Home - Personal Energy Balance?

4.5 million BTU/ Day ≈ 55kW continuous. The figure looks very large for a family of 4. Is there an error in the calculation?

i have 2 teenagers! -- today i discovered that the pilot light for my gas logs consumes about 2 to 12 therms per month or 17k to 40K btu / day (summer cooling load)--- i turned it off as it is as close as we get to summer in Michigan! i think there are more of these small consumer culprits to be found?

Unplugging unused electrical items and turning off lamps in unoccupied rooms are valuable weapons in the fight against high energy bills.

A household of 2 at 51 deg N / 0 deg E and on electric cooking might consume around £135 per quarter for 'juice' (there is an UV lamp running 24/7 on the water supply accounting for £20 of this) and, say, £600 per year on heating oil (all £GBP) at current prices, for illustration. How does this compare with local figures?

Obtaining approval from Domestic Authorities for further low-energy lamp replacement is the next item on the minor investment programme, followed by further draught-proofing materials for three outside doors before the next winter.

2.3 kW per hour? Or 3 HP per hour? You must have 2 teenage daughters!

I hope you're at least 3 or 4 decimals off!

My power consumption is in the neighborhood of 3-4 mW/yr, which is 9-12k BTU, but my teenage daughter is now in her mid-thirties and doesn't live with me any longer.

embarrassed!

the btu calc is a decimal off

i wish the $ column was off by the same!

my primary objective was to determine what size evacuated solar heat pipe collector i would need for heat and hot water --

i think moving forward, house design alternative technology as well as geographical region must be combined to create an optimal solution

<...primary objective was to determine what size evacuated solar heat pipe collector....for heat and hot water...>

An admirable lead, and one a large proportion of the world may be following. Consider ways of 'keeping it in', as well as 'topping it up'. What scope is there for thicker insulation materials? Multiple glazing? Draught exclusion?

There are a lot of devices which draw some current even when they are off. Count among them your desk top computer, remote control devices of any type because the receiver for the remote control must be turned on in order to receive the real turn-on signal which then closes the switch that supplies the full operating current. There are devices which will allow you to measure the electricity being consumed by an appliance. I am tempted to buy one just to see how bad some of our appliances are.

In our house alone we have 4 desk top computers, two fans with remote controls, a game system with a remote control to name a few items that draw some current when they are "OFF" We have a laser printer set up as a print server and it is on all of the time but I think that it goes into a sleep mode but it still draws some current waiting for a request over the network. We also have two sets of wireless phones with a total of 5 charging stands. There are three TV sets and four cable boxes (one is connected to a TV card in a computer), That makes 7 more devices that need some power in order to detect the turn on signal. The front light that has a motion detector to turn on the light when someone approaches the door. I have a CPAP device for sleep apnea that turns on when it detects that I have put on the mask so the computer in it must be continually powered. I also have some ham radio equipment that draws some power when it is turned off. There are two electric garage door openers that each have a radio receiver in them that has to draw some power all of the time.These appear to all be small devices but I think that I will buy one of those gadgets just to see what the total load really is. Just writing this note I amazed myself at how many devices we have around the house that actually consume some power when they are supposed to be off. Can anyone think of any others. The individual loads may be small but there seem to be a lot of them, I think that I have counted over two dozen of them and I forgot another couple of printers, and an all-in-one (FAX, scanner, and Printer). We might be approaching 30 and then there is the charger for my son's laptop and his PDA and my other son's charger for his radio control pickup truck and four cell phone chargers. These are all light loads and not all of them are on all of the time like the various chargers but most of them are. I just realized that my computer speakers and powered independently of the computer and almost never get turned off.

What about the thermostat on the furnace does it use house current or does it use current from a thermopile that is heated by the pilot light.

The pilot lights on the furnace and the hot water heater consume a small amount of gas all of the time, the kitchen stove and the clothes dryer (I think) use electric igniter's rather than pilot lights that continually burned gas.

This was just a thought on how many devices we might around a normal house that might be using electricity that we don't normally suspect. I have to go do a google on those power measurement devices, I think that they are in in the $40 range and will measure voltage, current being drawn and KWH over a period of time.

The number of these insidious devices is larger than I thought, I wonder what the total consumption is.

I totally agree with your thinking. The first step is evaluate your usage and learn what in your home is an "energy hog". Then look for ways to cut back. If you are looking to live "off grid", I have several websites to suggest. Over the last six months, I have reduced my electric bill by 50% by doing to things. I changed all my incandescent lights for CF lights. I also invested in front loading washer and dryer. I bought a new freezer for the garage. The old one died. I got energy rebates on both. I hope this helps. I'm looking at my natural gas use next.

THANKS!!!! to you ALL for all the great ideas and comments

Please feel free to share any web links deemed appropriate

replaced shower heads with low flow this week- (should have already done that) a no brainer

will be interesting to see if the gas bill goes down noticeably? ( i might even learn to read the meter! ha ha)

Looking at the electricity this weekend!

I am not necessarily looking to live off grid or anything extreme; however, i think engineering types are inclined to want to understand the possibilities and be ahead of the change which appears to be happening at a greater rate that one would expect. Life is non-linear! Alternative energy also appears to be more real than the false start of the 70's when we went thru these evaluations.

as a species we survived for many years without AC, electricity or refrigeration..etc...

there is also much to be learned from the past