My Energy use Diary

tori.k

hello all
I hope you dont mind i joined up with your group on i-measure (user stargazey) it states we are ranked 6th out of 54. and a A/B rating.
But i dont get the carbon rating, ours seems really high at 17kg per person. even tho our electric usage is quite low for an all electric house (about 20 units a day)
Can i ask suzanna & co how you managed to get you carbon rating so low

oldMcDonald

tori.k wrote: »

hello all
I hope you dont mind i joined up with your group on i-measure (user stargazey) it states we are ranked 6th out of 54. and a A/B rating.
But i dont get the carbon rating, ours seems really high at 17kg per person. even tho our electric usage is quite low for an all electric house (about 20 units a day)
Can i ask suzanna & co how you managed to get you carbon rating so low

Hello tori.k, welcome to the thread & the MSE carbon Club

For an all electric house, that sounds pretty low? How many people are in your home?

I don't know how the total CO2 is worked out, but I'm not sure about the way it is worked out per person. We seem to have a huge CO2 compared to others, but because there are seven of us in the home our reading comes higher on the MSE Carbon Club - this doesn't seem all that right / fair as others are using far less (for example A Fiend For Life has almost half our CO2, yet as she is living on her own she gets a C to our A)?

oldMcDonald

A_fiend_for_life wrote: »

I'm not sure if you've seen elsewhere a lot of people switch their heating off between April and September though it is not clear what ages their occupants are.

This spring / summer I will try for more cold meals which I think will mean growing my own salads and veg as shop bought is so pricy.

We turn ours off on 1st March and it does not go back on again until 1 November - as it was so mild this year we managed to hold off turning the heating on until mid-December:T

One of our children is profoundly disabled and cannot hold his temperature well / move around to keep warm, so we concentrate on keeping him warm - a couple of layers of clothing and super-insulating his room has worked very well.

JennyR68

tori.k wrote: »

hello all
I hope you dont mind i joined up with your group on i-measure (user stargazey) it states we are ranked 6th out of 54. and a A/B rating.
But i dont get the carbon rating, ours seems really high at 17kg per person. even tho our electric usage is quite low for an all electric house (about 20 units a day)
Can i ask suzanna & co how you managed to get you carbon rating so low

Can I ask how you get so low in an all electric house?:eek:

tori.k

There are 5 of us OldMacdonald in a 3 bed house.

As for the 20 units Jenny i still think thats really high, but im home most days at the moment and the washing machine on everyday, never mind the kids and there computer games etc
I guess our biggest saving was switching off the immersion heater. as our shower heats its own water and the washing machine is cold fill it seemed daft to heat a whole tank to wash a few dishes each day, so i boil the kettle instead to wash pots. other than that we done the usual energy saving things lagged the attic and gone for A+ appliances when they need to replacing.
Living in Cornwall helps alot its warmer and things like i've managed to line dry most of the washing this week. so really we have no excuse not to cut back a bit more, but other then putting a ban on the kids computers im not sure where else we can cut back.
Im really amazed OldMacdonald how do you get your bills so low with so many of you, share please

JennyR68

tori.k wrote: »

There are 5 of us OldMacdonald in a 3 bed house.

As for the 20 units Jenny i still think thats really high, but im home most days at the moment and the washing machine on everyday, never mind the kids and there computer games etc
I guess our biggest saving was switching off the immersion heater. as our shower heats its own water and the washing machine is cold fill it seemed daft to heat a whole tank to wash a few dishes each day, so i boil the kettle instead to wash pots. other than that we done the usual energy saving things lagged the attic and gone for A+ appliances when they need to replacing.
Living in Cornwall helps alot its warmer and things like i've managed to line dry most of the washing this week. so really we have no excuse not to cut back a bit more, but other then putting a ban on the kids computers im not sure where else we can cut back.
Im really amazed OldMacdonald how do you get your bills so low with so many of you, share please

What about heating?

tori.k

Thats a missmash at the moment i had the nightstorage heater removed so we have a gas bottle heater in the lounge now, a panel heater in the bathroom and a couple of fan heaters to break the air in the bedrooms. we will have oil CH for next winter have the shiny new rads but still waiting on the tank being fitted that will take us into March and the heating always off by then. so i will wait till summer and see if the oil prices drop a bit.
I'm south facing so the house is quite warm without heating.

JennyR68

Must be a lot milder in the south!:)

tori.k

Its beautiful. frost on the ground but the sun is shining so behind glass its lovely. the dog has decided its half cat, and curled up in a sun spot.

SuzyWuzy_2

Hi Tori and everyone else,

Well theres 7 of us so like OldMcDonald has said it makes us further up the list due to the Co2 per person. TBH I don't look at where I am on the list I'm more interested in what I'm spending and trying to reduce that :money:

I log my usage religiously on Imeasure to record and see where I can change things. eg school holidays - Can I better the result by tweaking things?

I do monitor the electric usage and am becoming strict about it as each day passes. The children now have a time limit on when the internet is allowed on. We have 3 Ps3's and Wii , plasmas etc so you can imagine what I'm talking about. :eek: A year ago I wouldnt of dreamt of saying no to them about putting games consoles on but who's paying for all this!

I've managed to reduce my electric kw by about 10 a day just by switching off things,not having the TV as background noise, not using the dishwasher or dryer anymore, getting rid of an old freezer which lid didnt shut and monitoring the daily usage ( without it making people too unhappy obviously ) 10 a day sounds alot but remember theres 7 of us here and someone is in the house 24/7.

Heating wise ..with being on maternity leave , I prepared in advance with fleecy throws etc. The main thing i think i did right was not putting the fire on in the living room , its one of those living flame ones instead I've kept the heating at 18c or so which has been adequate.

Sorry for long post ! Hope that helps you in understanding why we're up there on the list but really there are others who reduce their usage far more than us..we could do ALOT more

Sorry I'm more of a lurker on the boards than a poster but hope I've helped you a little

Suzanne