Reviewing electric use.

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Two things can be noted right off the bat. Firs, I think electric heating is not the way to go. It quadruples my energy use. Barring the months where I use that heating, I come in somewhere between 450 and 650 kWhrs of consumption. I suspect I could work on that a bit, too. Just leaving all lights on is a common occurrence here, well the kitchen (though that is fluorescent), the living room (a single bulb lamp), my bedroom (another single bulb lamp), and the four bulb overhead light in the computer room. As well, I usually have the computer on. Sometimes the television as well. No, I hadn't even been thinking along the lines of limiting use to see how low I could get it. The other thing to note is that, after falling behind and struggling to get caught up on payments, and finally automatically sending them $150 a month, I am $350 and a bit more ahead on that bill. I would love to have it be automatic, but they will only do that if I go paperless (I refuse to go paperless because of my problems with keeping my computer functional. I want to be able to track the bill, or at least see it.)

Anyway, just ending electric heat will help a great deal. If I could figure out my schedule so I could be up during the day, thus not needing light, that would help too. But, that has been an ongoing struggle my whole life. I doubt if I can do much about it, at this time. Still, I will endeavor to struggle, or... somethin'. How much that will raise my gas bill though, is a whole other story. Only time will tell. Then again, and too, I don't necessarily need to run around in my skivvies. I suppose wearing some clothes might help. :p Damn all-growed-up deck-apes, anyway! My blessed mothers did try! Ah well.

So, looking at 650 kWhrs is a lot better than looking at 2,130 kWhrs, for sure. A 3,500 watt system (assuming no losses, just work with me, and that this is per hour production) would need six hours and twelve minutes (give or take) to provide the a days worth of energy for a 650 kWhr month. (I am using maximum as my standard for example, and would in designing a system anyway. More so since I planning on going off-grid eventually.) Now, losses of at least 15% would come into play if I converted that energy into AC, thus making using some or most of that in a DC grid even better. (I do hate fluorescent lighting though, to be perfectly honest.) Still, if I am seeing this correctly, that is about how it works out. Given that I only get about two hours of useful sun in the winter (if that is correct), that would, with two systems, give me 4 hours at 3,500 wats, so, 420 kWhrs for those months.

Now, because of winter, doubling that might seem reasonable if I am not sure about affordable. And, the best case scenario regarding panels, I have seen so far, would require 28 panels in the 6' x 3' range!?! Yeah, okay. Even 14 panels of that size for a 3500 kWhr system would be a bit of a stretch. Scale, money, use, size, placement, shape. Ouch. Adding in cutting back on energy use and eliminating electric heating and at least temporarily having it grid-tied, would cover most of my energy use. But probably not quite, even so, in the heart of winter. But it does give me a starting point, a theory from which to work. An idea by which to begin planning, comparing. The good thing, assuming no emp blast during that time, is that in the warmer of six or seven months, I would be getting some money back from the system. For another couple of months I would probably just be breaking even. The final few months I would be paying a much lesser than current electric bill. Let me see, assuming (and rightly) that in a grid-tied, duel 3.5 kWhr system, I would end up paying no utilities (and might make some money), and assuming the system lasts 25 years without costs, at $150 a month, it would come out to (at $150 or $120 a month in utilities, not including anything electrical buyback), a savings in utilities of $45,000 or $36,000. A lot of assumptions there though. D.C. doesn't seem to think it pays for itself, but... if the warranties hold water, it would seem to pay for itself. Am I missing something?

I tried to look over the gas bill online but can't seem to log in or something. A simple cast iron stove (soapstone would be nicer, but sheesh, have you see the price of those?) would eliminate that bill, though whether wood would be economical is another matter entirely. Then again, if I use even eight cords a year (at the current prices I have seen quoted of $120 a cord), that would be $960 a year. Further, I am pretty sure I would use far less, more like four to five cords a year, so $480 to $600. Hmmm, it is just that upfront cost. Between the cook stove and a minor heating stove, plus installation, that would come in around $8k to $15k, if I did my adding correctly before. Further, a cooking stove can also be arranged to handle much of, if not all, the hot water needs of a home. Supplemented with a hot water heater, for those times when a cook stove is not wanted (summer) and add in the solar energy system, it could work quite well. What, the 21st Century Amish? Well, yeah. Sort of. Not a bad comparison I should think, in the secular way. Or more in a cultural way?

Doh! I hate seeing it all right there but just not quite being able to touch it. I suppose like all good things, one must simply abide their time and dollars.