90 Percent Project - Weeks 44, 45, &46

Sunday, 3:43 pm

By Kate

Apr

20

2008

Here’s another three weeks worth of my 90 Percent Project values. There are only six weeks left in the project and, at this point, most of what I’m doing is either fine tuning or recognizing that a 90% reduction isn’t going to happen in certain areas this year. The project’s group is not planning on disappearing after the end of the year’s experiment. Taking what we’ve learned to build on, so to speak. So the process (and progress) will continue, although I might elect to not torture you with the weekly accountings. Maybe monthly or quarterly instead.

Electricity
Week 44: 22 kWh
Week 45: 16 kWh
Week 46: 17 kWh

Could be worse, could be better. The furnace does eat a little extra electricity.

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Gasoline purchased
Week 44: 0
Week 45: 0
Week 46: 0

No complaints here. One more week and I’ll have made up for last month’s extravaganza. I’ll let you in on a secret...the lad is getting a bike when he comes home next month. That’s how he will get to work. He doesn’ t know it yet. ;)

I want a bike, too.

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Water
Week 44: 89.772 gallons
Week 45: 1167.78 gallons
Week 46: 87.04 gallons

Oh my word. Week 45 shocked my socks off. That was the week I suffered through the UTI and, I’m pretty sure, all of that extra water was from the excessive toilet flushing that went on. Something like 10 times an hour for a few days. It adds up REALLY fast. Holy moly. Makes an outhouse look tempting.

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Natural Gas
Week 44: 21 CCF
Week 45: 19 CCF
Week 46: 12 CCF

Most of this was furnace use. Subtracting 3-4 CCF per week for hot water and cooking, the rest is all furnace. My latest gas bill came in showing 58 CCF for the month with a total due of $106. Compared to the previous month’s use of 11 CCF and $26, that’s a pretty hefty jump. And this month didn’t involve keeping my house toasty warm, either. I’ve been pretty stingy with the heat and there were a few days in there where I kept the furnace off altogether. I can easily see, now, how the average monthly heating bill in this neighborhood reached $300-$400 over the winter.

I’m about ready to call my wood guy and get an order of green wood to season for the summer and autumn—before the price of diesel fuel takes another leap upward. I expect the cost of diesel to be included in wood prices this year.

In any case, the annual goal of using only 100 therms of natural gas for the year has been left in the dust. Not that I would have made it without the furnace use this month anyway. My total, since the 90% project started last June, stands at 234 CCF, with one month left to go in the project’s year. That should bring me in around 250 CCF for the year. Then I have to add another 20 for each cord of wood that I used this winter—3 cords. So, that brings my natural gas values up to around 310 CCF for the year—about a 70% reduction of the national average. If I’d had to exclusively depend on natural gas for heat, I think even a 30% reduction would have been remarkable.

Most of my conservation measures this year were wood heat specific. And they worked very well. They’re probably helping even with furnace use. It’s hard to measure, though, because I’m now heating the upstairs whether I want to or not. If I had to depend completely on gas heat, about the first thing I’d do would be to install zone heating and keep the upstairs mostly turned off.

I’ve also reached the conclusion that the attic is not adequately insulated. Have to look into that this summer.

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Trash
Week 44: 2.2 lbs
Week 45: 1.8 lbs
Week 46: 4.4 lbs

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Consumer Goods
Week 44: $0
Week 45: $48 ($36 - canning jars and lids, $12 - peat pots and “greenhouse” tray)
Week 46: $15 Klean Kanteen

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Food

Oh for a fresh home grown vegetable. I’m about ready to eat my seedlings. Eating locally through winter is not easy, but it’s mostly possible. I have been supplementing the locally produced organic meat and dairy products (with homemade butter from local cream) with some vegetables flown in from far away. Not my ideal, but one does what one has to do. Which is why I am growing a mess of seedlings. Next winter, I will have some vegetables preserved for those late winter-early spring months. This is tipping me in the direction of buying a small chest freezer this summer. I have lived without a freezer for over a year now, without missing it very much. But I haven’t really needed one for food preservation. Until now. If I purchase a freezer, then I’ll most likely unplug the fridge. Unlimited ice makes that an option. Even easier since I’ve grown accustomed to only having 1.7 cu ft of refrigeration space.

March electricity

Monday, 3:22 pm

By Kate

Apr

14

2008

In general, the trend line for my electric use is going down, with a few bumps here and there. According to the 90% rules, monthly household use needs to be 90kWh to represent a 90% reduction of the national average, so I’m currently below that. When the lad arrives home next month, I don’t think we’ll quite make it. But hope springs eternal. I’m plotting strategies already.

90 Percent Project - Weeks 40, 41, 42, & 43

Saturday, 4:29 pm

By Kate

Mar

29

2008

It has been a while since I’ve posted my 90 Percent Project values. Here’s a month’s worth and you can see why I’ve been reluctant to post them. I’ve been reluctant to even keep the records. Use is increasing almost across the board. Some was unavoidable, but much was related to late winter blahs and needing a little extra luxury to combat it. If spring doesn’t get here pretty soon, I’m going to go nuts.

