Home energy cost research project for community

I've been doing some research on the web about home energy use. everywhere I search I see articles about how to save energy. Easy right ? The problem is noone ever publishes what the size of their home is, and the actual annual costs. The whole energy scene is totally bogus. People are deceptive or liars from what Ive seen so far! They all say something like : "well I did this and that I cut my bill in half." or "i saved 27%." How do they know ? They publish no actual figures. There are no facts or figures anywhere. even if you go on DOE's energy star site - no facts - no figures. Just bogus averages. Lets see. 110 million homes. They give a cost per square foot. Stoopid. There is no freaking "average" size home. Each home is different. My home is 2800 sq ft. I live in somewhat cold in winter/ warm to hot in summer Chicago. My bills are $2100 per year for gas and electric total. 5 people in the home. Several computers, TVs, typical appliances. My wife is home all day, and I work out of home a bit too. 75 cents per sq foot per year. Sounds like its reasonable to me. Maybe not. If you all wouldn't mind sharing what size of your house is and annual costs and locale with minor details like I showed, it would be very helpful. Its for the scouts and will help immensely. Your kindness and generosity are appreciated. (it takes 5 minutes to look at your bills and add it up, that is if you save your bills.)

Southern California 1,800 Sq. Ft. 3 Bed 3 Bath 2005 - Gas & Electric = $913.00 2006 - Gas & Electric = $1,038.00 2007 - Gas & Electric = $1,013.00 3 People , 2 TVs, 1 Computer, 2 work & 1 in school. JDJ

My home is near Cleveland,Ohio=not a warm weather locaton. My wife and I live here alone, she works nights. Computer on 16 hours a day, the rest usual. The house is 5280 Sq. Ft. My house is all electric, and fully geothermal. Electric bill for 2007=$2173 fwiw-I built my own home (took myself and my best friend 4 years). When I went to decide on a heating system, I investigated all posibilities. Decided on geothermal heating and cooling-three water furnaces in house. The local electric company contributed 9K toward the furnaces and instalation, which totalled around 16K. They also signed a contract with me to sell me the bulk of electricity every month at 2.9 cents per killowatt hour. My house was the first in my city with geothermal, but there are many more now. It has worked out incredibly in the long run, and I highly recommend it to anyone that asks. Hope that helps.

My home is near Cleveland,Ohio=not a warm weather locaton.
My wife and I live here alone, she works nights. Computer on 16 hours a day, the rest usual.
The house is 5280 Sq. Ft.
My house is all electric, and fully geothermal.
Electric bill for 2007=$2173

fwiw-I built my own home (took myself and my best friend 4 years). When I went to decide on a heating system, I investigated all posibilities. Decided on geothermal heating and cooling-three water furnaces in house. The local electric company contributed 9K toward the furnaces and instalation, which totalled around 16K. They also signed a contract with me to sell me the bulk of electricity every month at 2.9 cents per killowatt hour. My house was the first in my city with geothermal, but there are many more now. It has worked out incredibly in the long run, and I highly recommend it to anyone that asks. Hope that helps.

If I built new I would definitely go geo.

2.9 cents. Thats one heckava deal !
Thanks for sharing.

2800 sq.ft. - well constructed/insulated/newer windows oil/forced air heat ~ 600gal/yr @ $2.80 = $1680/yr electric ~ $1500/yr 4 people (including kids and their friends that like to not close doors). 2 Fridges / 1 Freezer (wife likes to have supplies - closet survivalist I suspect). 1 wet bar mini-fridge (hardwired to power grid w/ backup dedicated generator) HDTV and 2 smaller ones PC Elec heated workshed 20 yr fixed mortgage Upstate NY - N of Syracuse cold climate - 2 sesons - Winter and July 4th 150" snow/yr I know of people I work with who have converted to a modern pelletized coal furnace - heating cost about $400/yr...no soot...they love it. I may do it also. A little more work to make sure the hopper stays full, but not much more than the water treatment system we have (no city sewer or water here). Al Gore hates coal so it'd be worth the minimal added hassle. BTW - a neighbor of mine is undergoing foreclosure negotiations w/ none other than...drumroll...Countrywide! The fact that Countrywide loaned these people $$ is all I have to know about that Company - and why it should be terminated - with extreme prejudice.

