Energy Savings and Energy Independence
Current Savings Natural Gas: 26% Electricity: 54%

A lazy approach to saving energy, lowering energy costs and working towards energy independence. We have a 2 story brick house built in 1906 and are slowly applying energy saving solutions.

Natural gas savings (annual, current year to the last gas bill)

Current year annual natural gas savings: 26%. Just think about the savings if it were all done in 2001. Makes me wonder what more we can easily do. The number is % therms / deg day versus 2001-2002.

I recently noticed the current energy savings declining, so I thought it would be useful to see how the savings is changing throughout the current year. The therms used per degree day increases with colder weather. This January (2007) was the coldest it has been for several years. We had over 1700 heating degree days this January. The Mt. Washington Observatory on a mountain top in NH and several places in Alaska are significantly colder.

• Heating degree days are easier thought of as heating degrees per day, (at least for me). The number of degreesF below 65F for the mean temperature of a day are called heating degree days.
• NOAA data is used to track heating degree days from the local airport from July 1 to July 1 of each year.
  Weather Underground has daily and monthly heating degree day numbers as well. These don't exactly match the NOAA data.
• ORNL conversion factors indicate emmissions reduction is estimated as 3.04lb of carbon per therm

• Our home heating systems
• Water heater: gas, 40 gallon very old
• Furnace: 170K BTU central forced air
• Wall insulation: R2.6 stucco, brick, and plaster
• Ceiling insulation: R37 vermiculite, fiberglass

I credit Builditsolar.com as being inspirational and encouraging even to a lazy guy like myself to start on the road to energy savings and energy independence.