I was looking at MMM energy usage and scratching my head at the kwH but then I see that he uses propane for cooking, water heating and heat (if I'm not misunderstanding). Those items are the highest energy users in my home so it is not really an equal comparison. My electric bill is currently at $118 month average but that is as I said is the total of my utility costs. I think that is pretty good but we are constantly looking for ways to cut back. I'm curious about what others spend who are all electric.
-We have a 3000 sf house, 1850 upstairs and 1150 in an *almost* finished basement.
-We are a family of 5.
-We live in the midwest where the winters get nice and cold (below freezing) and summers nice and hot (& humid) temps in 90-100+ humidity 80-90%+
- We keep our thermostat at 64-67 during the day and 62-65 at night for winter, 80-82 during day and 77-80 at night for summer- we try to utilize the sun opening shades for sun when cold and closing when hot, use fans to bring in cool night air for summer and closing off the house during the day blocking the sun.
-Our c/h/a is a heat pump and energy efficient, although not as efficient as a geothermal unit
- Our house has spray foam insulation but is traditionally built (we both wish we were better situated for passive solar but we didn't know about passive solar when we built). We have no shade, my brother who helped build our house, affectionately referred to it as hell hill(we have some fast growing shade trees planted but they aren't helping yet). We have energy star appliances, except our deep freeze(14 cf) and our water heater which is 13 yo. We have all cfl except one fixture(which we are looking at changing when we can)
- Usage- we moniter light usage, don't use a dryer and I crack down hard on hot water usage but I have 3 kids so that means extra dishes, laundry and I cook a everything from scratch and cook a lot. I try to use the crockpot, cook in batches and use my stove as efficient as possible but I just cook a lot. Clothes aren't washed unless actually dirty. Baths for the kids are in the small tub without a lot of water and showers are quick.
- We own and operate one laptop, a 27 in CRT tv, blueray player, and wireless router. We don't watch a ton of tv, no cable, only netflix streaming. The only other phantom draw I know of is our cordless phone w/ answering machine and alarm clock (both of which had nearly non-existent draw when dh tested).
Dh is looking at building a solar hot water heater/space heater next year as that is our biggest use besides heat and air. I'd like to look at an outside wood furnace but dh had to haul wood as a kid and is pretty opposed to the idea.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htmDh thinks our usage is very good(considering our location, house and family size) but I'm always on the look-out for more ways to save. So, I'm curious as to the usage of others in similar set-ups and situations.
In the future I'd like to consider propane for cooking and perhaps a refrigerator, with a long term goal of going off-grid but as of now we are just focusing on the improvements we can make for the quickest payback with the least initial investment.