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Today I am looking at my family of three's energy usage. Why would I do that? Well, the Public Utility Commission decided to allow a 9% rate increase. For years, our bill was about $35. It slowly inched up to $50. Today's bill is over $80. Our usage is down from three years ago. Going up another 9% to $90 is not an option. We live on a fixed income. Therefore our usage must go down. So how do I cut that bill in half?
Let's look at the usage. The US average electrical use per house is 10,908 kWh a year. Our usage was 6,375 kWh/yr, well below the average. We unplugged the dysfunctional freezer and got it down to 6,090. But this is before the cost of electric went up. So how to proceed?
We have already gone down the road of bulbs long ago. In 1994 I had all compact fluorescents. We did not know then the danger of mercury vapor from broken bulbs. We did recycle the old ones at IKEA. Now we have LED bulbs. So the energy savings went from 13 W a bulb to 9 W on average. Not really much savings there. We saved more than that because several ceiling fixtures have just plain died. I have no light in three basement rooms, the kitchen light is on its last legs, and no light in one upstairs bedroom. But as Paul Wheaton frequently points out, lights were never really part of the problem. This was really about newer technology and a drive to get consumers to fund it. And fund it we did. We are so gullible.
So where then do I start? We experimented again with turning off all the ghosts. Ghosts are devices that draw power even when they're turned off. Things like computers, printers, scanners, the LED on the power strip, the TV, cable, and so on. For about a month, we religiously turned off the power strips at night, shutting everything down. This is probably good for you based on the amount of EMI they produce. Your body just plain needs a break from electronic fields. However, it was hard on the electronics which really weren't designed for this on/off behavior. The amount of money we saved was minimal. Over a longer period and as part of a multiple pronged plan, it could be significant. Start figuring in the early death of modems and computers and it might not be. Have to do more research on that. We did lose a modem during the expeiment.
The big ticket items in this house are the basement dehumidifier, washer, freezer, refrigerator, stove/oven and toaster oven. We also have a food processor and fans that get occaisional use. The dehumidifier is not something we can live without. The basement is too wet. Potentially, a more efficient one could be purchased. An expensive idea was a product called drinkable air, an 8 gallon a day water cooler that pulls drinking water out of the air. It lists for around 3 grand, but is made in the USA. Any money spent is outside our budget at the moment. 3 grand even more so as it does use electricity and not necessarily efficiently. The washer is not an option. It is how we make our living, by felting hats. Newer models do not allow wool to felt as effectively. We have no clothes dryer. Or rather, we use the sun and the furnace in winter. That brings us to the freezer.
We called a repairman and spent $245 on the freezer and the oven last month. The seal on the freezer was reglued into place and the bottom coil in the oven replaced. During the repair, we found out the heating controls on the stove burners need to be replaced as well. We frequently get runaway burners. The repair replaced an oven coil. I believe this will help with cooking time, the amount of time the oven is turned on. This is definitely an opportunity to fix/replace an item that uses excess electricity. The stove looks like a standard 1970s model. But how much will we save? I am going to run a test. If we cook outside on a fire or a Coleman, how much energy will we save per month? Today is not the day to start. It will take time to setup an outdoor kitchen. The Coleman is already on the back porch. The solar oven is not in the best shape but can be used if its really sunny out for baking. I want to set up a fire pit to try out the period clay pot cooking I learned at Gulf Wars. Stay tuned to find out how it goes.
The freezer was repaired but is no spring chicken. I think we bought it in 1990. Replacement parts are no longer made for our model. Ideally, I'd like a propane freezer that sits outside. They use electric until the grid goes down. Then they switch to propane. Lehman's has them as does Real Goods out in CA. Lehmann's is close to here. They serve the Amish community and sponsor a self-reliance podcast. Solar would be good too but I'd need a whole system for that. #Expensive https://realgoods.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Freezer
For the refridgerator, we are looking at an energy efficient model that is about the size of a dishwasher. We found one at Don's Appliance that we really like. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.2484785,-80.1740857,3a,90y,294.62h,71.82t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1snZkB0TQzsaQAAAQYbJLH_Q!2e0 Again, we are looking at spending about $1200. I just can't afford that. Appliance rebates for buying newer, energy efficient models are only $50. With advent of the pro-coal and the loosening of environmental standards, rebates will probably go away. It is market forces like my rate hike that will drive change now. I find it funny that the effiecient German kitchen of the 1920s and 30s thought that a refridgerator was an extravagance. They shopped daily and had milk delivered so why would you need one? A cool box was probably enough. Food was consumed fresh in the city, not stored. Anyway, we could certainly downsize. Our refridgerator's rubber seal is going too. All the sulfur in the air wrecks the rubber. I am looking at a model the size of a dishwasher, that fits under the counter, not a dorm fridge.
The only other items that could be replaced would be my CRT monitor on the Windows 98 machine. The whole computer would have to be replaced since I do not believe there is a USB port. Not doing another Windows machine. Sorry, you can't pay me enough for the aggravation. And there is one special light bulb in the hood over the stove. Did I miss anything? We don't own a microwave. Power tools are not regularly in use. The business scale is turned off when not in use. The iron broke. I do need a new one. The space heaters are only used to prevent pipes from freezing. That's about all I can think of.
