Los Angeles Eco-Home Impressive

Posted on May 6th, 2008 in green by homeimprovement

I watched a bit of Eco-Home on public television. Eco-Home is a house in Los Angeles, Ca that takes advantage of green practices in order to have little or no impact on the environment. Among the green practices employed are using native and other drought resistant plants in place of a lawn (a Xeriscape); collecting and re-using grey water to irrigate fruit trees in the back yard; employing solar panels to generate electricity; heating water with a solar water heater; using a sunpipe to light the kitchen during the day; using low flush toilets to conserve water; composting kitchen scraps and other materials to enrich the soil; as well as many other environmentally sound practices.

Delta Water Amplifying Shower Head

Posted on April 21st, 2008 in energy savings, green, home improvement, shower head by homeimprovement
I recently picked up the Delta Fluidics Adjustable Shower Head. I already head a 2.5 gpm navy shower head but never liked it’s look and it actually cooled the water as it delivered it to you. If the shower head considerably mists the water that actually cools the water being delivered to you. So although you are using less water than a normal showerhead, you are using more hot water than you need to because you are continually turning up the hot water.The Delta Fluidics Adjustable Shower Head doesn’t mist the water as much and actually feels like its delivering more water to you. It is adjustable between 1.8 gpm and 2.5 gpm. Since it doesn’t cool the water as much, you also use less hot water.My first water saving appliance was the 1.6 gpf toilet. I switched two 5 gallon toilets out with these water saving units and watched my water bill drop by a third. I’ll be interested to watch my water bill with the new shower head working at 1.8 gpm and it may have an impact on my natural gas bill as well if I do indeed use less hot water in the shower. Check it out, it’s only $25 and you get free super saver shipping at Amazon.

Update: A nice little benefit to this showerhead is that since it does not mist so much, your showers will be less steamy and thus less fogging on your mirror.

Update: Ok, let’s start measuring the savings, shall we? From 11/14/2007 through 02/16/2008, I used 11 CCF of water. Around the middle of May, I should get my next water bill. It will be interesting to see what water savings has resulted. Also, the Delta Shower Head seems unaffected by toilet flushings during shower time (at least when running in 1.8 GPM mode) - not bad!

Has the new furnace lived up to its billing

Posted on February 21st, 2008 in energy savings, furnace, green, home improvement by homeimprovement

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I purchased a new furnace back in November. Let’s do a quick and dirty comparison of last year to this year on gas bills.

Nov 06 - 39 Ccf - Nov 07 - 14 Ccf

Dec 06 - 45 Ccf E - Dec 07 - 57 Ccf Estimated

Jan 07 - 56 Ccf - Jan 08 111 Ccf

Feb 07 - 53 Ccf Estimate - Feb 08 - 89 Ccf Estimated

March 07 - 128 Ccf - March 08 - 127 Ccf

April 07 - 35 Ccf - April 08 - 78 Ccf Estimated

Well it appears we’ve been using quite a bit more natural gas this winter. We have been keeping the thermostat at around 70 and one of us is generally home all day. Last year, we kept the thermostat at around 65 or so. Let’s look at some other factors as well.

Here’s electric usage for last year and this year

Nov 06 806 KWH - Nov 07 800 KWH

Dec 06 1200 KWH - Dec 07 1152 KWH

Jan 07 1258 KWH - Jan 08 1164 KWH

Feb 07 1677 KWH - Feb 08 1311 KWH

Mar 07 - 1322 KWH - Mar 08 1716 KWH took a beating in March!

Apr 07 1027 KWH - April 08 ???

So while natural gas consumption has gone up, electricity usage has dropped way down. Notice the huge drop in February. Also, I believe the date of the bill actually reflects usage for the previous month.

Why the change? Last year, we kept the old furnace at around 65 and relied upon portable electric heaters to heat the rooms we mainly used. This year, our reliance on electric heaters has dropped significantly (at least in the house). On top of that, I converted my garage into a full time office and despite heating that solely with electric heaters, my electric bill has fallen. Perhaps my garage was not as tough to heat as I previously thought.

I also imagine the furnace’s blower uses a lot less electricity than my old furnace’s blower. I’ve recently replaced several incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs so will see if that has a further impact on the electricity bill.

Stay tuned for my new water saving shower head report. This shower head saves water, delivers a full spray and doesn’t cool the hot water as it delivers it to you.