Electricity
Week 40: 18 kWh
Week 41: 15 kWh
Week 42: 17 kWh
Week 43: 26 kWh

It hasn’t been a stellar month. In part because I have the worst case of cabin fever EVER and I’ve been adding little luxuries to my daily existence to compensate. And, of course, a week of having the lad home. Lots of laundry and dryer drying. And we had marathon movie nights and I don’t regret it one bit. So there. Now the furnace is eating up electricity, too.

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Gasoline purchased
Week 40: 0 gallons
Week 41: 4.8 gallons
Week 42: 4.757 gallons (for 2 people at 2.378 gallons per person)
Week 43: 18.488 gallons (for 2 people at 9.24 gallons per person)

Clearly, the lad’s vacation and the trip back to Pennsylvania took a whack out of my good gasoline conservation progress this quarter. Will just have to make up for it in April.

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Water
Week 40: 116.965 gals.
Week 41: 110.83 gals.
Week 42: 450.879 gals (for 2 people at 225.439 gals each)
Week 43: 467.26 gals (for 2 people @233.63 gals each)

Water was also a lost cause this month. Spring cleaning, lots of laundry. And, I regret to say...longer showers.

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Natural Gas
Week 40: 2 CCF
Week 41: 3 CCF
Week 42: 3 CCF
Week 43: 5 CCF

Well, now that the furnace pilot light is on again and the furnace is in use, I don’t think I’ll even be seeing 5 CCF again for a while.
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Trash
Week 40: 3.4 lbs
Week 41: 4.2 lbs
Week 42: 6.2 lbs
Week 43: 4.6 lbs
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Consumer Goods
Week 40: $11 for 2 Rubbermaid storage tubs
Week 41: $29 for a Freeplay Wind-up cell phone (and other gadgets) recharger.
Week 42: $120 in goods for the lad
Week 43: $0

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Food

There isn’t much left to say about food at this point in the season. There is very little fresh that’s local. I still purchase the locally grown or produced meats, eggs, cheeses, milk, and breads. But I am now also purchasing non-local vegetables and fruit. 

90 Percent Project - Week 39

Tuesday, 3:26 pm

By Kate

Mar

04

2008

And here are my weekly values for resources consumed during Week 39 (February 22-28) of the 90 Percent Project....

Electricity
Week 39: 13 kWh

Still hanging in there with a 13 kWh week. Next week will be slightly more. I...uh...used the dryer once. But despite that, it looks as if my total for the week will be the same as the first week of February when I didn’t use the dryer. For reasons I haven’t been able to determine, I’m using less electricity per day than I did in the early part of February. I don’t know why. I don’t think it’s because the days have grown slightly longer. Too slightly, in my opinion.

As predicted, my electric bill for the month of February dropped like the proverbial rock. It came in at 56 kWh for the month with a grand total due of $14.71. You have no idea how long I stared at my bill and grinned like an idiot. I wish I could point to one thing that I did to make my usage drop by half, but I can’t really pinpoint anything specific. I just used less. Part of it could be the lad being back at school, of course, but, if you look at the graph below, that doesn’t quite account for it either. He wasn’t home in September or October or November, either. This past month I did make conscious choices about whether to switch something on or not. At this stage of the project, it doesn’t feel like a hardship to ask myself whether it’s necessary to use the electricity that I’m standing there considering. Quite often the answer is...nah, not really.

There was one small disappointment in the bill’s sidebar graph, though. Last year, in February, there was a correction to my bill owing to the previous month’s estimated bill. I had forgotten about that. According to my current bill, I only used 53 kWh last February, when, in reality, that was the difference between what they’d estimated and what I actually used. After a year of trying to reduce, reduce, reduce, I ended up using 3 kWh more on this bill than the utility says I used last year. It’s not true, of course, but there it is in black and white. Kind of deflating, in a way.

(Edited: Okay, I didn’t think things through up above. I purchased my laptop in late November, but had the basement flood which required many dryer loads to prevent mildew from growing on things. The lad came home in December and used plenty of electricity. Same for January. In early February, I curtained off my kitchen and it stayed pretty chilly out there. The fridge probably used quite a lot less electricity each day. It was right about the time I installed the curtain between the kitchen and the rest of the house that my daily usage dropped by nearly 1 kWh per day. So, really, February is the first month that indicates what my baseline use is with the lad gone, the laptop in use, and no household disasters to deal with.)

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Gasoline purchased
Week 39: 0 gallons

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Water
Week 39: 62.17 gallons

The new shower head seems to be earning its keep.

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Natural Gas
Week 39: 1 CCF

Well, I finally did it. Wonder if I can do it again this week.

