what's your electricity usage?

[electron]

I use rope lighting, mounted underneath my cabinets, to light up my Kitchen at night. I am planning on installing more of this in other key locations as well. If you had dimmable lights, you could configure the switches to have them come on at 50% or so, unless you really need more light (I do this for areas such as my walk in closet).

 

[upstatemike]

I'd need to think that one through. My 240 watts of fluorescents in the kitchen would have to be replaced with 720 watts of tungsten to get the same light output at full brightness. Dimming the 720 watts of Tungsten by 50% still leaves me at 360 watts which is more than the fluorescent tubes full 240 watts.

I think the answer might be occupancy sensors (which will not be a popular solution in that particular room).

 

[electron]

or pressure sensors if you still have access to the joists ... either way, at least dim those lights to 50% when no one is there, should save a lot of money. I really need to stop by someday, and see that palace of yours

 

[elcano]

Wow! And I believed I was using a lot. Well, my major electricity comsumption devices are the eletric range, electric water heater, electric dryer, water pressure booster pump and two Air Conditioners (25 Btw and 14 Btw). I just connected the water heater to my M1G to make sure that it is turned on only when we are going to use it.

See below my consumption for the past year:

DATE         DAYS    AMOUNT   KWH    Price/KWH Kwh/day
01/24/2005   30      $87.82    630   $0.1394    21.00   
02/23/2005   30      $81.84    600   $0.1364    20.00   
03/24/2005   31     $153.79  1,050   $0.1465    33.87   
04/25/2005   30     $172.27  1,080   $0.1595    36.00   
05/25/2005   30     $181.19  1,080   $0.1678    36.00   
06/24/2005   34     $212.81  1,280   $0.1663    37.65   
07/22/2005   27     $166.25    980   $0.1696    36.30   
08/23/2005   30     $222.63  1,300   $0.1713    43.33   
09/23/2005   33     $239.50  1,420   $0.1687    43.03   
10/25/2005   29     $201.19  1,110   $0.1813    38.28   
11/23/2005   32     $232.18  1,240   $0.1872    38.75   
12/23/2005   30     $192.38  1,010   $0.1905    33.67   
01/24/2006   30     $137.93    777   $0.1800    25.90

I didnt turn on the master room air conditioner during the first two months of the year. It makes a difference.

The problem here is that electricity is too expensive (oil based). Notice how it went up from $0.14 to $0.19 in just one year. And even that the oil prices went down, they have not reduced the cost of the power.

How much do you pay by Kwh?

[Edited on 1/28/06 to correct error in the Kwh/day column. Also added data for January '06. Consumption for January '06 was lower because now my Elk M1 limits the time that the water heater is on (40 min/day). Its starting to pay out. ]

 

[mdonovan]

>> Big problem if I forget to turn off the basement lights (17 40-watt tubes and 60 >>22-watt circline fixtures) but I have Stargate bug me every 15 minutes if those are >> left on.

Did I read this right you have 77 lights in your basement??? You must have a gigantic basement!

Matt

 

[upstatemike]

I really need to stop by someday, and see that palace of yours

Not so much a palace as something out of the Addams Family. I'll have you out sometime to help me figure out the best way to monitor power usage and get it into my Stargate so it can nag me if I start drawing too much in any given hour.

How much do you pay by Kwh?

The last bill says 9.998 cents for supply and 4.2109 cents for delivery so I guess it's 14.21 cents per KWH.

 

[electron]

Ok, I have the bill in my hands:

Delivery: 0.4000 cents
Electricity: 10.2800 cents
Daily average: 35.0 kWh

my natural gas bill is higher than my electrical

Delivery: 0.66282 cents
Gas: 160.86453 cents
Daily average: 2.2 therms

 

[huggy59]

I know a lot of you don't live in FL (and neither do I, now!), but FPL, the Florida Power and Light Co. has good web site tools for estimating your power consumption and determining/learning what devices draw what. For the most part, A/C and heating systems draw the most, with heating elements and motors usually being the largest power hogs.

Check out the Home Energy Advisor at http://www.fpl.com/home/energy_advisor/contents/index.shtml , and take the Energy Survey.

 

[electron]

that site has some good info, thanks!

 

[pkoslow]

I recently picked up one of the Kill-A-Watt devices and it's been useful to determine how much electricity certain devices are using.

I found that my old Dell server consumed about 150w and the new Dell server consumes around 180w (I thought it would be higher).

