GeekPi

Back in late May 2009 I gave my ‘official’ call to action against my steadily increasing energy utility bills by a minimum of 50%. I used to dread getting my monthly electricity bill, but now I look forward to it. I got my utility bill latest in my inbox yesterday . . .

Year-to-year energy consumption is down 40% – and my savings are way up. Which is pretty good, considering I’ve added a home server to the ‘base’ electrical load of my house, have found myself playing a lot more video games on my energy sucking Xbox 360 and plasma TV, added a chest freezer to the garage (energystar of course) and added a small electric resistance heater in the garage to keep the chill off our dogs at night (my wife’s request). All of those add considerable loads to the house, yet we’re nearing in on the 50% reduction goal.

The majority of the savings have come from the installation of a new ‘ductless’ mini-split heat pump from LG. I’m still in love with this unit. It’s quiet, needs little maintenance, filters the air, and works much more quickly than our old, inefficient baseboard electric resistance heaters.

PSE’s Website

I have to hand it to the guys at Puget Sound Energy, as their website is getting better and better. Every time I look at the data it provides, it seems to be extremely accurate to the changes I’ve been doing around the house.

While I haven’t removed the last of my incandescent bulbs, as I’m waiting for them to burn out, I’ve moved to a majority of CFL bulbs, and a smattering of LED fixtures (that Cree LR6 I keep talking about) . What impresses me is that the PSE energy website seems to accurately account for this change. I know they say it’s ‘only an estimate’ but I have to say, it’s spot on and straight up “smart grid” in its reporting. If I dig down deep enough into their website,  they even have daily kWh consumption breakdown of my meter. It’ll even give you a previous month, or previous year comparison of usage, weather, costs and the individual influences each have on my bill. Very trick.

Going forward

I’ve come a long way, but I still have a way to go in the reductions. In the coming weeks, I’ll be ordering a new water heater, to replace my 14 year old AO Smith electric heater. Moving from an electric resistance heater, to a ‘hybrid’ heat-pump water heater from GE should cut my energy use by another $20-30 a month. The other major area of savings will be from beefed up insulation, both in the attic and in the crawlspace. Up above, I have only a few inches of settled fiberglass – which I aim to beef up from ~R-9 to R-50. Under the house, there’s currently zero insulation. I hope to put in spray foam under there, which will both air seal under the house, and give an extremely high R value (hint on R value; every time you double your R value, you half energy loss). I believe these insulation upgrades will half my current heat bill.

Once I accomplish those, it’ll be pretty close to being able take my project to the next step. Generating all my own electricity, and becoming a member of the exclusive club, a  ‘Net Zero’ home.

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