Revision of goals

I turned the heating on in the house on Sunday - a cold snap meant that it needed to be done. The heating is gas central heating, so uses a gas combination boiler to heat the radiators. The same boiler heats hot water.

When the boiler is on, 100W is used - which means that each day, I'll be using an extra 600 watts/day, and probably 1200 watts each day over the weekend.

These are significant amounts. In addition to these, the lighting is on more in winter (most bulbs are energy saving though), and so I expect quite a bit more in usage for them - comparable amounts of 600W per day.

In all, i'm looking at close to 2kW at the weekend and 1.2kW during the week. These are going to blow my savings targets out of the water.

New Goal

So, I have a new aim in mind - to reduce electricity use to below last year levels, but aiming for 10kW/day. Below is the current energy chart from the supplier - I last sent a meter reading in on September 15, which this takes into account.

Note the peak which is coming up in November - that is just shy of 16kWh/day - I wish to be well off that one. What is surprising though is that since I started this blog, my usage is rising!!! I can't explain that one away except for the use of lights.

Actions

Last weekend I used 12kW each day. This does include extended use of the cooker for Sunday roast and some Xbox360 on the Saturday. It appears I have a lot to do.

So, two things to still consider in the short term - Fridge/Freezer & Energy saving dimmable bulbs - I really must get on with it!