This is the start of the second year of an effort to more greatly reduce our energy use. I'm even spelling the months correctly in the most recent chart.
NEW UPDATE:
Also this program, Plot Watt, is suppose to interface with the TED and give us a much more thorough breakdown of our usage but I can't get it to work- software issues.
After A/C the big hog is the electric clothes dryer. We upgraded to a sweet new line and Jennifer, who does most of our laundry, redoubled her efforts to use it.We're about to get a new washing machine to better address the issue. Yes you read that correctly. We're getting a new washer to reduce the amount of energy we spend drying clothes. Both our washer and dryer are 10 years old. In addition to a new washer being more efficient in the energy and water it uses, the new one will spit the clothes out almost already dry. We'll hold off on a new dryer for now.
END NEW UPDATE
OLD UPDATE:
It's been a hot, hot summer but still...
END OLD UPDATE:
This is a graph that represents the amount of electricity my family used from September 20o9 until March 2010 vs the amount used one year later after installing the TED smart meter.
It represents an average reduction of 44% over a 6 month period totaling 2112 kWh saved. At an average cost of $0.10/kWh that is $211 dollars. The smart meter costs $240.
It also gets us down to about 40% of what the average American household uses and there are four of us.
Read an old post of mine about the TED smart meter by clicking here.
Aaron
2 comments:
You have your energy use at a level where you can resonably consider solar/wind as a option. In fact by the time you reach 4 to 6 kwh a day it becomes laughingly easy to produce your own power.Looking back it must seem strange at how wastefull you were:)
Keep up the good work.
Several years ago we purchased a Staber washing machine that spins clothes ridiculously dry, which reduces my need to run the dryer. I also use a tall, folding wooden drying rack installed in our otherwise abandoned jacuzzi -- drips go down the drain and the space isn't wasted. Best wishes!
Post a Comment