Early Results Coming In -- Paying the Energy Piper

Plans and prognostication are wonderful but we all want to see results. After living in Upstate House for a few months we're beginning to collect tangible evidence about performance -- at least as relates to energy costs.

Building for Energy Efficency
Upstate House achieved two certifications -- EarthCraft House and EPA's Energy Star. The first proof of the pudding that our investments in "getting the envelope" right to address energy issues came with the official EarthCraft certification. As a measure of overall "tightness," the house was subjected to a blower door test. The goal was to achieve a rating of less than 0.5 air exchanges. We came in at 0.14 -- well below the target (in this case it's a bit like golf, lower is better). If we had not already installed a fresh air intake as part of our central heating and cooling system, this superior tightness rating would have required us to do so.

Actual Results
While the blower door tests were positive and encouraging we knew that the real "proof of performance" would come in monthly energy bills. With five months of bills in hand we're getting more comfortable in saying that it is working. Recall that we are talking about a 2500 sq.ft. all electric home with all fluorescent lighting, multiple ceiling fans, Energy Star appliances, on-demand hot water with solar assist and a single 14 SEER Amana HVAC with zoned controls. That said here are the initial results:

1. March $58.50*
2. April $33.11
3. May $45.65
4. June $69.01
5. July $72.18
6. August $63.22
7. September $30.40

Our first month* was clouded by the fact that we still had a number of workers coming and going so we had limited control over things so we don't consider it representative. Too, April and May were very cool months when we used little air conditioning. That said, June and even more so, July, have been far hotter than normal and should provide a good read on upper limits for summer months. In fact, more than half the days in July were above normal for our area

In all we're VERY pleased at this stage of the game with this measure of effectiveness.

One foot-note (11.22.2006) we just finally got all of our certification in hand -- including our EnergyStar rating -- which will now allow us to qualify for a further 5% reduction in our rate for KWH used. None of the bills to date include this lower rate.