Energy Efficiency – Defined

As I’ve been sharing this site, many people ask the first question of what is Energy Efficiency. I try to explain a bit simpler than the standard definition. Energy Efficiency is taking a look at your current usages and reducing that usage by introducing technology or new behaviors.

The first thing that comes to mind is updating lighting to LED’s around the home. Beyond that many are at a loss. This is where the technology comes in to start understanding what appliances, devices, and patterns use the most energy. I’ve used both an entire home energy monitor, Sense and a small plug in Kill A Watt monitor to learn our usage.

With this information we can then start to automate or adjust behavior slightly to reduce energy usage and save money. The articles here are all centered around the technology and products that help save money and the environment.

Simple Example: We started outfitting our house with the smart home in 2018, it takes time. Early-2019 we fully upgraded to LEDs and added a few more SmartThings devices that really maximized our savings. Below shows that just over two months we’ve reduced our consumption and spend by 1,161 (33%) or $163.62 (31%) over two months.

September: 2018 – 1802 kWh 247.66 74 F vs 2019 – 1336 kWh $192.76 68 F
October: 2018 – 1729 kWh $278.70 60 F vs. 2019 – 1,034 kWh $169.88 63 F
*Added Windsource June 2019