So, I have a report on my power usage from the past year!
My results are only current up to February because that is what I have received from Puget Sound Energy. My results are very interesting. So, when looking at this data, you can see how much power I used at my old apartment (when I lived with Evelyn...) and my current apartment (by myself...), plus you can see how much my power consumption changed when James and Emerald were staying with me (January and February 2009).
I don't contribute the large amount of power I used at my old apartment souly to Evelyn... that apartment was an older building that didn't have very good insulation, plus there was a fireplace that I realized we left open too much when we weren't using it. So, you can conclude that improving your insulation (and having a neighbor below you that heats your floor...) can make a huge impact on your power consumption. I would also like to note that I was away from my home for most of December and about half of July, which means that those two months do not accurately represent normal power usage (plus, there was little to no ghost power being drawn from my home.) In addition, it is key to note that my power most certainly would have been above average for the month of December 2008, because that was one of the coldest months we have had this winter.
There is more data though... that I just estimated, for the beginning of my time at the Bravado (April - December 2007: at my old apartment). With that data, my average kWh per month is about 752 kWh. Which is significantly less than the 1,100 kWh that the above chart suggests. In fact, if I weren't too short on time to re-publish a new chart, then I would print it, in stead, you can view the most recent chart here. The chart is too wide to look good on this page anyway, so I don't even think I want to view it.
The next thing that will be clearly visible in the chart, will be the updated data from my power bill, which I will receive next month. That will show exactly how much money I speant on Electricity at Burnett (my current apartment... and then in another 10 months, I'll have all the data for Archstone (my next apartment.)
What I expect to see so far, is that Bravado averages about 752 kWh every month, and Burnett averages about 386 kWh per month. Which is a difference in about $640 a year. However, paying $4,800 more (in rent) to save $640 a year doesn't really sound worth it... even when you factor in the extra $1,733 that was saved in gas because I could commute rather than having to drive I still only saved $2,373... In fact, the only way to justify the move to Burnett is to say that the time it took me to commute the extra distance had a value of $6,650... meaning that with my time, I saved $9,023. Only then can you say that I saved $4,223 by moving to Renton.
By that same justification, I am saving $3,540 a year in rent by moving to Archstone, plus I am saving $8,170 in commute time for the rest of 2009. Meaning, that in total, I am saving $11,710 by moving to Archstone. I could also say that Living at Archstone could save me as much as $7,090 over living at Bravado.
Now for the final (and possibly most important) thing to note about how this relates to my CO2 emissions... I reduced my CO2 emissions by about 337 lbs per year by moving to Burnett... plus my car emissions of 8,962 lbs per year, however, my transit emissions were 1,982 lbs... so, my total CO2 emissions reduced by 7,317 just by moving to Burnett. So far, the move to Archstone will reduce my CO2 emissions by about 1,983 lbs... that is, assumming that my electrical usage does not go up (which it probably will a little... but we will see what I can do about that.)