We have closed cell insulation.

We put in a geothermal heating system

Passive solar....House is built into a southern facing slope so main floor has a few windows to the north but more on the south....lower level is a finished basement with only southern and western exposure. (Lower level maintains a temp of 63 degrees with no heat all winter.)

5 kw of active solar panels

House is 2100 sq ft on main floor with a little more than 1/2 of the lower level finished.

We installed a wood stove.

Used solar tubes in 2 interior spaces.

Result is last 12 months total energy cost for the house....heating, A/C, lighting, gas fireplace, hot water, etc.....was $1200.

Not bad.

I attribute my savings to other things, too. Many motion sensors. Using only cold water except for showering. Lots of CFLs and LEDs when the lights aren't motion, a 7-day programmable thermostat (not 2 choices, but 7!). Plus, I live alone and don't expend energy fussing at someone to be more aware.

I have 32 solar panels + a solar water system.

I pay about $720 a year, plus I get about $2k from the state of MD for being the very 1st, registered and licensed Residential Solar Power Plant in the state. So essentially, with netmetering lowering my bill to start with, they're paying me lots to do what I do best: sit in the sun! My system is 5.64 kw.

Aren't we cool! [LOL]

We did not go further though like putting heat sinks in or green house spaces with angled glass roofs. We have good size overhangs, but not enough to affect the light gathering/shading.

Unfortunately, no one is paying us for generating power...we are just able to bank what we don't use and draw down the bank when we need it.

I couldn't live without hot water though...we put in tankless hot water heaters which are helped when the geothermal system is running as we have a desuperheater too. With the geothermal, day/night thermostat doesn't really work well. The system likes to maintain a steady temp. But typically, it comes on about once a day in the winter in the a.m. The sun heats it during the day and we use the woodstove to heat it through the evening or cloudy days.

Our total energy costs are running 60% below the old house even though the old house was smaller, had no AC, we burned a lot more wood, and had the temp set much lower with a day/night thermostat. And we have more power burners in this house...it literally glows at night with all the electronics, security systems, etc...

My solar water works well, other than the fact my shower is 75' from the system, which means I have to run the water to get the hot water to the shower. Hence the circulating pump I just had put in.

Lots of savings for and savings from involved here! :)

I'm pretty proud of the stuff I've done. I have a lot of REdoing to do, which is stuff my STBX did. Then I'll really be excited with having visitors.

I have only my phone chargers, different computers, and motion sensors running at night. I blink a lot.

Christine

Fossil fuel heating should be presented in volume per year (U.S. gal/yr, Imp gal/yr, liters/yr, cubic meters/yr etc.) and the approximate age & efficiency of the furnace. Where you live would also be useful.

We live in Montreal, Canada. House was built in 1961. Nothing special, built to the prevailing standards of the day, 60's slider windows, about 2800sq ft.

We do heat with geothermal. Electricity is our only source of energy aside from good solar gain in the wintertime. Total electrical consumption this past year, 370-days, has been 15,490kWh at a cost of $1,245.89 including all fixed costs per day and taxes. This breaks down to about 8cents/kWh w/Tx.

Not bad since most neighbours were paying between $3000 to $4000 per year just for heating oil, which topped out this year at about $1.34 per liter with tax - that's about $5.07 per U.S. gal!

BTW: The difference in the price of heating oil, gas, etc (May 24, 2012 price of gas in Montreal today is $1.399/liter or $5.295/U.S gal, regular gas!) between Canada and the U.S. is the cost of socialism.

Welcome to 'Canatopia' (with apologies to Mark Levin)!

SR

I can calculate our electricity usage in a year, but I don't know how to factor in our LP gas usage which feeds the hot water and the gas fireplace. Electricity and gas are our only energy costs.

Thanks so much for this post, fascinating. You've given me lots to think about, and fodder to convince DH about the importance of southern exposure! Those are definitely impressive energy costs.

How long before your savings off-set the cost of geo-thermal?
Also, How big of space do you need for your water tank and whatever indoor equipment s needed for your GT system?

The tankless water heaters take up no floor space at all as they are wall hung.

Geothermal unit...water tank on the side is a storage tank for pre heated hot water coming off of the geothermal system....desuperheater makes inexpensive hot water in the winter and free hot water in the summer.

The ductwork is used to circulate the warm or cool air throughout the house. We added a manual control for the fan so, when the wood stove is on, we can circulate the heat to the back rooms in the house for more even heating.

Pipes going down to the wells...they are 4' below grade so completely invisible from the surface....and no ugly outdoor compressor for the a/c. Switching from heat to a/c is only flipping a switch on the thermostat upstairs...

Solar inverter is also wall hung

As I mentioned elsewhere, it won't make sense for us to put in geothermal right away, as we won't use the cottage in the coldest 3 or so months of the year and we don't need air conditioning in summer (I'm hoping that cross breezes and ceiling fans will be enough). Plus electricity is plentiful and cheap for now, but it won't always be I know, so I want to ensure that we plan for eventual use of geothermal.

. it does both A/C and heat
. we can use it for circulating heat from the woodstove to the rest of the house
. we have a heat recovery fresh air exchange system so we can inject fresh air into the house without losing too much energy and that's done through the duct system. (We can completely change the air in the house every 3 hrs if we want). We also use that system to vent the baths as required by code
. we were very concerned about material for radiant floor heat...we didn't want stone or tile everywhere as it's too hard on the feet, and have seen wood floors that were damaged by it...warped and separated. We also can't see the logic of radiant under something like carpet. We wanted (very expensive) vinyl flooring and didn't want the radiant to dry out the glue.
. we did put electric radiant floor in the master bath which is very nice under porcelain tile.

Also cheap electric really makes geothermal inexpensive as it's fueled by electricity...the pumps that circulate the fluid to the earth and back are run by electricity...that's why we put solar panels on our house as our electric is $$$$ and the solar offsets the cost of the electricity used by the geothermal.

My first choice is wood floors, but am considering concrete for two reasons: ideal for radiant floor heat, but also if we want to take advantage of passive solar in winter, the concrete is ideal for thermal mass. I agree with you about how hard it is on the feet though. I typically wear indoor shoes indoors (feet issues), but other family members don't.

We have an air exchanger in our current home too. Great points about moving warmth from your stove with ducts.

having a utility bill under 100 year round
is a great thing.

we do a lot of ceramic tile or exposed concrete floors
here in La. thermal mass. once it is
warmed up (or cooled off in summer) it holds the
temp, causing lessened load on hvac.

congrats!

best of luck.

Our house is 2100 sq ft on the main floor and about 1/2 of the basement is finished space....

glad to see that it all worked out for you.
I know you did quite a bit of research.

best of luck & stay warm!

I'm happy to see that solar energy becomes an important subject in the US.
Thank you for sharing this and to give us your experiences

congrats