[Eli]

Denny nice post.

You got a good point it's the same as those who espouse converting natural gas into hydrogen power. Just burn the natural gas and be done with it.

[jdmartin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('linlithgowoil', '$')325 a month for heating? You kidding?

its about £20 ($36) a month in winter for my heating which is natural gas, and next to nothing all summer long as i dont use it.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Not good for business. A little family run Italian restaraunt with utility bills running in the $1,200 to $1,300/month range has seen that jump to $1,700 + in the last few months. The winter is just about to get under way, of course, so we're all thinking it's going to keep rising. I would sure like to know what is really going on out there. How much business has shut down because of high NG prices? The sentiment in the restaraunt is that OK, gasoline prices are down, so 'they' have to jack us another way. Or else it's ranting against Bush for his 'petty, vindictive war!' as if that had anything to do with NG prices. These guys know better because I've explained what I've learned about energy issues from reading up as well as I can. This is going to get really ugly, from a political standpoint. Bush will get 'Hooverized', as Kunstler put it.

[The_Toecutter]

Bush pretty much 'Hooverized' himself. Peak oil and the current natural gas shortage may just leave him with the label even sooner...

[PenultimateManStanding]

Yeah, sure. That's probably why the dems nominated such a clown like Kerry, so they wouldn't take the fall. Of course, they're pretty much all a sorry bunch. I used to like Reagan, but the more I know about him and his attitude to the long-term energy situation in spite of the fact that the CIA had the situation pegged and outlined clearly in the 70's, the more appalled and disillusioned by politics I get. A pox on all of them. politics: comes from the Greek polis for city, and tics for a bloodsucking parasite.

[The_Toecutter]

I never said the dems or Kerry were any better either. If anything, they are at least as responsible for the mess we are in.

Lets see here on Kerry and Bush and a good number of democrats:

-Both supported this unconstitutional oil war in Iraq
-Both supported an unconstitutional big government Homeland Security Department
-Both supported an unconstitutional PATRIOT Act
-Both supported a national ID card through changing the drivers' licenses
-Both supported energy bills that gave massive welfare handouts to entrenched industries

Need I continue? Kerry scared the fuck out of me equally as much as Herr Bushkin. Both are throwing away our civil liberties under the guise of increased security. Benjamin Franklin knew full well the implications this would have, and warned us accordingly.

Add into the mix tampered elections and denying third party candidates participation on national televised debates while the corporations and government feed each other at the expense of everyone else, and you have what is bordering on a corporate police state.

Soon to go will be the remainder of our right to bear arms and we'll have nothing left. The final nail in the coffin: Hitlery Klinton becomes the dem candidate next (s)election...

[eastbay]

Speaking of electric bills. When I was in Singapore a few weeks ago I went to a gym downtown that spends $15,000 sg (around $9,000 US) /mo to air condition the interior of the gym. Memberships cost somewhere around $50.00 sg/month so therefore around 300 membership dues are used for electricity. I thought that was interesting.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Sooo. . . it's getting cold now! Bad winter, perhaps? NG prices shoot up bigtime this winter. Hello inflation! The brother of the restaraunt owner owns a Denny's franchise here in San Diego. She says her brother told her that Denny's prices went up 10% across the menu. She also says that the distributors for the restaraunt such as Roma and other's have jacked their prices up, and that our restaraunt is raising prices even though regular customers call to complain. Inflation is raising it's ugly head out there. It's happening now and just getting started. Inflation = higher interest rates = more defaults and bankruptcies. It looks like the NG situation is where it all starts to get bad. Peak Oil could be a ways off, but NG hits hard first. Plastics, fertilizer, heat, electricity generation. We've got Metro Busses here in S.D. that run on the stuff.

[frankthetank]

Why can't they develop a simple LCD/computer that constantly updates your month to date electric/gas charges??? Maybe something like a bike computer? When a person burns woods/pellets they can know exactly, anytime how much wood/pellets they've burned in a given amt of time. When burning gas or using electricity, you don't know until your 30-40day bill comes.

Maybe they would rather you not know!

I just went out to read my gas meter because i'm itching to know my bill. Looks like i'm doing damn good.

