I'm not sure what happened here with our electricity consumption. We have been actively trying to cut back since about March when it became obvious that there was a power problem looming in winter. But the last couple of bills didn't seem to show any great effect.
Then today I had the bill for the last 32 days from 20 June to 21 July and after looking like we were stuck to about 16 KwH a day this is MUCH better.
That's a little under 9 KwH a day, the realistic target for this house (based on its potential for PV power production) is about 6KwH so by the time we have added solar hot water, some better door and window insulation it is doable. Those numbers even include an increase in the amount of bread and biscuit baking we are doing. And the even better news is this
That's with a cost increase for power use and line charges for 30 of those days.
The power saving campaign finishes this weekend, but I was thinking
anyway that there is no reason NOT to keep it up, now I know why that's
such a good idea.
You should start having your summers in July like everyone else, then you would save a lot ;-)
Posted by: Branedy | July 25, 2008 at 01:49 AM
Or perhaps, we should start having OUR summers in January. It would really cut down on the heating bills.
nomad496
Oregon, USA
Posted by: nomad496 | July 25, 2008 at 02:49 AM
and boy are you going to need to cut the heating bills. Now here in the sayowth we know how to do winter.
I took a photo of the frost this year, we DID have 2, but it was
still worth taking a pic
We do summers pretty well too.
Mind you we are lining up for a serious storm from the Aussies tomorrow so I'd better shut my mouth.
Posted by: Earl Mardle | July 25, 2008 at 08:26 AM
Our winters get a little worse than that, but not all that much worse. I have some shots of our place, including some winter ones here It mostly just rains (and rains)here. The coldest temperature that I have recorded here in 15 years is -9 C. Our heating bills are very small since we heat solely with wood. It makes our electric bill the envy of my coworkers.
Steve/ nomad 496
Posted by: nomad496 | July 29, 2008 at 01:15 AM
To coin a phrase, cool. I'm envious of all the space you guys have to work with, we will definitely be an URBAN homestead.
Meanwhile, another storm has been spawned by the Aussies and flicked in our direction. Not as rough as last weekend but still worth battening the hatches for. Can't wait till we get the solar hot water system and PV backup installed.
Posted by: Earl Mardle | July 29, 2008 at 08:12 AM
I will be really interested in how your PV system goes. I really want to install one here, but the up-front costs are bit steep at the moment. The state is considering a tax credit to help underwrite the systems, but with the economy that is by no means a done deal. I have about a half-acre of land (yeah I know, space) that has good south and western exposure that I could erect a nice system on and graze sheep underneath. I am worried about the inevitable unforeseen difficulties putting in an installation that large. I am looking at the possibility of erecting some sort of modular system, where I could build it out over time. Its just not something to rush into.
Good luck with your storm, Do they come out of the Southern Bight of Australia? I have read that there are a lot of storms there. My knowledge of that part of the world is not as good as it should be.
Posted by: nomad496 | July 29, 2008 at 08:35 AM
That extra quarter acre makes ALL the difference eh?
On PV there's a company here that does refurbished batteries which is the major component cost and we plan to dfo it in stages, first the battery set for about $1500 with the controlled/inverter and charge uit off the mains. Then add modular collectors as we can or as the price falls.
Said company is currently advertising a complete system for about NZ$13,000 which is close to doable.
As for storms, no, not out of the bight, they are being spawned on the north NSW coast where they do almost nothing to help the drought, and then flicked off across the Tasman where they naturally drift south and drop all that water on us, usually in the north where they do nothing to help the hydro lakes storage, bleeding perfect.
When we lived in Aus we noticed that over the last few years the weather systems that used to bring winter rains from the Indian Ocean to NSW have pushed south off the coast and in the last two years these storm suystems have been forming around the NSW Queensland border but right on the coast.
Posted by: Earl Mardle | July 29, 2008 at 09:00 AM
Have you looked at the data maps for Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon showing ocean temps? http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/science/time-series-data.html Do you know if the sea temperature patterns changed in the Indian Ocean over time? That may have a hand in how the storm and rain patterns have changed. I know that temperature changes around the Philippines will trigger El Ninos up here in Oregon.
We are having another problem that does not get much press outside of here with the ocean. The sea temperature change has created an anoxic dead zone that is killing all the young salmon up here. Just wonderful; our fisheries are collapsing. Many of our fishermen are NOT the big factory ships, but small coastal boats, many of which still use long lines instead of nets.
Posted by: nomad496 | July 29, 2008 at 09:34 AM