Analyzing Electricity Use: A Critical Step Toward Deep Energy Reductions

While natural gas is often viewed as the dominant residential energy source, electricity reductions may offer a greater savings in dollars or environmental impact. Starting with the Thousand Home Challenge's premise of deep energy reductions, examine the strategy of evaluating one's energy use against a measurable budget. Walk through an electrical audit with Chris Hunt, and review the processes and tools he applies to sort out the opportunities presented.

The costs and characteristics of different types of power monitors will be highlighted. Three issues of interest to those on the path to deep energy reductions include: 1) use of monitoring data to inform equipment change-outs or system changes; 2) assessing the cost of equipment upgrades/replacement vs. PV to meet an energy budget; and 3) creating a system for rapid feedback to confirm that the project in on track to meet their energy budget.

By attending this webinar, participants will:

1. Be able to immediately apply the concept of an energy budget to their projects,
2. Recognize monitors and control devices that are appropriate for their applications, and
3. Understand how electricity monitoring can be an integral part of an energy-efficient project assessment, tracking, quality assurance, and feedback