My Energy use Diary

thriftyscotslass

Okay based on my readings, this week we have used 9kWh Electric per day and 42kWh Gas per day - will input into imeasure tomorrow.

Still finding this really interesting. The electric is good - 6kWh/day down on what we were using 2 weeks ago. It looks like 9kWh is going to be our "average" winter family use. We have achieved this with energy saving bulbs, turning things off as much as poss, drying dishes by hand, washing at 30 degrees and drying on line / over radiators. To reduce further, we will have to choose not to use electrical appliances - computers, tvs, playstations, hair staighteners - hmmnnn don't see that going down well with dh, ds and dd :rotfl:

Our slow cooker arrived yesterday - 150W :T Can't wait to see what effect this has but will have to be patient, we have ultra - mega busy week ahead and don't see me having time to try it out before next Saturday at the earliest.

Our Gas is up on last week but I expected that as it has been sooo windy here, really bitter at times. I would love to reduce our gas use by about a third to 30kWh per day - need to give this a little thought as to how I can achieve this and still keep the brood happy

Hope all is well with everyone,
Thrifty xxx

ecoed

If the information about the power usage of the electrical items you buy, was clearly displayed on the packaging ie. volts + amp = watts = £££'s per hour of use. would you buy the more energy effecient device????
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1537813

setmefree2 wrote: »

I have started another personal challenge. This one is to reduce our energy use:-

I've analysed our use as follows:-

ELECTRICITY
Sept Qtr 2006 16 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.20
Sept Qtr 2007 14 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per Day £1.12
Sept Qtr 2008 11 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per Day £0.89

Dec Qtr 2006 21 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.57
Dec Qtr 2007 21 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.57
Dec Qtr 2008 17 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.30

Mar Qtr 2007 23 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.72
Mar Qtr 2008 25 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.73

June Qtr 2007 17 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.32
June Qtr 2008 18 kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.39


GAS
June Qtr 2006 61 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.34
June Qtr 2007 42 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £0.96
June Qtr 2008 50 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.12

Sept Qtr 2006 8 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £0.08
Sept Qtr 2007 11 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £0.32
Sept Qtr 2008 8 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £0.23

Dec Qtr 2006 66Kilowat hrs per day Cost Per day £1.43
Dec Qtr 2007 66 Kilowat hrs per day Cost Per day £1.43
Dec Qtr 2008 69 Kilowat hrs per day Cost per day £1.50


Mar Qtr 2007 118 Kilowat per hr per day Cost per day £2.48
Mar Qtr 2008 113 Kilowat per hr per day Cost per day £2.38

Direct Debits for last 5 years

Year ....Gas ...Elect .......Per Mth...... PA

2003 .....41.... ...29............ 70............. 840
2004 .....44 .......54.............98........... 1176
2005 .....37....... 43............ 80............. 960
2006 .....49 ...... 53.......... 102........... 1224
2007 .....34....... 41........... 75.............. 900
2008 .....51....... 43............94.............1128


Both Mr and Mrs SMF2 work from home alot. Though Mr SMF2 is away alot. So the challenge is to try and get these usage figures down. At the moment we have a capped dual fule rate with BG fixed until 1st May 2010 - (it was capped in 2005, I think).

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setmefree2

novagirl wrote: »

I have just joined up and put in my set of figures as it stands now so the first couple of weeks will be a bit wrong as I get used to the site but I'll keep updating it every week

Frugaldom

Good morning fellow energy warriors, I'm with ecoed on the labelling of electrical goods, as I'd like to be able to tell how much power is being consumed at any given time and, in turn, work out how to stay within whatever wattage an alternative energy source could provide for me. This, of course, is impossible when Scottish Power remotely controls my storage heaters by way of their cheaper electricity tariffs and I'm in a rented house, so I'm not allowed to install a wind turbine, solar panels, a water mill or, even, a proper woodburner with backboiler. I have a small open fire with no backboiler, so need to rely entirely on electricity for most heat, cooking, lighting & hot water. There are 2 of us work from home fulltime, mostly online. My laptop is 19.5v, the incubator is 12v, but I haven't a clue what this equates to in terms of wattage or running costs. I wonder how much it costs to run Britain's street lighting? (We don't have any here, but I still wonder.)

Anyway, I've fed in my figures to i-measure and am still a 'D' rating, currently reading as 18/52 in the carbon club. I've also checked back for a weekly comparison, as follows:

1st - 8th January cost £30.93
1st - 8th February cost £30.46
1st - 8th March cost £21.90

It looks as if I may have reduced spending on electricity meter by almost 27% but log burning has gone up accordingly. Better for the environment, possibly, better for the finances, not really. Is the house any warmer? No, it's still a fairly cold working environment compared to those lovely warm workplaces most people have.

Edited in - sorry, the above looks like a grumble but it isn't meant to be. I have worked in a warm office environment before, but couldn't tolerate the heat. I live this way by choice, not necessity, and I love my lifestyle despite not quite being 'there' yet.

