Real-time Electricity Pricing - 1 Year Later

So last May, we signed up with ComEd's Residential Real Time Pricing (RRTP). This is a relatively new program that allows consumers to pay variable rates for their killowatt-hour usage instead of the standard fixed rate that most residences are on. This is in addition to ComEd's Nature First program that ANYONE can sign up for now and get $10 per month back from ComEd.

To briefly recap the RRTP program, the idea is basically that during times of the day where there is high demand on the electrical grid (such as during the day), rates are higher than the fixed rate, and during times of low demand (at night) rates are much cheaper. The idea is to get people to shift behavior to times when electricity is cheaper, thereby reducing demand on the electrical grid at the macro level, and saving individual consumers money on their utility bills.

In practice, I've found this mostly to be the case, but the window for cheaper electricity is smaller than I would like. Like most families, we use most of our electricity in the early evening hours, and frequently into the late evening hours too. Generally, rates aren't dirt cheap until after midnight, but since appliances like dishwashers, washing machines have delay-start timers on them, we can delay running them until 3 am when we pay 2 cents per kilowatt hour, as opposed to running the dishwasher right after dinner which would cost on average around 8 cents / khw.

Anyway, ComEd has a third party group manage the program, and they have a nice website that allows enrollees to check what the predicted prices are for the day so we can plan activity accordingly. But sometimes actual prices (in red below) are much different than the expected prices. Here is today's graph:

Now, the actual price (in red) doesn't normally have the large trough - this is quite unusual, but reflects the lack of grid demand we had after a thunderstorm and cold front moved through Chicagoland around noon today. Temperatures aren't the only indicator of cost.. there are all kinds of factors, and sometimes the rates get very screwy. At one point last week, the hourly rate was up to 23 cents / kwh! There is an online group of ComEd RRTP customers that have all kinds of thoughts, opinions, and tips on the program, and the price spikes and service fees are a favorite topic of discussion.. Some have even been driven out of the program by them.

But what about Humphrey House? Well, compared to the average family, we're relatively high consumers of electricity (an ongoing battle), but one of the other neat things on the website is a monthly comparison that shows your bill on RRTP vs the standard rate and shows. So now that we have been on the here's how we have done for the entire year we've been on the program:

Some months we saved more than others, and some months we actually spent more by being on the program, but overall, we've saved a total of $167 over the entire year with the real-time pricing program. In thinking about the way energy is shaping up in the future (costs keep rising), I'm tempted to think the RRTP program will be sensitive to fluctuations and it may make sense to cancel out of the program, but I think for the time being we'll keep on it and keep trying to curtail our use during the peak hours.

Flat screen TV's - which is more energy efficient?

With every outlet we added to our kitchen, and throughout the rest of Humphrey House, it has given us a lot more opportunity to crank up the amps and our usage of electricity. While we've brought the house up to date (and up to code), sometimes I wonder if it would be better off if we didn't make electronics as easy to use. Especially when learning that televisions alone account for 1% of the US electricity use each day.

At any rate, when our designer laid out a plan to make the newly combined living space, the family room portion of our kitchen area had a nice feature laid out on it: A flat screen TV. As a red-blooded American male, I began to drool uncontrollably and have clear visions (which were, of course, in High Definition) of how to enjoy the space. Fortunately, Jen was soon dabbing my mouth with a handkerchief. The reality of budgets soon evaporated those dreams, and we pressed on with more important things to purchase for the kitchen. Like an oven and fridge, for instance.

However, once the original kitchen and PO's former bedroom were actually combined into one space, we were able to get a true feel for the new space. Something tangible that was simply too hard to grasp from a piece of paper where 1/4" was supposed to equal a foot. So once we saw the true shape of the room, we realized that the space would be awfully tight to accommodate any kind of couch and traditional entertainment center.

So, the dream of a flat screen crept back. A TV in this area is important not just as a staple of the modern American family room, but also because Jen is a self-admitted television junkie, and she was also looking forward to being able watch shows while cooking (I've been secretly hoping the Food network will be on a lot). We soon realized, that given the space, we would be forced to resort to David's original idea of a flat screen TV. There was no other choice. No, really. (Jay's fist pumping in the background as Jen agrees to the decision).

Anyway, I did a fair amount of research to find out how today's televisions use electricity, because I've been trying to be conscious about the amount we're using. After visiting a few sites, it was apparent that while flat screens use more energy than the old TV's they replace (cathode tubes), there is a difference between LCD and plasma technology. LCD's can use around half the energy that a plasma TV uses. A typical example might be:

• Cathode Tubes = 100 watts
  
• LCD = 200 watts
• Plasma = 400, up to 600 watts

Here's a fun quote:

"In smaller screen sizes – say, less than 40 inches – LCD televisions are generally more efficient than CRT televisions, especially when you are comparing HDTV models... In large screen sizes – the 50 inch and above category – a projection TV is likely to be your most efficient buy... For intermediate sizes in the 40 to 50 inch range, it is difficult to pick a real efficiency champion. Most TVs sold in this category today are LCD or plasma flat-panel displays, and these two technologies are still evolving so rapidly that characterizing their efficiency by technology is difficult. " - efficientproducts.org

Interestingly, I learned that one of the reasons new TV's use so much more energy is because even when you turn them off, they are still in a semi-on state called "standby" which can still draw a fair amount of electricity (25% in some cases). Why standby? So that they power up quickly to satiate our demands for instant gratification.

