Zero energi house.

[oiler]

Iv'e been following this project with interest. It looks as if this house is a succes.

http://www.danfoss.com/SolutionsReady/NewsAndEvents/News/Denmarks-first-house-with-an-energy-surplus/7BEF4E86-096A-4A44-B529-19AF0C6CA4D5.html

[LowGear]

5160 KWH?  That's a good three months for me.  How can they get by on only 5160?

Casey

[oiler]

Well. It is high for me, we are a five persons in our household and we use 4500 KWH a year and we are not living in the dark and kids using pc and playstation every day.

[AdeV]

Well. It is high for me, we are a five persons in our household and we use 4500 KWH a year and we are not living in the dark and kids using pc and playstation every day.

How are you heating your water?

[oiler]

Depending on availability i use either wood pellets with WMO/crud and lard, or sawdust with the same addings or the 6/1.
Electricity is for light cooking and washing.
Bear in mind power is certainly not cheap here DKK 1.70/KWH GBP.19 USD.28 today.

[cschuerm]

The power comparison is a very interesting thread.  I track my electric usage pretty carefully.  Over a third of my yearly usage is in July/August when we're routinely over 100F every day.  Although my house is very well sealed and insulated, it's also 5000sqft.  I'm running about 8500kwh/year.  I purchased a dehumidifier this spring and am going to be interested to see how that impacts overall usage.  Due to the design of our house, it just doesn't get all that warm in the summer but I run the a/c just to bring down the humidity.  I'm keeping the house 5F warmer this summer at an equivalent comfort level due to the decreased  humidity.   I know the dehumidifier is an energy abomination, but the a/c is only running about an hour a day right now.  Of course it hasn't gotten *really* hot yet either - just in the muggy 90's right now.  Anyone have a more energy efficient means of dehumidifying a house?

chris

[LowGear]

Here's a peek.

PS.  No heat.  No AC.

My name is Casey.

I have a problem with electricity usage.

Yeah, I'm a user!

[Carlb]

well i guess that i am the real energy hog here. We use around 20,000kwh a year. But with all of our 22kw array of solar panels we produce 25,000kwh a year so we have a net zero energy house and we get a credit from our electric company each year.

[rl71459]

I like it!

I wish I had those panels on my house!

Rob

[oiler]

Lucky you. We are only allowed to grid tie 6 kwp solar panels.
This is the main reason why i'm working on my offgrid.......thing!

[Jedon]

I don't have a way to track my KW/h usage right now, I base everything on how much I spend on fuel. House is heated with a wood stove ( 2700SF SIP ) and AC is windows and a wrap around covered porch. Generator is run longer in the evenings not due to need but laziness, it's easier to leave it on for 3 hours than to run it one then go turn it off then turn it back on for another hour while we are watching TV ( 62" DLP, Satellite DVR etc ).  780W of PV panels help out when it is sunny. I think our monthly bill was around $160 last month for fuel.
If I can ever get my hydro going that should drop to $5 :-)