Decola

Last week you spent:
£1.16 on gas - 33kwh
£2.16 on electricity - 18kwh

Total you have spent on energy since starting imeasure (16 weeks ago):
£36.84 on gas
£41.28 on electricity

A carbon rating, currently 1/49 in the carbon club - which is nice, but postition in the carbon club changes as more enter their weekly figures - I was 33/52 when I first did mine this morning.

Frugaldom

Decola wrote: »

Last week you spent:
£1.16 on gas - 33kwh
£2.16 on electricity - 18kwh

Total you have spent on energy since starting imeasure (16 weeks ago):
£36.84 on gas
£41.28 on electricity

Wow! :T But I need to ask, as I'm always stunned by such low useage - are you ever at home and, if so, how do you cook & heat water? Not meaning to sound cheeky, but I probably use that amount of electricity just for making meals and hot drinks and that's me using flasks, I batch cook, I use the slow cooker and I only ever boil what water I need. The least I have managed to use is about 30kWh and that is PER DAY :eek:

A_fiend_for_life

Still on a 'C' rating at the moment so still good.

Slightly more energy use this week as the heating has been repaired. the flat is nice and warm now.

Energy use is 3,465 kWh (Gas: 2,504kWh | Electricity: 961kWh)
Carbon emissions are 1,018 Kg CO2 (Gas: 516 Kg CO2 | Electricity: 503 Kg CO2)
Money Spent

Last week you spent:

* £5.43 on gas
* £4.20 on electricity

Total spent 32 weeks

* £87.63 on gas
* £115.32 on electricity

All users/All housetypes / 274 households.

Carbon emissions Kg CO2
...............Last week..Last Month..Last Quarter
Per person.....50 (49)....35 (54).....34 (60)
Per household..50 (121)...35 (134)....34 (147)

Gas use as kWh
...............Last week..Last Month..Last Quarter
Per Person.....155 (164)..39 (191)....70 (215)
Per Household..155 (400)..39 (463)....70 (512)

Electricity use as kWh
...............Last week..Last Month..Last Quarter
Per Person.....35 (28)....52 (29).....37 (30)
Per Household..35 (74)....52 (74).....37 (79)

Decola

nykmedia wrote: »

Wow! :T But I need to ask, as I'm always stunned by such low useage - are you ever at home and, if so, how do you cook & heat water? Not meaning to sound cheeky, but I probably use that amount of electricity just for making meals and hot drinks and that's me using flasks, I batch cook, I use the slow cooker and I only ever boil what water I need. The least I have managed to use is about 30kWh and that is PER DAY :eek:

I'm at home all the time (single person household), and cook using a gas hob - sometimes with a pressure cooker to reduce cooking times of things like rice and chicken. I use an electric steamer for vegetables.

I don't 'batch cook' except for example, where there are lots of bits of meat in one pack, then I'll do the whole lot at once, and either freeze, or just eat on successive days - although veggies are cooked freshly.

Tried using a flask to keep water hot for drinks, but tea just isn't the same without freshly boiled water, so I've a jug kettle that cost £3 from Asda that boils only a little more than I need each time.

My gas boiler is ancient, and as I found it was wasting nearly 3kw a day for the pilot light alone, I now only fire it up once a day for a shower, turning it off again immediately afterwards.

Washing up and clothes washing are done cold. There's lots of info on the mse forums about concocting washing solutions, but I just use a cheapo powder, which I mix with powdered washing soda. Vinegar (Asda's 15p smart price brown malt) works well as a fabric softener, and despite my initial worries, doesn't discolour whites.

Laundry is dried in the conservatory - an otherwise useless room put in by the previous owners - (It's too hot in summer, freezing in winter, and deafening when it rains).

Dishwashing is accomplished by hand, in cold water (unless there's really challenging grease) using a mix of washing up liquid and a tiny amount of soda.

The biggest source of expenditure would be on heating my home, and apart from one particularly cold week around Christmas when I heated one room, or if friends visit, I use no heating at all.

A_fiend_for_life

nykmedia wrote: »

This, of course, is impossible when Scottish Power remotely controls my storage heaters by way of their cheaper electricity tariffs and I'm in a rented house, so I'm not allowed to install a wind turbine, solar panels, a water mill or, even, a proper woodburner with backboiler. I have a small open fire with no backboiler, so need to rely entirely on electricity for most heat, cooking, lighting & hot water.

Hi Nyk,

Good to see your still on a D well done.

Being a rented property are you able to get insulation installed?

belfastgirl23

Well I'm an E this week but not apologising for it - it has been FREEZING here, snow and sleet, and it has been so busy at work that when I come home I'm feeling like I deserve a bit of comfort. Especially since I'm trying really hard to eat sensibly (yet again ) so trying not to comfort eat. We've also had visitors a couple of times and it doesn't seem reasonable to expect them to sit and shiver :rolleyes:

So we've used about 720kwh gas and 84 kwh electric)

Roll on summer! I was wakened several times last night by hailstones hitting the window and by the wind actually blowing so hard doors were creaking inside the house!