My entire HA rack consumes around 330w... I expected it to be higher too.

Paul

 

[Tombo]

This is a good thread. I would like to cut down my energy bill too. It looks like I can save 60% on my electric if I do not use it during 8AM to 8PM Mon - Fri. Good luck with that. Like others I am more concerned with Natural Gas. It is going way up. Are there any gas monitors out there for home usage monitoring? I think I will have to find a way to hold back the thermostat. Why did I change my fireplace to gas I do not know.

That Kill A Watt device would be even nicer with a Zwave interface on it.

Thanks
Tom

 

[upstatemike]

>> Big problem if I forget to turn off the basement lights (17 40-watt tubes and 60 >>22-watt circline fixtures) but I have Stargate bug me every 15 minutes if those are >> left on.

Did I read this right you have 77 lights in your basement??? You must have a gigantic basement!

Matt

Yes.

 

[Rupp]

Wow! And I believed I was using a lot. Well, my major electricity comsumption devices are the eletric range, electric water heater, electric dryer, water pressure booster pump and two Air Conditioners (25 Btw and 14 Btw). I just connected the water heater to my M1G to make sure that it is turned on only when we are going to use it.

See below my consumption for the past year:

DATE         DAYS   AMOUNT   KWH     Price/KWH  Kwh/day
01/24/2005   30      $87.82    630   $0.1394    2.93   
02/23/2005   30      $81.84    600   $0.1364    2.73   
03/24/2005   31     $153.79  1,050   $0.1465    4.96   
04/25/2005   30     $172.27  1,080   $0.1595    5.74   
05/25/2005   30     $181.19  1,080   $0.1678    6.04   
06/24/2005   34     $212.81  1,280   $0.1663    6.26   
07/22/2005   27     $166.25    980   $0.1696    6.16   
08/23/2005   30     $222.63  1,300   $0.1713    7.42   
09/23/2005   33     $239.50  1,420   $0.1687    7.26   
10/25/2005   29     $201.19  1,110   $0.1813    6.94   
11/23/2005   32     $232.18  1,240   $0.1872    7.26   
12/23/2005   30     $192.38  1,010   $0.1905    6.41  

I didnt turn on the master room air conditioner during the first two months of the year. It makes a difference.

The problem here is that electricity is too expensive (oil based). Notice how it went up from $0.14 to $0.19 in just one year. And even that the oil prices went down, they have not reduced the cost of the power.

How much do you pay by Kwh?

WOW! Ours is currently $0.06183 cents per kWh .
I would have to get a second job if our rates were at yours.

  Date Water Usage (100 gals) Sprinkler Gas Usage (MCF) Gas Demand (MCF) Electric Usage (KWH) Electric Demand (KW) Electric KVA Green Power Degree Days 
12/15/05 0 0 105 0 1666 0 0 0 660 
11/14/05 0 0 42 0 1443 0 0 0 165 
10/14/05 0 0 13 0 1856 0 0 0 257 
09/15/05 0 0 14 0 2763 0 0 0 459 
08/15/05 0 0 15 0 3012 0 0 0 481 
07/14/05 0 0 14 0 2506 0 0 0 357 
06/15/05 0 0 19 0 2005 0 0 0 231 
05/16/05 0 0 31 0 1552 0 0 0 212 
04/14/05 0 0 49 0 1529 0 0 0 181 
03/15/05 0 0 86 0 1677 0 0 0 429 
02/15/05 0 0 131 0 1939 0 0 0 703 
01/14/05 0 0 88 0 1620 0 0 0 534

 

[JohnBullard]

Just looked at my last bill, 11/ to 12/15/05

Used 3049 kwh (all electric house) Dang glad I don't live in San Diego!
DEA would be all over me


I really should try to conserve more also. My cost for electricity is ........

I really hate to say it, but it's 6.9 cents per kwh

 

[Rupp]

This is a good thread. I would like to cut down my energy bill too. It looks like I can save 60% on my electric if I do not use it during 8AM to 8PM Mon - Fri. Good luck with that. Like others I am more concerned with Natural Gas. It is going way up. Are there any gas monitors out there for home usage monitoring? I think I will have to find a way to hold back the thermostat. Why did I change my fireplace to gas I do not know.

That Kill A Watt device would be even nicer with a Zwave interface on it.

Thanks
Tom

Do as I have and shut the gas furnace off. Our gas prices just went up over 200%. I bought 4 electric heaters and turned off the furnace.