Energy Conservation Experiment

Wind Powered Electricity

I've decided to track our electric usage month by month and to see just how much each change we make affects our kWh usage and thus our bill and ~hopefully~ a small impact on the earth.

I went to our local electric provider web site where our usage is stored. We used 648 kWh in July. According to the site, our yearly electric bill is $817. The average American yearly electric bill runs $1456. We are WAY down on the energy usage thermometer. 

Yet, I am convinced we can do better.  

So, I'm off on an electricity experiment. The only way to really determine how changes affect our usage is to change only one thing at a time. I aim to make a new change every month and note how it affects (or doesn't affect) our bill.

So this month we are breaking the dryer habit. Our dryer is very old. I'm sure it doesn't meet the Energy Star ratings. For the next month we're going to hang out our laundry as much as possible to see how much it changes our electric bill.

Other months I plan to look into changing our lighting to CFC, looking into the phantom load (electricity that is used even when an appliance isn't in use), the possibility of solar power for some of our electronics, and the radical idea of getting rid of some of our electric appliances.

Another area that I want to really research is water use. We overuse water to such an extent that I think it might actually be a sin. The sin being our arrogance that we have an overabundance of water and that we have no responsibility to conserve. More on that in another post.