Once nice thing about having a net metered solar PV array is that, with a little diligence, you can figure out how much electricity your household is consuming each day, or at finer resolution if you like (*). Below is the report of that from mid-May through early December 2016 for ours. Recall we have a zero Carbon home, but no EV (see also). We heat and cool the house with air source heat pumps (“ductless minisplits”) as well as heat hot water with air source heat pump and sometimes hybrid electric element (50 gallon GE GeoSpring hot water heater, with hybrid element being a more efficient way at times of using electric energy).

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This is the consumption as calculated by the change in meter readings day-over-day added to solar generation. Change in meter readings can be negative when we give back to the grid more than we use, and that’s when we earn towards a snowy or rainy day. Not all days were recorded, but when they were not the total energy consumed and generated in the gap was tallied, and an average energy per day used to impute the consumption.

The Thanksgiving Day spike is pronounced. Not a surprise: Claire did a bunch of baking, and roasted a turkey breast for guests. (We’re vegetarians.) We have an electric induction stovetop, and a conventional big oven. We typically use a small convection oven and our microwave really gets used a lot.

We have a dishwasher which is run nearly every day, and we shower every other day or so, depending upon our athletic exercise schedules.

Our lights are now mostly LEDs with a couple of lamps still using fluorescents. We do put up a small number of holiday lights.

Our washer and dryer are electric, and most of the year Claire air dries clothes on our deck, using the dryer for fluffing.

^* Of course, with the proper meter, that is, one having sufficient resolution or a read-out port accessible from the Web, this can be done without solar PV as well. Or, better still, using an eMonitor, you can see and record energy usage on each circuit and on each (major) device in a home. The latter is available from Powerwise Systems or from The Energy Circle.