energy consumption project - ryan miller

Energy Conservation Project

Am I sending my landlord to the poor house

keeping my house

“tropical?”

The Main Question:

For the 4-5 hours I spend at home a day “awake,” how much more expensive is it to

heat my house to 70 degrees, rather than just keep it at 60?

Why?

Because I prefer spending my evenings in 70 degree

weather…

….rather than 60.

How am I going to show how much my landlord is paying for heat?

• Pay attention to the operation of my furnace over time and see if I can discover any trends that may minimize fuel consumption

• From my findings, try and determine how much more it would cost to heat my apartment 70 degrees instead of 60.

Initial Assumptions

• The colder it is outside– The longer the furnace will

stay on– The more frequently the

furnace will turn on

• The outside temperature might fluctuate making data less accurate

How to collect the Data

1. Using a clock, I will set the time when the furnace turns on

2. Time how long the furnace stays on3. Time how long until the furnace turns on

again4. Record: All of the above and the temperature

outside, and max and min of inside temperature

Accurate Data?

• Computer / electronics• Refrigerator• Pilot light on stove / cooking• Lights• My own body heat• The sun through the windows

Other things that help heat the apartment:

Data CollectedEnergy Consumption Project

Date Research start time Research end time Thermostat setting min Inside temp max Inside temp Outside temp furnice turns on furnice turns off furnice time on time between intervalsNovember 25, 2008 8:00 11:40 66 66 69 40 8:38 8:50 0:12 66 69 39 9:28 9:38 0:10 0:38 66 69 39 10:25 10:36 0:11 0:47 66 69 39 11:21 11:33 0:12 0:45 November 26, 2008 10:43 1:32 71 71 74 40 10:31 10:43 0:12 71 74 40 11:21 11:31 0:10 0:38 71 74 40 12:17 12:28 0:11 0:46 71 74 40 1:21 1:31 0:10 0:53 November 27, 2008 10:11 61 60 64 40 10:11 10:21 0:10

by 1:45 didn't turn back on

5:50 9:05 61 61 61 41 never turned on December 1, 2008 8:30 10:22 70 69 71 32 8:45 8:58 0:13 10:10 10:20 0:10 1:12 December 7, 2008 9:00 69 68 72 40 9:15 9:27 0:12 69 68 72 40 10:41 10:54 0:13 1:14 December 16,2008 8:19 60 60 62 28 8:19 8:31 0:12 60 60 62 30 9:27 9:39 0:12 0:56 60 60 62 31 10:49 11:00 0:11 1:10 60 60 62 36 12:15 12:26 0:11 1:15 December 17, 2008 7:00 70 70 74 23 9:00 9:13 0:13 9:50 10:03 0:13 0:37 10:39 10:51 0:12 0:36 11:32 11:44 0:12 0:41

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pI7xEJgzMJemnkfIyVIxHUA

Data collected (zoomed in)Outside

tempfurnace turns on

furnace turns off

furnace time on

time betweenFurnace off/0n

40 8:38 8:50 0:12

39 9:28 9:38 0:10 0:38

39 10:25 10:36 0:11 0:47

39 11:21 11:33 0:12 0:45

40 10:31 10:43 0:12

40 11:21 11:31 0:10 0:38

40 12:17 12:28 0:11 0:46

40 1:21 1:31 0:10 0:53

Unrecorded Variables

• Opening the door to the apartment

• How long have I been “priming” the apartment before collecting data

Interesting note from Data:

• Outside temp 40 degrees, inside thermostat 60 degrees: furnace never turned on in the two 3.5 hour intervals of recording– This makes me think that there is an extra 20

degrees of heat that is generated without the furnace.

– This could be from me, computer, cooking, refrigerator, etc.

How Fuel Consumption was Calculated

Note: The .6 represents the amount of fuel (in gallons) the regulator on the furnace burns per hour.

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 30

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35Outside Temperature roughly 40 Degrees

hours

ga

llon

s o

f d

iese

l co

nsu

me

d

66 degrees

70 degrees

68 degrees

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 40

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4Gallons of Diesel Consumed Over Time

hours

ga

llon

s o

f d

iese

l co

nsu

me

d

32 outside, 70 inside

30, 31, 36 outside, 60 inside

23, 22, 21 outside, 70 inside

Finding fuel consumed per Hour

Inside Temperature

Outside Temperature

Slope (gas consumed/hour)

70 degrees 20 degrees .1224




Using the plotted points, slope was calculated using the following equation:

Using the slope to find extra fuel consumed over a month (4 hours a day)Inside Temperature

Outside Temperature


Gas Consumed (one month)

70 degrees 20 degrees .1224 14.7



70 degrees 40 degrees .1156 13.9Averaging the two rows for Inside Temp of 70 degrees:


I’m saving 14.28 – 10.2 = 4.1 gallons keeping the temperature at 60 instead of 70 degrees, when the outside temperature is around 30 degrees.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70Southeast Alaska Average Yearly Temperature

month

Hig

h &

Lo

w A

vera

ge

Te

mp

How much extra fuel per Winter• I use considerably more gas during the 6 months of November thru April.

• During this time of year, the average temperature is roughly 33.6 degrees.

• If I round down to 30, it will be an overestimation, which my landlord will prefer.

Inside Temperature

Outside Temperature


Extra Gas over the winter

70 degrees 30 degrees 14.28 85.68

60 degrees 30 degrees 10.2 61.2

85.68 – 61.2 = 24.5 gallons difference

At the current rate, this means an extra $100 over the winter to be extra comfortable

Since I’m at it….How much is my landlord paying a month to heat my place for those other 20 hours.

Inside Temperature

Outside Temperature






70 degrees 40 degrees .1156 69.3Averaging the two rows for Inside Temp of 70 degrees:


Total Monthly Bill during the Winter (30 degrees) for my Landlord

• I will always heat my place to 60 degrees, day and night: – 50.8 gallons * ($3.75/gallon) = $190.50

• With extra 4 hours:– @ 60 degrees: 10.2 gallons * ($3.75/gallon) + $190.50 = $228.75 – @ 70 degrees: 14.3 gallons * ($3.75/gallon) + $190.50 = $244.13

• Difference: $244.13 – $228.75 = $15.38

Conclusion / Final Results

• Am I putting my landlord out by sliding the thermostat bar a little Warmer?– The results seem to be in my favor, but the data

could have been collected in a more accurate manner.

• In the future I should take more data for better averaging results and over a greater outside temperature range.

Problems, Questions for Further Study

• What will happen to gas prices?

• Data could be collected with different fuel nozzle sizes.

• Next time I should take more data and make notes during collection to account for possible contradictions later.

References• Average yearly temp for SE Alaska:

http://weather.uk.msn.com/monthly_averages.aspx?wealocations=wc:USAK0125

• Warm weather picture: http://www.resortsinluxury.com/images/pictures/hammockcarribean.jpg

• Cold weather picture: http://www.qm-supply.com/zenstore/images/extremecoldcoat.jpg

• First tropical picture: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2046/1930470383_5584d21be5.jpg

• Bright Idea: http://www.fixthatproblem.com/lightning_20bug2.jpg• All line and bar graphs plotted in Matlab

energy consumption project - ryan miller

Education