well, i'm a transplant from NY, so still a Giants fan. Not that i've been able to see a single game (except the superbowl) as I won't pay for DirecTV NFL Ticket.

The Superbowl was pretty sweet, even if I did scream at my 6 year old to get out when there was 5 mins to go in the game and she wanted her 205th snack of the day.
 
IVB said:
The Superbowl was pretty sweet, even if I did scream at my 6 year old to get out when there was 5 mins to go in the game and she wanted her 205th snack of the day.
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Aww, when she's 34, you'll both laugh about that over coffee one day. Of course, I won't mention how it will affect her teen years....

Ya, I'm glad I'm no longer stuck in a sucky football market. It was a wretched bunch of years in AZ being fed the ever-disappointing Cardinals. I'm pretty happy to be in Steelers country.
 
my version of a Home troller using an older version of this Wyse V90L thin client with a laptop HD and XP installed on it.

it runs my Homeseer setup and it can be had for $150 on eBay

:angry:
 
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