Electricity

[Tinordi]

I would pay the $300 and get a home energy advisor come and do an energy assessment of your house. There's definitely something wrong with the heating system in your place but it might not actually be the furnace. Your house may not be airtight or you might not have insulation installed properly.

The energy advisor will come and do some blower tests to check the air tightness of your building shell, test the insulation and your HVAC system. They can then give you a bunch of recommendations on what to do and what's going on.

Use the accredited advisors found on this page:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/p...t-advisors.cfm

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Yup, given the choice, I would rather have a gas water heater over my current electic one. They say it's more environmentally friendly with the electric, but at the end of the day, I'm probably paying $30-$50 more a month because of it.

I mean, really, how much more environmental is it? Last time I checked, Alberta still burns coal to generate the electricity.

Depending on the efficiency of your gas furnace it's much more environmental at this time.

Coal fired power plants run 25-40% efficient and NG thermal plants run up to 55% efficient. Your home furnace should at least be 80%.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Yup, given the choice, I would rather have a gas water heater over my current electic one. They say it's more environmentally friendly with the electric, but at the end of the day, I'm probably paying $30-$50 more a month because of it.

I mean, really, how much more environmental is it? Last time I checked, Alberta still burns coal to generate the electricity.

I would think that natural gas furnace would be better for the environment than electricity (in Alberta). Natural gas burns pretty clean.

[Jedi Ninja]

If the OP is still around, I'd seriously consider investing in a whole home power monitor. These have an inside display where you can monitor your energy use "live" and also will datalog your energy use with either custom software or Google Powermeter. As you use devices, you can see how much power is being consumed.

There is a complete list on Google Powermeter's site:

http://www.google.com/powermeter/abo...owermeter.html


The Powerhouse Dynamics one would be the ultimate as you can monitor every breaker independently, but you'd need an electrician to install it, and it's expensive. There are some devices, e.g. Blueline, that only require you install a small optical sensor contraption on the outside of your power meter (no electrical work required) but they are less sophisticated. The TED-5000 is probably the most popular one, it can be installed by someone with basic electrical experience (e.g. can competently install a breaker), and can monitor up to 4 circuits or panels.

TED-5000 is available from a Calgary company, FYI: (Optimum Energy)
http://www.ted5000.ca/

You can also monitor individual appliances using a kill-a-watt type device.

[yads]

Regarding hot tubs, you can't necessarily turn them off, but you can turn them down. You don't have to run them at full heat the whole time. We operated a hot tub for several winters and the jump in our power bill was pretty minimal. It just means you need to plan when you're going to use them, since it takes about 4-6 hours to heat up.