absolute bodyslam on electricity
Sep. 21st, 2021 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdYear-over-year electricity usage on the new bill (mid-August to mid-September) down 17.2%. Absolute bodyslam to the usage rate. So much of one that despite a rate hike the bill went down year-over-year by double digits.
Now, this period is 2F cooler than last year. That's material. But it also includes a head advisory day and a day where things got pretty warm but not warm enough inside to really require the AC, and the next day we had it back under control - all through air exchange.
Also, cooler means more likelihood that Housemate Paul (on the ground floor) will use his space heater in the morning, which he did a couple of times - but despite the cooler temperatures, that, he reports, is still dramatically less common than the year before.
Which goes back again to the whole-house air circulation keeping his space at housewide average, bringing it down on the main floor, and up on his floor.
(Despite, again, cooler temperatures.)
Also, today was the third day since moving to "winter" (warming) mode that we've been able to do a little air-exchange warming, and I think the most effective day of it so far. I don't think we're going to get a lot out of it, because the heat pillow out front only forms on days with fair amounts of sun, and we won't have that many of those past the next week or maybe two if we're lucky. Also, the temperature deltas are just much, much worse than the other way around - a hot summer day is 20F too warm, a cool to cold winter day is 30-40F too cold, and that matters.
But there is a little proof of concept in it, just because today it both felt like it worked, and kinda looked like it in the graphs. It's not dramatic, we're talking probably around 1C of gained temperature, but that's still more than zero, and basically free.
And now it's time to see what things look like heading into the autumn and winter. Over the last 12 months, last October was the least-usage month before I built the sensor network. While I don't remember specifically when I took down the AC units last year, I'm sure there wouldn't've been any AC usage in October, but there would've been a lot more space heater use on the ground floor. So I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Now, this period is 2F cooler than last year. That's material. But it also includes a head advisory day and a day where things got pretty warm but not warm enough inside to really require the AC, and the next day we had it back under control - all through air exchange.
Also, cooler means more likelihood that Housemate Paul (on the ground floor) will use his space heater in the morning, which he did a couple of times - but despite the cooler temperatures, that, he reports, is still dramatically less common than the year before.
Which goes back again to the whole-house air circulation keeping his space at housewide average, bringing it down on the main floor, and up on his floor.
(Despite, again, cooler temperatures.)
Also, today was the third day since moving to "winter" (warming) mode that we've been able to do a little air-exchange warming, and I think the most effective day of it so far. I don't think we're going to get a lot out of it, because the heat pillow out front only forms on days with fair amounts of sun, and we won't have that many of those past the next week or maybe two if we're lucky. Also, the temperature deltas are just much, much worse than the other way around - a hot summer day is 20F too warm, a cool to cold winter day is 30-40F too cold, and that matters.
But there is a little proof of concept in it, just because today it both felt like it worked, and kinda looked like it in the graphs. It's not dramatic, we're talking probably around 1C of gained temperature, but that's still more than zero, and basically free.
And now it's time to see what things look like heading into the autumn and winter. Over the last 12 months, last October was the least-usage month before I built the sensor network. While I don't remember specifically when I took down the AC units last year, I'm sure there wouldn't've been any AC usage in October, but there would've been a lot more space heater use on the ground floor. So I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-22 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-22 05:46 pm (UTC)We did go from 80% efficient to 97% efficient, though. We could manage that much.
(I want to revisit this in a few years though, purely for carbon reasons.)