We're focusing on a couple of things here at the cottage - firstly to get this place running as efficiently as possible.
This means focusing on electricity use, water use, waste in and out of the house... all those things that lead to a comfortable financial situation.
Our electricity bill is kept very low thanks to the solar panels on the roof and this being a small home.
Our water bill is non-existent. We are self-sufficient in water with two large tanks capturing the subtropical downpours that happen here every year.
The other thing we focus on is recycling, repurposing and re-vitalising what we have rather than buying new.
Making our own furniture, repainting old furniture... those types of things.
At the moment we're undergoing a pretty major renovation here - walls are being painted, furniture moved around, furniture made from recycled timbers... and its all coming together really well.
While Cedar Cottage is only a small space, there is so much you can do with it. For example we have a choice of five different eating areas both inside and outside the house and through clever design we've been able to do this without making the house feel crowded.
We're also going through a big 'lighten up' stage at the moment too - lots of light and bright things going on here to lift the decor and freshen up the feel of the house.
Showing posts with label energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy. Show all posts
21 Oct 2011
9 Oct 2011
Energy Bill
We received our quarterly electricity bill recently.
We’re down to 4.8kWh per day – at the same time last year our use was 5.8kWh.
To put our 4.8 in perspective I’ve believe the Australian ‘average’ household daily use is anything from 16-25kWh per day.
We have a 1.4kW photovoltaic system on our roof (installed in 2009).
We feed back into the grid (grid-connected) so we don’t have a stand-alone battery system. This means we sell our energy to our electricity company at one price and buy it back from them for another.
We had a 2.8kW inverter installed so we could double the number of panels we have in the future. We currently have six 175watt panels.
A ‘1.4kW’ system means it should be making 1.4kW of energy per optimum sunlight hours per day – here on the Sunshine Coast the optimum sunlight hours per day is six. So we should be making (optimally) 8.4kW per day.
In the last quarter, we made $95.50 worth of energy. (191kWh paid at .50cents per kWh)
We used $88.69 worth of energy. (431kWh billed at .20.69cents per kWh – less than half the price we sell it for) PS that 431kWh was over 90 days, so 431 divided by 90 = 4.78 – our daily usage.
If it was as simple as that we would have got a cheque back for $6.81.
But there are other fees;
On top of the $88.69 worth of energy we bought, we also paid $21.55 to ensure that energy we bought back from the supplier was green – in this case wind power.
By doing this we’re ‘offsetting’ our energy use.
Reduce consumption
Use alternative sources (in our case solar)
Offset the difference (buying wind energy)
The energy we do buy from the grid is not sourced from fossil fuel, instead its sourced from wind energy companies.
This means our home has zero carbon emissions. No fossil fuel energy usage here.
So the other fees added onto our bill are;
Energy use; $88.69
Green offset; $21.55
Service fees; $23.45 (visiting the property, invoice processing)
Community Ambulance Cover; this is a cost Queenslanders have been charged, but aren’t as of July 1, 2011. So we only had a $2.39 fee to cover from June 22 to July 1. We won’t be billed at all from now on.
So
Total charges; $136.08
Less what we made; $95.50
New total; $40.58
Plus; (goods and services tax)
GST; $13.38
Total; $53.96 for the quarter.
We know our summer bills are going to be slightly higher because we use the ceiling fans, but with some clever modification to the design of our home – as part of our eco-retrofit – we’ll fix that problem.
Plus having a solar hot water system makes a HUGE difference.
Now the challenge is out – to get it below 4.8kWh per day for this time next year.
We’re down to 4.8kWh per day – at the same time last year our use was 5.8kWh.
To put our 4.8 in perspective I’ve believe the Australian ‘average’ household daily use is anything from 16-25kWh per day.
We have a 1.4kW photovoltaic system on our roof (installed in 2009).
We feed back into the grid (grid-connected) so we don’t have a stand-alone battery system. This means we sell our energy to our electricity company at one price and buy it back from them for another.
We had a 2.8kW inverter installed so we could double the number of panels we have in the future. We currently have six 175watt panels.
A ‘1.4kW’ system means it should be making 1.4kW of energy per optimum sunlight hours per day – here on the Sunshine Coast the optimum sunlight hours per day is six. So we should be making (optimally) 8.4kW per day.
In the last quarter, we made $95.50 worth of energy. (191kWh paid at .50cents per kWh)
We used $88.69 worth of energy. (431kWh billed at .20.69cents per kWh – less than half the price we sell it for) PS that 431kWh was over 90 days, so 431 divided by 90 = 4.78 – our daily usage.
If it was as simple as that we would have got a cheque back for $6.81.
But there are other fees;
On top of the $88.69 worth of energy we bought, we also paid $21.55 to ensure that energy we bought back from the supplier was green – in this case wind power.
By doing this we’re ‘offsetting’ our energy use.
Reduce consumption
Use alternative sources (in our case solar)
Offset the difference (buying wind energy)
The energy we do buy from the grid is not sourced from fossil fuel, instead its sourced from wind energy companies.
This means our home has zero carbon emissions. No fossil fuel energy usage here.
So the other fees added onto our bill are;
Energy use; $88.69
Green offset; $21.55
Service fees; $23.45 (visiting the property, invoice processing)
Community Ambulance Cover; this is a cost Queenslanders have been charged, but aren’t as of July 1, 2011. So we only had a $2.39 fee to cover from June 22 to July 1. We won’t be billed at all from now on.
So
Total charges; $136.08
Less what we made; $95.50
New total; $40.58
Plus; (goods and services tax)
GST; $13.38
Total; $53.96 for the quarter.
We know our summer bills are going to be slightly higher because we use the ceiling fans, but with some clever modification to the design of our home – as part of our eco-retrofit – we’ll fix that problem.
Plus having a solar hot water system makes a HUGE difference.
Now the challenge is out – to get it below 4.8kWh per day for this time next year.
15 Sept 2011
Energy from the sun
Both of these have contributed significantly to reducing costs in our home.
The PV system is 1.2kWh. Our daily use is around 5kWh during winter and 6kWh during summer.
The difference is because in summer we need to use the ceiling fans more to circulate air - a problem that will be solved when we install opening windows on the southern side of the house to allow for cross-ventilation (north to south).
The solar hot water system has been a god-send. It's wonderful to know that your water is being heated by the sun.
Our PV system is grid-connected so we feed energy into the system at a higher price than what we 'withdraw' it from the system for. We offset any difference in energy use by buying 100% green energy. That means our house energy use is carbon neutral - zero carbon emissions - which is great.
We also save money firstly by reducing our energy use, then by using alternative systems (the PV system for example) and finally by off-setting the difference. This is a great recipe for reducing costs generally.
Now all we need to do is ensure the roof space doesn't get too shaded by nearby vegetation!
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