So while Energy Star doesn't yet have a rating for flat screen TVs, we looked up power ratings and happily settled on a 37" LCD television from Visio, which, while in the "small" category based on the breakdown quoted above, seems quite large to us, and fills the corner of the room wonderfully. We got a wall mount bracket for the television, and I had the foresight to run an 1 1/2" PVC pipe in the wall before our foam insulation was sprayed in, so we can hide all the wires.
And let me tell, you picture just doesn't do it justice. The television looks incredible in real life!

Now if only we can get the Food Network to automatically come up by default each time the television is turned on...

Paying less $ for electricity

In late spring, we signed up for real-time electricity pricing through our electrical utility, ComEd. This is a program where we pay an hourly electrical rate instead of a flat fee. The theory is, electricity prices are high in the middle of the day and low at night and in the evening. From the utility:

Electricity prices rise when demands on the electrical production and distribution system are high. By managing their energy use during peak hours, real-time electricity pricing participants not only save money, they also help relieve pressure on the system at times when demand is the greatest.

ComEd and Ameren customers can visit the Community Energy Collaborative to learn more and enroll.

So we signed up and changed our habits a little, like setting the dishwasher to run on a delay so it runs at 3 am. But for the most part our lives didn't change much since we naturally use more energy at night when we're at home. During this time, I kept an eye on prices thanks to thewattspot.com For ComEd, instead of the average $0.07/kwh flat fee, we pay $0.02/kwh at night and (depending on how hot it is) $0.08/kwh - $0.12/kwh during the day.

Well, we recently received our first bill under the new program for May 30 - June 26. Since about half of this time our air conditioner was running, I was expecting a fairly hefty bill. But it was about 15% less than what it would have been under the standard pricing program (ComEd provides a comparative analysis for you). Woo hoo!

Next month, we'll expect even more savings as we enrolled in "Nature First", which is ComEd's air conditioning cycling program that allows them to cycle our AC compressor on and off, so it uses less power safely on the hottest days of the summer. They say this will only happen during weekdays, and likely only a few times each summer. For this, we get a $10 monthly credit to our account.

It feels good to pay less and help the environment at the same time. Good things our cats like it warm during the day.

A baffling roof ventilation problem

Warning: Technical and possibly boring post. But nonetheless I wanted to document this.

Remodeling HumphreyHouse has presented us with an opportunity to change the air movement in our attic. In order for a good roof to maximize its expected lifetime, and to increase a home's comfort level, it's important to have good ventilation in the attic.

In summer, the underside of a roof collects a ton of radiant heat, as Jay found out first hand this weekend when Chicago was gripped with a heat wave. Without ventilation coming in to move that air up from the underside of the roof to a vent near the peak, the heat has nowhere to go but through the insulation and into the house. Making an attic unbearably hot. During the winter, the heated air from inside the home carries water vapor from laundry, bathrooms, cooking etc. and when the warmer air hits the cold rafters and roof decking, it condenses and can create moisture problems.

Warm air can also cause the snow on top to melt and run down the roof. Now, you may not think this is a bad thing, except when that water runs over a soffit, which is not heated, it will form an ice damn near the end of the roof eave, causing water to refreeze on the shingles and work its way underneath to enter the house. We had some loooong icicles last winter, so hopefully we can avoid them turning into ice damns in the future by increasing ventilation.

However, the problem we're running into is one of headroom. Our rafters are only 2x4s, and we want to get as much insulation as possible without shrinking the room too much. We settled on R19 (2x6) insulation for the sloped part of the ceilings, which requires simply furring down the existing 2x4s. The flat part of the ceiling will have R38 (12 inch) insulation. But this doesn't leave much room for vent chambers - especially the typical foam baffles that you can purchase. These are 2 inches thick, and while we put them under the dormer roof, and will still have plenty of insulation, we won't have much room if we do that in the rest of the attic.

So with our HVAC installer's help, we devised an alternative solution that maximizes our insulation while still creating air chambers for ventilation. We installed a PVC pipe that connects the behind-the-kneewall part of the attic to the peak of the roof, and put a pipe into each rafter bay. In the laundry room, which will generate a lot of moisture, Jay drilled the PVC every few feet to ensure any moisture will get carried away in winter.

But how will the air travel up those pipes to begin with? We plan to install standard 2x4 insulation in the kneewall areas just in case we want warm/semi-heated storage, and to keep extreme weather from coming inside. So before stapling up that insulation, we furred down the 2x4 rafters behind the kneewall with 1x2's. That would leave a 1" gap for ventilation across the lower part of the roof once the insulation was installed (ice dams, bedamned!) These chambers terminate at a mini-peak at the top of the kneewall to take advantage of existing mushroom vents in the roof, and the PVC is right there to carry the air up to the attic peak where we have more mushroom vents.

So, to make a long story short, our plan is to have sufficient air movement under our roof and above our insulation, which will hopefully keep everything more comfortable and enjoyable.