ᐅ House electricity consumption – what is your usage?

A fireplace and a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery are my two absolute favorite features in the house. Both save electricity. I get wood for free, and the mechanical ventilation essentially pays for itself through heat recovery, apart from the initial investment.

Ybias78 schrieb:

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery increases comfort for about 10,000-12,000 euros but is not an essential feature for houses

@Ybias78 I think you haven’t started building yet, or are you already living there?
It usually comes down to the question of how much your own private time is worth when it comes to tasks you do yourself, like painting. Of course, this depends on individual circumstances—some people earn well, which influences how they value their time (if you spend 60 hours on a project either by using your free time or you decide it’s better to pay someone else because you’d rather spend that saved time doing what YOU want instead of what needs to be done).
I decided that my free time is worth 30€/hour. So if I have to do something at home, that’s the cost I assign to it. For example, if I spend 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening ventilating (you have to keep an eye downstairs, so you start upstairs and move down, then take 5 minutes for coffee, then go back to close everything up), that’s half an hour a day. At 15€ (instead of 30€, since it’s my time and not a paid service) multiplied by 365 days, that’s 5475€.
In that way, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery pays for itself in about two and a half years.
By the way, I can often hear birds chirping here when I wake up at 4 a.m. But honestly: right after getting up, there’s the schedule to follow, starting work, carpooling, traffic jams, or a slow-moving child—hardly anyone has the time or patience every morning to deal with opening windows. Not to mention in the winter evenings: leaving cold air into the house for 15 minutes means losing the day’s warmth—you usually don’t want that. And when it comes to heating, you become stingy… You don’t see mold right away, but you feel the temperature changes and the stress of being pressed for time. So people tend to skip it, often just out of laziness.
Okay, enough off-topic (I actually wrote this earlier today and forgot to post):
In our two-person household with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, a dryer, a PC and TV running constantly in the evening, halogen beside LED lighting, and regular cooking, our electricity consumption is 2,650 kWh. According to Google, the average consumption is about 3,000 kWh.
Energy guzzlers also include irons and hairdryers.

ypg schrieb:

@Ybias78 I assume you haven’t started building yet, or are you already living there?
When it comes to doing work yourself, for example painting, you eventually have to consider how much your own private time is worth, since it is, of course, unpaid. Some people earn very well, which naturally affects how they value their time (if you spend 60 hours of your free time on a project or decide that you’d rather earn that money and hire a service, because in that saved time you can do what YOU want, not what has to be done).
I once decided that my free time is worth €30/hour (€30 per hour). That means: if I have to do something at home, it costs that much. If I spend 15 minutes in the morning and evening ventilating (since downstairs needs to be monitored more or less, I start upstairs and then go down, 5 minutes for coffee, and then lock everything up again), that’s about half an hour per day. €15 x 365 = €5475.
So within about two and a half years, the controlled ventilation system pays for itself.
By the way, I can also enjoy hearing birds chirping when I wake up at 4 a.m. But honestly: in the morning after getting up, there’s the schedule, starting work, carpooling, traffic jams, or a dawdling child—hardly anyone has the patience to deal with ventilating every morning. Especially in winter evenings: letting cold air in for 15 minutes, which in turn lets out the warmth accumulated during the day—nobody really wants that, and when it comes to heat, people get stingy... You don’t see mold, but you feel the temperature changes and the time pressure. So generally, people skip it because laziness wins.

Okay, enough off-topic (I wrote this post earlier today but forgot to send it):
In our two-person household with controlled ventilation, a dryer, a PC and TV continuously running in the evening, halogen lights alongside LEDs, and regular cooking—our consumption is 2650 kWh (kilowatt-hours). The average consumption according to Google is about 3000.
Big electricity users also include irons and hairdryers.

I’m an economist, so I’m familiar with calculating opportunity costs. According to your assumption, though, you’d need to:
- 2 robot vacuum cleaners (one for each floor)
- 1 robotic lawnmower
- A cleaning helper (who earns less than €30/hour)

If you have at least those, then your calculation is roughly correct.

And yes, we are just starting construction. It will be a bungalow, so no stairs to climb and ventilation is easier. Two times 15 minutes for ventilating is like saying I spend about an hour doing laundry, even though the actual task on your part takes about 10 minutes. The rest is done by the washing machine, during which time you can do something else. Also, your calculation assumes you never open windows, even in summer. I find many assumptions are off.

I’m not saying controlled ventilation should definitely be avoided. I’m just saying it’s not necessarily required.

Bookstar schrieb:

A wood-burning fireplace and controlled mechanical ventilation are my two absolute favorite features in the house. Both save electricity. I get wood for free, and controlled mechanical ventilation basically pays for itself through heat recovery.

Getting wood for free is great. However, you forgot to include the cost of installing the fireplace and chimney. Plus, the chimney sweep fees. So, the fireplace is not actually free and probably doesn’t save money. Unless you burn around 10 cubic meters of wood per year while your underfloor heating or heat pump is optimally calibrated or turned off.

You’re right. A fireplace isn’t economical either, but it provides me with great comfort. If you think of this in terms of a car, it gets interesting. Nothing there is truly economical, neither the air conditioning nor the automatic transmission. Yet most people say they don’t want to do without those features. It’s the same with a house that has a controlled mechanical ventilation system and heating. The only difference is that the money runs out sooner.

Regarding electricity consumption: 3500 kWh (3500 kWh) in general last year and 5000 kWh (5000 kWh) for the heat pump. A total of 8500 kWh (8500 kWh). With an electric car, it will certainly be even more now...

Bookstar schrieb:

You’re right. A fireplace isn’t economical either, but it provides me with great comfort. If you apply this discussion to a car, it gets interesting. Nothing in a car is really economical, neither the air conditioning nor the automatic transmission. But most people say they don’t want to give those up. It’s the same with a house that has controlled mechanical ventilation and heating. The only difference is that you run out of money there.

Regarding electricity consumption: 3500 kWh (3750 kWh) in general last year and 5000 kWh (5350 kWh) for the heat pump. A total of 8500 kWh (9100 kWh). With an electric car, it will certainly be even more now...

I don’t understand you all. I’ve been saying this whole time that controlled mechanical ventilation is a luxury, not a must-have, but I keep getting challenged and people try to convince me otherwise. It feels like dealing with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.