For more Permaculture electricity saving ideas, visit Chris Towerton's youtube channel. https://youtu.be/f71-SYFaGbI
* April was an anomaly. It covers the month prior. My husband was in the hospital and I was at Gulf Wars so very little washing and cooking occurred, only my daughter was home.
Let's look at the usage. The US average electrical use per house is 10,908 kWh a year. Our usage was 6,375 kWh/yr, well below the average. We unplugged the dysfunctional freezer and got it down to 6,090. But this is before the cost of electric went up. So how to proceed?
We have already gone down the road of bulbs long ago. In 1994 I had all compact fluorescents. We did not know then the danger of mercury vapor from broken bulbs. We did recycle the old ones at IKEA. Now we have LED bulbs. So the energy savings went from 13 W a bulb to 9 W on average. Not really much savings there. We saved more than that because several ceiling fixtures have just plain died. I have no light in three basement rooms, the kitchen light is on its last legs, and no light in one upstairs bedroom. But as Paul Wheaton frequently points out, lights were never really part of the problem. This was really about newer technology and a drive to get consumers to fund it. And fund it we did. We are so gullible.
So where then do I start? We experimented again with turning off all the ghosts. Ghosts are devices that draw power even when they're turned off. Things like computers, printers, scanners, the LED on the power strip, the TV, cable, and so on. For about a month, we religiously turned off the power strips at night, shutting everything down. This is probably good for you based on the amount of EMI they produce. Your body just plain needs a break from electronic fields. However, it was hard on the electronics which really weren't designed for this on/off behavior. The amount of money we saved was minimal. Over a longer period and as part of a multiple pronged plan, it could be significant. Start figuring in the early death of modems and computers and it might not be. Have to do more research on that. We did lose a modem during the expeiment.
The big ticket items in this house are the basement dehumidifier, washer, freezer, refrigerator, stove/oven and toaster oven. We also have a food processor and fans that get occaisional use. The dehumidifier is not something we can live without. The basement is too wet. Potentially, a more efficient one could be purchased. An expensive idea was a product called drinkable air, an 8 gallon a day water cooler that pulls drinking water out of the air. It lists for around 3 grand, but is made in the USA. Any money spent is outside our budget at the moment. 3 grand even more so as it does use electricity and not necessarily efficiently. The washer is not an option. It is how we make our living, by felting hats. Newer models do not allow wool to felt as effectively. We have no clothes dryer. Or rather, we use the sun and the furnace in winter. That brings us to the freezer.
We called a repairman and spent $245 on the freezer and the oven last month. The seal on the freezer was reglued into place and the bottom coil in the oven replaced. During the repair, we found out the heating controls on the stove burners need to be replaced as well. We frequently get runaway burners. The repair replaced an oven coil. I believe this will help with cooking time, the amount of time the oven is turned on. This is definitely an opportunity to fix/replace an item that uses excess electricity. The stove looks like a standard 1970s model. But how much will we save? I am going to run a test. If we cook outside on a fire or a Coleman, how much energy will we save per month? Today is not the day to start. It will take time to setup an outdoor kitchen. The Coleman is already on the back porch. The solar oven is not in the best shape but can be used if its really sunny out for baking. I want to set up a fire pit to try out the period clay pot cooking I learned at Gulf Wars. Stay tuned to find out how it goes.
The freezer was repaired but is no spring chicken. I think we bought it in 1990. Replacement parts are no longer made for our model. Ideally, I'd like a propane freezer that sits outside. They use electric until the grid goes down. Then they switch to propane. Lehman's has them as does Real Goods out in CA. Lehmann's is close to here. They serve the Amish community and sponsor a self-reliance podcast. Solar would be good too but I'd need a whole system for that. #Expensive https://realgoods.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Freezer
For the refridgerator, we are looking at an energy efficient model that is about the size of a dishwasher. We found one at Don's Appliance that we really like. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.2484785,-80.1740857,3a,90y,294.62h,71.82t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1snZkB0TQzsaQAAAQYbJLH_Q!2e0 Again, we are looking at spending about $1200. I just can't afford that. Appliance rebates for buying newer, energy efficient models are only $50. With advent of the pro-coal and the loosening of environmental standards, rebates will probably go away. It is market forces like my rate hike that will drive change now. I find it funny that the effiecient German kitchen of the 1920s and 30s thought that a refridgerator was an extravagance. They shopped daily and had milk delivered so why would you need one? A cool box was probably enough. Food was consumed fresh in the city, not stored. Anyway, we could certainly downsize. Our refridgerator's rubber seal is going too. All the sulfur in the air wrecks the rubber. I am looking at a model the size of a dishwasher, that fits under the counter, not a dorm fridge.
The only other items that could be replaced would be my CRT monitor on the Windows 98 machine. The whole computer would have to be replaced since I do not believe there is a USB port. Not doing another Windows machine. Sorry, you can't pay me enough for the aggravation. And there is one special light bulb in the hood over the stove. Did I miss anything? We don't own a microwave. Power tools are not regularly in use. The business scale is turned off when not in use. The iron broke. I do need a new one. The space heaters are only used to prevent pipes from freezing. That's about all I can think of.
For more Permaculture electricity saving ideas, visit Chris Towerton's youtube channel. https://youtu.be/f71-SYFaGbI
* April was an anomaly. It covers the month prior. My husband was in the hospital and I was at Gulf Wars so very little washing and cooking occurred, only my daughter was home.
