Canadian Straw Bale Home - $200/yr heat bill
Posted: Mon 23 Apr 2012, 11:59:05
Another heating season (almost) done with!
As an introduction I thought I would talk about my passive solar strawbale home built in PEI, Canada.
This will be our third winter in the home.
Stats:
2 story hybrid stick-frame/dtrawbale infill
21'x29' per floor interior dimensions
shallow frost protected slab on grade
wood stove and 12000BTU mini split air source heat pump (region V)
electric hot water storage heater with drain water heat recovery
chest fridge
CFL and high efficiency halogen lighting
Results this year so far (to end of March):
1111KWH’s above our base rate of 18KWH/day in the non-heating season. This is the consumption of our 12000BTU air source heat pump. We pay $0.1265/KWH including all taxes for $140.54.
We also burnt 1/2 cord of hardwood in our small airtight stove. We bought this wood when we were building at about $100/cord in 8’ lengths. So about $50 for the wood and a high estimate of $10 for gas and oil for the chainsaw to cut it up and the electricity to run the electric hydraulic splitter to split it.
So a fairly accurate estimate of costs to heat our house this year of $200 for 5 months of heating, or $40/month.
April may have a little extra heating costs, but I can’t see it being more than another $20 or so.
Built for about $100/sf (Canadian) owner built (subcontractors for plumbing, electrical, well, septic, sitework and concrete placing/finishing.
Additional info at http://greenspree.ca
Video tour: http://youtu.be/WDkR-6pEJvs
As an introduction I thought I would talk about my passive solar strawbale home built in PEI, Canada.
This will be our third winter in the home.
Stats:
2 story hybrid stick-frame/dtrawbale infill
21'x29' per floor interior dimensions
shallow frost protected slab on grade
wood stove and 12000BTU mini split air source heat pump (region V)
electric hot water storage heater with drain water heat recovery
chest fridge
CFL and high efficiency halogen lighting
Results this year so far (to end of March):
1111KWH’s above our base rate of 18KWH/day in the non-heating season. This is the consumption of our 12000BTU air source heat pump. We pay $0.1265/KWH including all taxes for $140.54.
We also burnt 1/2 cord of hardwood in our small airtight stove. We bought this wood when we were building at about $100/cord in 8’ lengths. So about $50 for the wood and a high estimate of $10 for gas and oil for the chainsaw to cut it up and the electricity to run the electric hydraulic splitter to split it.
So a fairly accurate estimate of costs to heat our house this year of $200 for 5 months of heating, or $40/month.
April may have a little extra heating costs, but I can’t see it being more than another $20 or so.
Built for about $100/sf (Canadian) owner built (subcontractors for plumbing, electrical, well, septic, sitework and concrete placing/finishing.
Additional info at http://greenspree.ca
Video tour: http://youtu.be/WDkR-6pEJvs