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Trash
Week 39: 2.8 lbs

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Consumer Goods
Week 39: $0

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Food
I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to a fresh tomato and a few green beans. Most likely from my own garden this year. I’ve had about enough root cellared squash and cabbage for the year. And the apples are growing a little mealy, too. All things considered, there’s really nothing to complain about. I’m eating well and nutritiously on food produced in my own area. That was the goal. It does make one appreciate the seasons a little more acutely and the bounty of the local growing season. I think this year will involve the purchase of a freezer. That’ll help with variety next winter. Still, it’s good to know that I can eat well through the winter, on locally produced foods, without a freezer.

90 Percent Project - Week 38

Tuesday, 12:57 pm

By Kate

Feb

26

2008

And here are my weekly values for resources consumed during Week 38 (February 15-21) of the 90 Percent Project....

Electricity
Week 38: 13 kWh

This appears to be my new plateau barring any household disasters or atypical needs.

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Gasoline purchased
Week 38: 0 gallons

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Water
Week 38: 141.65 gallons

1 large load of laundry and 1 small load.

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Natural Gas
Week 38: 2 CCF

I left the hot water heater on continuously for 3.5 days out of 7.

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Trash
Week 38: 7.4 lbs

A little bit of spring cleaning in progress.

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Consumer Goods
Week 38: $80.84

Shower head, teflon tape, adjustable wrench, pliers, CLR, quilt.

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Food
Nothing particularly new to report here. Eating locally as much as possible and looking forward to spring variety. One thing I have noticed—the local foods have not gone up in price as much as the imported foods.  No small wonder with the costs of fuel and transportation.

90 Percent project - Weeks 35, 36, and 37

Thursday, 7:44 pm

By Kate

Feb

14

2008

Catching up on my weekly values for Weeks 35 (January 25-31), 36 (February 1-7), and 37 (February 8-14) of the 90 Percent Project....

Electricity
Week 35: 21 kWh used
Week 36: 17 kWh used
Week 37: 13 kWh used

These last three weeks put me at or below the 90 Percent Project electricity reduction goals. To recap, the average American household uses 11,000 kWh annually or 900 kWh per month. A 90 percent reduction means using about 90kWh per month (about 21 kWh per week). This, of course, is easier when there is only one person in the house, but as you’ve probably noted over the last several months, I’ve still had to work at it a bit.

I have been somewhat remiss in posting my electricity graphs over the last few months. They’re as much for my benefit as anyone’s. I do like having them here for handy reference. I have been on something of a plateau for the last four months. I think there will be a sharp drop in the next month’s graph.

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

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Gasoline purchased
Week 35: 7.965 gallons (2 people sharing 15.93 gallons)
Week 36: 0 gallons
Week 37: 5.018 gallons

Week 35 involved the trip to Pennsylvania and back (taking the lad back to school). Gas mileage was superb at around 44 miles per gallon. That’s 1 mile per gallon more than my car is rated for. I’ll take it. I suspect that the 55 mph speed limits through a good part of New York state and Pennsylvania had a lot to do with it (along with inflated tires, fresh oil and filter changes and tune up). People were paying attention to the speed limits and it didn’t seem prudent to go blowing past them. The state troopers were hiding behind the bushes here and there.

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Water
Week 35: 231.91 gallons
Week 36: meter was swapped out for a new one. I didn’t get a reading.
Week 37: 86.89 gallons

What I discovered, thanks to the new water meter, is that my toilet leaks. I have kept the water to it turned off in between flushings this week. I think that is saving me at least 6 gallons of water a day. I let the toilet tank fill up once and then kept an eye on it to see just how fast it emptied out. It took less than a day for the water to completely disappear. That means I was losing at least 42 gallons per week. Over the course of a year, that’s roughly 2200 gallons. I wonder how many people will make the same discovery. The water utility was complaining about the town using less water (less revenue)...the new meters could conceivably cut use even more. Works for me, though. I may stand a chance of reaching the 90 Percent Project goals with water before the year is up.

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Natural Gas
Week 35: 3 CCF
Week 36: 3 CCF
Week 37: 3 CCF

I have been indulging in constant hot water for the past 3 weeks. Now that the furnace pilot light is out and saving a couple of CCFs per week, I felt a little reckless and kept the water heater turned on. It’s not turned on high, but there is constant hot-ish water available on demand. I think the indulgence is over for a while. I need to get usage down to 1 CCF per week.

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Trash
Week 35: 3 lbs.
Week 36: 3.4 lbs
Week 37: 2.8 lbs

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Consumer Goods
Week 35:  ?
Week 36:  ?
Week 37:  0

I didn’t keep track during weeks 35 and 36. I can guarantee that if any consumer goods were purchased, the dollar amounts came to very, very little. I’ve been on a spending moratorium and that makes my savings account happy and it makes my weekly trash very light.

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Food
Back to eating as locally as possible, with the exception of coffee and some salad greens. But those are at least organically grown. And fair trade with regard to the coffee. I will be glad when spring and summer arrive. The locally grown produce selection grows a bit thin at this time of year.