And whats with those meters! Talk about confusing! How about an odometer style meter!

[strider3700]

my programmable thermostat told me sunday night that It had turned on the heaters for 21 hours and 21 minutes in that week. This is connected to 2000 watts worth of heaters so I can easily do the math to determine that I likely used about 42.7 kwh last week and it cost me $2.58 to heat my house.

With natural gas I think you can do the same with a progammable t-stat and knowing how much gas your furnace uses while running. I think that most furnaces use the same amount of fuel all the time and are either off/pilot light or on. Your manual or some googling with the model number should tell you how much it uses.

to measure the entire house for all usage is harder but possible. the meters tells you this info but doesn't give you a baseline to start from and aren't exactly clear on how to read them. ( at least my hydro meter is confusing at first)

[ChumpusRex]

What's wrong with looking at your gas meter/electricity meter?

I look at my elec meter - it tells me exactly how much I've used. Subtract the reading on my last bill and I know how much I've used since. Multiply by the cost of electricity, and I know how much I've spent. Easy.

Same with gas. The only catch is the meter measures the volume of gas - but the bill is charged per unit of energy. The quality of gas varies from season to season, so there is a variable 'correction' factor. But it never varies much, so you can have a pretty good guess.

Of course, if that's too hard - the last place I lived had a coin operated electricity meter. Put money in, and wind it up. When it winds down the power goes off, and you know you need to put more in.

[Kaare_Mai]

My home is 105 square meters.
My bills for each month is this:
Electricity: 77 US $
Oil: 154 US $
So just for electricity and heat i pay 231 US $ / month.
What about you other guys?

[Rabbit]

I live in California. My house is 1800 sqft. My average gas & electric year round bill is about $130 per month. Last month we squeezed it down to $93. We set the heat to 60 at night and 66 during the day. We run the air only when temp inside gets to 83. Every light in the house is CF and we do a good job of turning off things not in use.

[dbuckley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'W')hy can't they develop a simple LCD/computer that constantly updates your month to date electric/gas charges???

[pilferage]

Omfg, gui's in C are ugly...
That being said, cool site!

[Kaare_Mai]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o you have about 1200 square feet at $231 per month on budget. Thats not bad, we had 1200 square foot house poorly insulated and it cost us $205 per month on budget. Somehow I thought you guys were paying so much more than us in the EU, but I guess it depends on where you are. How much do you pay for petrol (what we call gasoline)? Its about $2.29 per gallon here. I'm not sure how that translates to litres

[dbarberic]

I think it maybe useful to post our home energy useage for purposes of benchmarking the stats against each other. This will give one an efficiency target to shoot for when reducing energy use.

House Stats:
Size - 2,300 Sq Ft
Age - Built 1997
Location - Nothern Ohio
Heat Source - NG
H20 Heather - NG
Other Notes - Wood burning insert added in Nov 05, energy star washing machine added Dec 05.

NG Usage:
Annual NG Usage in USD$ - $1,200 ($100 month)
Notes - 3 yr NG contract for $8.79 per mcf till 1/2008

(I need to get annual numbers for electric and water for tracking. All I have is my monthly bills which do not give a total)
Electric Usage:
Summer with AC Monthly Usage: Approx 1,300 kwh
Winter Monthly Usage: Approx 725 kwh
Cost: $0.12 per kwh

Water:
Monthly Usage: 4 CFT
Cost: $13.20 per CFT (water and sewer)

Other Notes:
Last winter I went around my house and sealed for weather using caulk and insulating foam. My monthly NG bill dropped from $120 to $100.

I expect to drop my NG usage further as winter continues and I use my wood buring insert to supplement my NG heat.

I also hope to see an improvement in my water and electricty use from the energy star washing machine. It uses 1/3 the water and has such a fast spin cycle that it has reduced my electric drying time by half.

One of my next goals is to upgrade to an energy star dish washer.

[JeeBoomba]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ChumpusRex', 'O')f course, if that's too hard - the last place I lived had a coin operated electricity meter. Put money in, and wind it up. When it winds down the power goes off, and you know you need to put more in.