KWH Confusion

[Trainhound]

I've been doing research about kilowatts and kilowatt hours and I'm very confused! My utility bill statesd thats that in the summer months I use 49kwh per month and my bill runs about $300+ I spare no expense when it comes to my summer comfort. I'm looking to build a grid tied windmill possibly the  breezy 5.5, I'd like to offset or completly eliminate my monthly bill.

Here's were the confussion comes in, some websites say the average households use about 900kwh per month! So, what's up! What am I missing? My house is 1400sq ft.

My wind zone is 3-4 in the california high desert so would a breezy 5.5 or 20ft axial wind turbine meet my needs?

Thanks,

Ed.

[zap]

I'm confused too.

Either you left out some important info in your post or mistyped...

or you're not reading your electric bill correctly?

Is the "$300+" just for electricity?  If it is you really do need a windmill!!!  That's about $6.12/kwh.  The US average is around $0.11/kwh.  I would think for that price you could run a gas generator for less!

I have a 1200sq ft house, I'm pretty conservative with energy but I could be much better.  My year round average is about 200kwh/month, a little lower in the summer, a little higher in the winter.  

[wpowokal]

No wonder you are confused it's a confusing question, but taking just your first statement one KW is 1000Watts ( a one KW heater consumes 1 KW of power) one KWH is when you use a load of this rating for a period of one hour.

The rest of your figures as already stated, is, well er I don't know confusing.

allan down under

[commanda]

If that 49KWHrs was the daily average, and the $300 was for the quarter (3 months) it would sound a lot more plausible.

Amanda

[TAH]

probably 4900KWH

[TomW]

hopefully this is not a "post a question then never reply" thread.

I agree something is screwy with the numbers.

We will see.

Tom

[Trainhound]

I just reread the bill and have a better understanding in the summer I use 48kwh per day so that would be approx 1440-1500kwhs per month! So what kind of realistic gains can I see in a windmill like the breezy 5.5 or a 20' axial type? my average wind seems to be about 12-15mph and we get stong gust from 60-80mph.

[dnix71]

My bill in Florida shows kWh for the month and a daily average and last year's use at the same time. I used 109 kWh this past month and paid $18.95. That's 17 cents a kWh.

You paid about 20 cents a kWh, so you are probably reading the bill correctly.

The Breezy 5.5 is easy and inexpensive to install, since it needs no batteries and has it's own inverter circuit built-in. BUT, if you don't get steady wind fast enough to keep it on-grid, then you may not see much of a reduction in your electric bill.

Before you settle on a particular turbine, you should contact your state house rep and ask them what is allowed in your area. There may be rebates (or not depending on who is paying - California is broke). Don't forget to demand a total cost work-up (tower, permits, electrical hookup and inspections).

[SparWeb]

"I spare no expense when it comes to my summer comfort."

Then you will find it difficult to help yourself.  If you're using ~50 kWh per day, then your best investment is in conservation.  Conservation is the opposite of "sparing no expense".