From: ems@Apple.COM (Mike Smith)
Newsgroups: sci.energy
Subject: Power Costs from PG&E, my bill ...
Date: 24 Jul 92 18:03:45 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA


Not surprisingly, my July power bill is much higher than May.  (We are
now at the peak of the AC season ...)

I said I'd post what the rates are, so here it is:

Baseline Quantities	Gas- 21.7 Therms	Electric - 331.7 kWh
Baseline Usage		21.7 Therms @ $0.51914	331.7 kWh @ $0.11439
Over Baseline Usage	 3.3 Therms @ $0.83932	133.3 kWh @ $0.13290


Consumption was up sharply from last month for electricity, which
reflects two things.  First, the AC is going most of most days now.
(Though it is off at night when things cool down).  Second, the 
family (i.e. my wife) have become a bit lax about using the CF lighting.  

Each room has both CF and incandecent.  The CF bulbs are often in free 
standing lamps that are a bit less convenient to get to than the wall 
switches that control the incandecents on dimmers.  (We really REALLY
like having a dimmer in each room, especially with small kids that wake
you up in the middle of the night.)  The bottom line is that I've noticed
the 200w dining room chandalier in use for area lighting while the 27w
CF lamp 5 feet away is off.  And a similar tale in other rooms ...

The Numbers:

_Monthly_	Gas Therms		Therms		Elec Kwh	kWh
_Comparison_	Days		Billed	Per Day		Days	Billed	Per Day
This Year	31		25	.8		31	465	15.0
Last Year	30		24	.8		31	695	23.2

Gas came to $14.04 for the month.
Electricity $55.66

Total	    $69.70 (not including taxes and other junk)

While a 65% of prior year electric consumption is great, it doesn't have
the same emotional punch as last months 50% ... On the other hand, I'd
started by doing insulation and color changes and shading and ... a few
years ago, so the improvements due to AC cost reduction were already
reflected in last years numbers and won't show up in the year to year
comparisions this year...  No, I won't go dig up a 4 year old power bill
to see if I've got my 50% total... I do think that summer bills were about
$140 in the past, though.

The absolutely flat gas consumption is rather facinating ...

Bottom line:  It looks like a high SEER wall AC to replace the present
(at least 10 year old) unit is in order to cut summer bills a bit more.
It looks like a flat panel domestic water pre-heater will put a notch
in the gas bill at little marginal cost.  (Once I get the ambition to 
build it... I'm doing a garage finishing job right now...)

The rough ratios are: 
1/4 cost to gas (water heating)
1/3 cost to AC
1/2 cost to misc electrical (including lights)

(I know this adds up to 13/12, its a rough eyeball guess based on what
 I remember the delta usage to be from last month with little AC in it
 and is more precise than the accuracy warrants as it is...)

I'd norally put more effort into cutting the biggest part first (the 1/2)
but I've already done that... other than building some switched builtin 
CF fictures so that they get used more regularly there isn't much left.
I suspect that clothes washer (gas) dryer and dish washer motors may
be a significant fraction of this, but other than a power factor controller
I'm not aware of anything much I can do with them.

That leaves the AC itself and the gas heating as the only things I have
control over that I haven't done anything with.  I.e. the last 'low fruit'.

Well John, does it still scale about the same as your place with the
price data available?  Also allow for the quantity of dirty clothes that
2 small children can generate ...

-- 

E. Michael Smith  ...!sun!apple!ems

'If you can dream it, you can do it'  Walt Disney

This is the obligatory disclaimer of everything. (Including but
not limited to: typos, spelling, diction, logic, and nuclear war)
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