Using What We've Learned

Now that we're a bit clearer on energy, what it represents, and how we can measure its usage, we can begin to apply our knowledge to a real-world situation. Let's focus on something practical: the amount of energy we use in our home. According to the US DOE's Energy Information Administration, about 20% of the energy we use in the United States is consumed in residential settings. That's significant, and it's something over which we can exert some control.

It is not very hard to calculate our baseline energy use and then see how the seasons impact our energy use. To do this, we'll need a year's worth of utility bills. You can use any 12 consecutive months for this; January through December, or June through May, or whatever is convenient. It doesn't matter where you start your record as long as you have 12 consecutive months' worth of data.

If you haven't been saving your utility bills, you can call up your service providers and request a summary from each of them. If they'll give you multiple years, then you can do some averaging to get some more solid numbers, but even one year will give you a great start in doing residential energy analysis.