Do you like gadgets that help save power, water and save money? My love of gadgets, saving money, reducing waste along with the love of my Nest was well established in the previous post, Energy Conservation: One Great Way to Save Money. Other posts previously illustrated how water and energy are intertwined like night and day, so energy conservation indirectly results in water conservation.
The post featuring Nest reviewed the early energy savings results in the first 4 months of 2013 which netted a savings of $60. $60 in 4 months meant the ROI could have been as short as 16 months. As promised, I continued to track the ROI which continued in a positive direction. As a result of the savings a second Nest was installed in the master bedroom this summer to further maximize my energy conservation and water saving efforts.
Summer of Saving Power
Living in the south most of our energy is used for air conditioning in the sweltering hot and humid summer months. The chart below shows the energy use and savings in dollars and kilowatt hours for the past two summers.
The savings from 2012 to 2013 was $211. This meant that the ROI ended up being less than 8 months instead of 16 months. The savings from the summer of 2013 to 2014 was less at only $111, but the ROI should still be less than 12 months. The lower savings between the two years can be attributed to three things.
- The Nest on the main floor achieved great savings from the Sunblock feature. Sunblock knew my Nest experienced heat gain every morning when the sun shined on the thermostat.
- Another reason for the reduced savings is the upstairs footprint is smaller than the footprint of the main floor. Smaller footprint means smaller savings
- Finally, the summer of 2014 is about 2 degrees hotter than 2013.
Over the same period of time the reduction of kilowatt hours were 2,139 kWh in 2013 and 1723 kWh in 2014. According to the Alabama State Water Program this is the equivalent of saving 9,411 gallons of water in 2013 and 7,581 gallons of water in 2014…if my power was generated in a thermoelectric generating plant in California. In the east the ratio is closer to 1:1 or possibly even less.
| Month | Year | Amount | Savings | kWh | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | 2010 | $416 | |||
| August | 2011 | $335 | 2621 | ||
| August | 2012 | $328 | 2575 | ||
| August | 2013 | $253 | $75 | 2067 | 508 |
| August | 2014 | $249 | $4 | 1998 | 69 |
| July | 2010 | $376 | |||
| July | 2011 | $364 | 2841 | ||
| July | 2012 | $369 | 2795 | 46 | |
| July | 2013 | $254 | $115 | 2072 | 723 |
| July | 2014 | $239 | $15 | 1076 | 996 |
| June | 2010 | $311 | |||
| June | 2011 | $321 | |||
| June | 2012 | $254 | 2795 | ||
| June | 2013 | $275 | $(20) | 2209 | 586 |
| June | 2014 | $196 | $79 | 1644 | 565 |
| May | 2010 | $218 | |||
| May | 2011 | $143 | |||
| May | 2012 | $193 | 1672 | ||
| May | 2013 | $152 | $41 | 1350 | 322 |
| May | 2014 | $139 | $13 | 1257 | 93 |
| 2013 Total Savings | $211 | 2139 | |||
| 2014 Total Savings | $111 | 1723 | |||
Ring of Fire or Drought
Whether you live in the ring of fire or in the drought ridden west, there are still many hot days left this year. There is still time to save power, save water and save money by installing a Nest in your house or business. Many utility companies offer a rebate for Nest and some companies will even send you a Nest “free of charge” (some “Nest Plans” build the cost in a higher monthly fee or higher energy cost). What are you waiting for? Start now to save power, save water and save money.
If you have liked this post about saving energy please share it with a friend, check out my previous posts , follow me on Twitter @h2oMatters and check out water stories I am reading on Flipboard:
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