Forsyth MO - Man, if it
weren't for those cold winter night and hot summer days, I'd be doing
real good from the standpoint of electrical use. My electric bill for
January 2015 will come in at about $200 (1800 kWh's used) and boy,
I've been looking for some fresh ideas to try and cut into that!
In some of the milder months of the
year, like April and May for instance, my furnace is (thankfully)
silent all day long. On those types of days, the average power use
per is somewhere between 13 and 20 kWh. This would translate in to 30
x 17 = 510 kWh which would translate to a $70 bill! Very livable. In
the graph, you can also see that some of the wintertime cost saving
efforts I've made have paid off! Sadly, January 2015, however was a
real bitch with many nights dropping down in to the 20's! It's those
really cold temperatures that force my heat pump to use resistive
heating as they just don't work very well at temperatures below 30°F.
In the summertime, I've generally been able to cope pretty well using
fans and the results of that effort are also apparent in the graph.
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| Now this is what I'm talking about! |
So,
the challenge will be to come up with ways to maximize
my energy savings for four months out of the average year, without
giving up too much in the way of creature comforts. I've discounted
on-grid solar energy systems as still being way too expensive. In
order to lower my yearly electric bill an average of 30% using one
system I looked at, I'd have to pony up about 7K. Last year I ball
parked my use at about 14,000 kWh. Let's say that translates to about
$1600. So, were I to save 30% each year that would be about $480,
which means my break even point would be 14 years from now! I don't
think so.
Another
way to save some money is to replace energy inefficient appliances
with those that are more efficient. This I've done over time and it
shows. Of course, some years the gains have been offset by the
constant rise in rates charged by my electric coop. In the last two
years, Empire Electric (my electric supplier) has raised their rates
by 13% or about 6.5 percent a year. (That's about a month's worth of
use every year and it makes it tough to achieve any significant
gains). Still, like a man swimming upstream, I'm losing less ground
than others around me who are doing nothing but going with the flow!
As
time goes on, I hope to post more entries at this site when
inspiration strikes me from out of the blue!
