kWh

I went to another home show and added a few items to my wish list:  an epoxy garage floor, a vertical window system for the porch, and solar panels. (My husband, on the other hand, wants a slicer-dicer device he saw demoed at the grocery store. As if.)

Why do I want solar panels? I like the idea of being green, but that’s not the big motivator. I also like the idea of reducing my electric bill, but I don’t anticipate appreciable savings since we’ll most likely have to rent the system rather than buy it.

It was those report cards that National Grid keeps sending me.  They clearly graph how awful we are compared to all of our “neighbors”. Since there is a report card involved, I’m competing with myself as well as with the neighbors.  I need the A.  How many kWh can I shave off?  Can I get my bar on the graph lower than the fictitious “energy efficient” neighbor’s bar? So I have become fanatical about turning off lights (the switches in this house MUST be broken), replaced most of the incandescent bulbs with those annoying ones that take a few minutes before you can actually see, and set the thermostat to a freezing 60 when it is just the dog and me at home.

Looking at the electric bill for the past two years, our heavy duty months are in the summer.  This makes sense.  I’ve often seen steam rising over the pool on early summer mornings after the heater for the jacuzzi has been left on all night.  And there have been times when I have come home from work to find the gas fire place on since the AC was too cold for the kids sitting in their wet bathing suits.  The family also likes to leave the gas fire place on for the dog.  She sleeps in front of the fire until she is so dehydrated she has to lumber over to drink from her water bowl.  Then she lumbers back to resume her sleeping position in front of the fire.

At the home show, I arranged to have the solar panel rep to come out on Friday to assess the house and discuss costs.  From the previous home show,  I have a Mass Save energy audit scheduled in a couple weeks so they can tell me if they think solar panels are a good idea and to give me recommendations for reducing my kWh.

I’m going to get that A!