Our youngest son announced in March that he was moving out. Wow, that was not expected. Took a good bit of time getting used to. I don’t see or hear from him as often as I do my daughter, and I miss him terribly.
However, on the plus side, we’ve noticed a positive thing – our electric use has gone down. We went into this ungodly month of July with a 952 kWh CREDIT.
Our electric usage for the year in 2010 was 13,980 kwh (daughter moved out July 2010) and 2011 was 9,243 kwh. To be honest, I have to attribute a good bit of that decrease to replacing our 110-volt pool filter with a much more efficient multi-speed 240-volt one. So far this year tho, we’ve had an excess generation since February. Our son was working 12 or 24-hr shifts and not home much before he moved out. PLUS the last two winters, I have dried our clothes as much as possible on racks in front of the woodstove. Amazing how much energy a dryer uses. In the spring, summer and fall, the clothes go out on the line (just don’t tell the neighbors)
Here is a snapshot of our solar generation and usage:
Calicomouse's Blog 