Know energy:
Know your energy use:
What is your ‘base load’ energy need? The ‘base load’ is your monthly use, in say, June or September, when you need the least help from mechanical systems to heat or cool your house. In other words furnace, heaters, and air conditioners are turned off. So it’s just lights, cooking stove, electrical appliances, domestic hot water that you’re paying for. (Usually windows open all day is a sign of a ‘base load’ month.) My base load is $75.00 a month. If I have guests or family members staying with me it increases per person.
Know your energy use:
What is your ‘base load’ energy need? The ‘base load’ is your monthly use, in say, June or September, when you need the least help from mechanical systems to heat or cool your house. In other words furnace, heaters, and air conditioners are turned off. So it’s just lights, cooking stove, electrical appliances, domestic hot water that you’re paying for. (Usually windows open all day is a sign of a ‘base load’ month.) My base load is $75.00 a month. If I have guests or family members staying with me it increases per person.
We should all know our base load because then we’ll understand how much extra energy we use for cooling in summer (summer load) and heating in winter (winter load). Because of the efforts I’ve made in my house my TOTAL winter increase (from November to April above my base load) is $300.00 for the entire winter. It used to be an extra $1,200.00 for my winter load. My summer load is only about $80.00 with whole house air conditioning.
All this can be gleaned from your energy bill. And don’t forget that most bills reflect the use of the previous month that they are dated. Just be clear about which month you’re looking at. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with this bill because it will be your gauge to see if you’ve managed to increase your negawatts, the ones you don't use. Also, if you are comparing different months or years, look at the average temperature for the month, it is on the bill, because even one degree rise or fall affects your energy demand and you can’t make accurate comparisons without that.
More actions:
Check chimneys for closed dampers, otherwise there is a hole to the sky!
Place and caulk insulation panel in unused chimney
Install a programmable thermostat
Put automatic damper on furnace exhaust
Install low-flow faucets and showerhead
Replace highhats with fluorescent bulbs
Clean (vacuum) dryer vents or replace and make sure flap closes on outside
Vacuum refrigerator coils every 3 years
Bleed air from radiators when heat is on
Humidify in winter to feel warmer
Check lower storm windows are down in winter and higher ones are pushed all the way up
Caulk storm windows at window frame if leaky
When replacing appliances:
Don’t buy higher efficiency appliances to save money until current unit is warn out. Then replace with high efficiency products
Consider tankless water heaters
Move water heater closer to main faucet use when replacing, or immediately if you have an electric heater
Replacement - consider this:
Don't be tempted to purchase a more efficient furnace or major heating and cooling devices for your building unless the old one is at the end of its life. Why? Because the efficiency gained is so little compared to the financial outlay.
Here's an example:
Say your current furnace is 75% efficient and the new one is 87% efficient. If your entire winter heat bill (winter load) is $2,000.00 and the new furnace costs $10,000.00, let's do the math. 87% minus 75% equals 12% efficiency saving on $2,000.00 which equals $240.00 a year saved. Cost of new furnace is $10,000.00 divided by $240.00 saved a year equals 41.6 years to break even on investment. You are saving energy for the planet, but there is also an environmental impact from the manufacture and shipping of the new furnace. Wy not put some of the $10,000.00 into more insulation, draft excluding, etc., use far less energy all round while extending the life of your old furnace and all other systems, as they won't have to work so hard?
Energy Resilience Assessments:
Businesses and citizens need to do Energy Resilience Assessments to figure out how to react to an energy stressed future and where you might want to trigger alarms. For instance, does $5 a gallon gasoline mean you can’t afford to take the car to work anymore? Do you have a public transport alternative? Did you vote against that spending for public transport at the last election?
At what point does your house’s energy costs jeopardize your ability to pay your mortgage? Then when is the time to start powering down and implementing the ideas on this website? Perhaps some computer programmer will produce a business or citizen spread sheet program, some time soon, that allows us to do energy audits for our life so that we can plug in all our costs, with various price points, to show us the true cost impact of these things on our financial survival.
All this can be gleaned from your energy bill. And don’t forget that most bills reflect the use of the previous month that they are dated. Just be clear about which month you’re looking at. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with this bill because it will be your gauge to see if you’ve managed to increase your negawatts, the ones you don't use. Also, if you are comparing different months or years, look at the average temperature for the month, it is on the bill, because even one degree rise or fall affects your energy demand and you can’t make accurate comparisons without that.
More actions:
Check chimneys for closed dampers, otherwise there is a hole to the sky!
Place and caulk insulation panel in unused chimney
Install a programmable thermostat
Put automatic damper on furnace exhaust
Install low-flow faucets and showerhead
Replace highhats with fluorescent bulbs
Clean (vacuum) dryer vents or replace and make sure flap closes on outside
Vacuum refrigerator coils every 3 years
Bleed air from radiators when heat is on
Humidify in winter to feel warmer
Check lower storm windows are down in winter and higher ones are pushed all the way up
Caulk storm windows at window frame if leaky
When replacing appliances:
Don’t buy higher efficiency appliances to save money until current unit is warn out. Then replace with high efficiency products
Consider tankless water heaters
Move water heater closer to main faucet use when replacing, or immediately if you have an electric heater
Replacement - consider this:
Don't be tempted to purchase a more efficient furnace or major heating and cooling devices for your building unless the old one is at the end of its life. Why? Because the efficiency gained is so little compared to the financial outlay.
Here's an example:
Say your current furnace is 75% efficient and the new one is 87% efficient. If your entire winter heat bill (winter load) is $2,000.00 and the new furnace costs $10,000.00, let's do the math. 87% minus 75% equals 12% efficiency saving on $2,000.00 which equals $240.00 a year saved. Cost of new furnace is $10,000.00 divided by $240.00 saved a year equals 41.6 years to break even on investment. You are saving energy for the planet, but there is also an environmental impact from the manufacture and shipping of the new furnace. Wy not put some of the $10,000.00 into more insulation, draft excluding, etc., use far less energy all round while extending the life of your old furnace and all other systems, as they won't have to work so hard?
Energy Resilience Assessments:
Businesses and citizens need to do Energy Resilience Assessments to figure out how to react to an energy stressed future and where you might want to trigger alarms. For instance, does $5 a gallon gasoline mean you can’t afford to take the car to work anymore? Do you have a public transport alternative? Did you vote against that spending for public transport at the last election?
At what point does your house’s energy costs jeopardize your ability to pay your mortgage? Then when is the time to start powering down and implementing the ideas on this website? Perhaps some computer programmer will produce a business or citizen spread sheet program, some time soon, that allows us to do energy audits for our life so that we can plug in all our costs, with various price points, to show us the true cost impact of these things on our financial survival.
