Energy Budgeting at Home


This week’s blog will help you to better understand your monthly energy bills. It also includes some activities for any young students, who need some practical applications to improve their math skills.

The average Alberta home uses 600 kWh of electricity and 10 GJ of natural gas each month. Depending on the size of your home, number of occupants, and your appliances, this varies home to home.

Many Alberta homes will use very little natural gas in the summer, just for water heating and perhaps cooking. Household electricity consumption is fairly consistent throughout the year, some equipment like lights are used more in winter months, but other equipment like air conditioners are used more frequently in summer months.

To find your annual energy usage, simply check your bill summary or reach out to Solarmax Power Customer Care, we can provide 1-year historical usage for both electricity and natural gas.

What’s the difference between kWh and GJ?

These are both units of measurement for energy, this means they measure a rate or work being done. 1 GJ is much greater than 1 kWh (1 GJ = 277 kWh).

Grab your calculator!

Electricity is measured by kilowatt-hour (kWh). One kWh represents 1000 Watts of electricity used over 1 hour. It’s easy to estimate how much electric energy an appliance will use.
  1. Find the power rating measured in Watts (W). This information is often on a sticker with the model/serial number.
  2. Divide the power rating by 1000 to convert to kilowatts (kW).
  3. Multiply by your daily use, measured in hours

Using this calculation, it’s easy to see how quickly your household energy can add up. Luckily, LED lightbulbs have a much lower power rating than incandescent bulbs.

Try comparing similar equipment in your home.

Using a stove at 3,000W for 1 hour
Versus a toaster oven at 1,200W for 1 hour

Next, if you want to estimate the cost of using that energy, all you need to do is apply your electricity rate. The example below uses Solarmax 5-year Discount Rate of 6.6¢/kWh, to view all available rates visit the energy plan tool.



It costs $0.79 to use a 100W light for 4 hours per day, every day for one month. Now you can find the simple cost of energy for your home appliances. However, this does not include the cost of energy delivery, or Transmission and Distribution fees. In Edmonton, the cost of delivering electricity is around 0.04 $/kWh.

Most homes in Alberta use natural gas for space and water heating. Natural Gas is measured in gigajoules (GJ). Remember, both a kWh and GJ are units of energy, this means that we can convert between the two units, and find your homes whole energy consumption.

Let’s use GJ, since that is how NRCAN Energuide ratings are measured.


Below is a table of energy conversion rates you may find useful.

GJ
x 277
=kWh
kWh
x 0.0036
=GJ
m3(gas)
x 0.0372
=GJ
L (propane)
x 0.0266
=GJ
ft.2
x 0.0929
=m2

Now, if you’ve had an Energuide rating completed on your home, you can check to see if your real-life consumption is similar to the modelled estimates.

For more information on energy in your home, please reach out to us at hello@solarmaxpower.ca or visit NRCAN.ca

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