Edited by shanabe, 22 March 2008 - 09:04 AM.

nimblebear-Yes, it's great. The electric companys have gotten such a bad rap, price wise over our lifetime, that they offer great deals. They want in the home heating business in the worst way, and over time I think geo gives them a great in. If you build again, just go negotiate with them ahead of time-you'll be surprised what they'll offer. As a side note, when I went to negotiate, I did huge computer calculations using the volume of my house to calculate cost. I figuired I had to buy my electricity at around 5.5 cents to have a reasonable saving. I took in about 60 pages of printout, ready to lay my firm position out to them. They let me go on for about 5 minutes-then interupted me and told me their plan was to offer me the 2.9 cents-and did I need to go on? I laughed, felt like a total dumbass, and signed, LOL. If you ever go to build new, post it here-I could help you a lot with all the specifics-and would be happy to. Oh, forgot to add-I built my home 2X6 instead of 2X4, and therefore have some serious wall insulation, as well. Spooky

Edited by thespookyone, 22 March 2008 - 12:34 PM.

Interesting stuff. I've always thought that for energy effiency, zoned heating and cooling with the ability to close off unused areas was a no brainer. Also, a home built with a temperature controlled center, with permiter rooms which could be closed off when unused and would thus provide additional insulation to the center area would be most energy effiencient. Close off the North rooms in the winter, South rooms with thermal storage could help heat during sunny winter days and then be closed off in the summer. The easiest solution would be simply having closets on the exterior walls. I have a couple on the west side of our home. When I open the closet door, the temperature difference is immediately obvious on very cold or hot days. A square-ish home would provide the least exposed exterior wall area. Think like a bear.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 22 March 2008 - 10:42 PM.

This isn't exactly the cube I was thinking of:
LINK
Tulsa's new "green" houses:



Developers hope environmentally friendly town homes will inspire others
The project is called NINE, which stands for New Inspiration for a Natural Environment, and when completed, the 2,200- square-foot lofts will have many green features. They include: geothermal climate control systems, Structural Insulated Panels or SIPs construction, recycled carpet, a tankless water heating system, bamboo floors, a rainwater storage system, a drought tolerant landscaping system and to top it all off, a grass roof. And that’s not all.
The project has an above-platinum rating from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) U.S. Green Building Rating System, said the project’s architect and developer Shelby Navarro, of 1 Architecture, 418 S. Peoria
Ave.
“It’s going to be the way building is going in the future,” he said. “They’re doing it everywhere else in the country, and we thought we should try to do one in Tulsa. We’re not necessarily trying to change the way everyone does things — there is still a lot of the old guard — but there are more effi cient ways of doing construction.”

The town homes should be completed as early as April, Navarro said, and the asking price for each home is in the low-$400,000s. The developers said the price tag is on par for the neighborhood, but green building does not always have to come at a high cost.

“Even making a small change can have a huge effect. Just changing to compact fluorescent light bulbs have a big impact,” he said.

Navarro will be conducting a tour of the project at 11 a.m. April 12, which will feature information about low-maintenance and drought-tolerant planting, sustainable tile and carpet, and water and energy saving strategies.

Developers Shelby Navarro and Micky Payne said the NINE townhouse project uses many examples of ways homeowners can go green without necessarily breaking the bank:

• Payne said the geothermal heating and air system is “pretty attainable for everybody. Pricing-wise, it’s probably another 30 to 40 percent more, but you get that back in 10 years.”
  
• Using low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint and fi nishes and taping up air ducts when you do any improvements will dramatically improve your home’s air quality, Navarro said.
  
• A tankless water heating system is gas-powered and a fairly small system, Navarro said. It instantly heats water as it moves through it, rather than heating a larger amount of water in a regular tank.
  
• Replacing your appliances with those that are Energy-Star rated saves money over time.
  
• The recyclable carpet in the town homes has a 1-800 number on the back, so when you are ready to replace it, a representative will come to your home and do it for you.
  
• A two-flush toilet could save a family of four up to 10,000 gallons of water a year, Navarro said.