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Regulars readers know over the past couple years I've had some focus on trying to reduce our household energy costs. We moved into our current home at the end of 2008 and it didn't take long for me to realize we bought ourselves a money pit when it comes to energy usage.
We current live in an approx 2,600 two story traditional single family house on a crawlspace foundation with a 1994 gas pack HVAC downstairs and 2003 heat pump upstairs. We also have a circa 1994 electric water heater located in the crawlspace and a well for our water. My wife stays at home with my daughter during the day, otherwise our energy usage profile is probably very typical for an average American family.
Our energy improvement efforts began soon after we moved in and received our first utility bills. Heres a high level summary of our energy efficiency efforts:
2009
- Weatherstripping of exterior doors
- Installed programmable thermostats
- Replacing nearly all light bulbs in the house with CFLs
- Sealed electrical outlets
- Smarthome system pilot (07/2010-11/2011) which allowed us to have an equivalent water heater timer
- Added additional insulation and weatherstripping on our attic hatch
- New energy efficient refrigerator (replaced ~1998 model, which may save an est. $100/yr from per energystar website)
- Partial air sealing efforts in attic and garage with caulk
- Air sealed a major gap around a plumbing duct that was sending conditioned straight into our crawlspace
- Added 10 rolls of additional R30 insulation over our cathedral ceiling and 2 story foyer in attic
- Wrapped water heater blanket on side of water heater
- Water pipe insulation in crawlspace
- Converted gas pack fuel from propane to natural gas (~$1k investment)
- Resealed HVAC ductwork with mastic
- Additional weatherstripping on attic hatch to fully seal door
- Rigid foam board insulation on top of water heater
Annual Home Energy Costs
Recently I totaled our total electric, propane, and natural gas utility bills by year to see if we could notice a significant improvement in our energy cost:
| Our Annual Home Energy Costs | |
| 2009 | $ 2,797.77 |
| 2010 | $ 2,992.30 |
| 2011 | $ 2,685.78 |
Initially I was surprised that there hasn't been more of a noticeable energy savings looking at our utility bills. So I dug in a little further to understand our energy consumption which turned out was pretty consistent with our energy costs.
| | Electric Kwhs | Propane Gallons |
| 2009 | 14308 | 937.82 |
| 2010 | 16427 | 956.93 |
| 2011 | 14809 | 833.38 |
I've mulled it over a bit more after trying to explain the lack of obvious progress by offsetting factors like our expanding household, average temperatures, energy costs rising, and the onsite storage vs pay at consumption with propane which results in lumpy propane consumption and costs. I also need more years to get a better measure of overall improvement as many of the improvements in 2011 were done towards the end of the year and won't have a full impact on our annual energy costs till 2012 is complete.
I'm still just as focused on getting a significant long term improvement in our energy usage, but its clear it is going to require a lot more work to get there - there is no silver bullet.
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Comments (3)
I have been doing the same for a while now. I was surprised as well with some of the things I did not making a noticeable difference. The biggest differences I saw in my energy consumption was:
-replacing my water heater with a ge geospring, so a noticable drop in the first month and ever since.
-put in a wood burning stove, saved about 2K per year and wood save even more if I didnt pay someone else to cut and stack the wood for me. But on the other side of it I am not sure if it is worth the savings with how much time I have to put into it vs. just pressing a button and using our propane furnaces.
My father installed a geothermal system at his place and now doesn't spend much of anything on heating or cooling anymore, but it was like 35K upfront, so it will take to hit a break even.
Posted by KC @ PsychoMoney | January 23, 2012 3:56 PM
With the baby it's kinda tough to lower the thermostat too much, we had the same issue. Using ceiling fans during the summer help keep cooling costs down. One thing I did notice about cfl bulbs is they don't last as long as I thought they would, the last set I bought I kept the receipt/package. But I love the fact in the Raleigh area I get to open my windows often (anytime it's over 60) during the winter months.
Posted by PFM | January 26, 2012 12:43 PM
Good post, I just bought my first house & am going to be fighting the same fight to lower our energy bills. I'll be interested to follow the progress you make.
Posted by First Million is the Hardest | January 26, 2012 6:00 PM