The Sustainability Experiment

We are at an incredible moment in history. Society has learned many ways to tear the world apart. We have also learned how to take care of it. History has taught us much about how past cultures lived sustainably, and today's technology gives us an added edge to make it happen in the present. A sustainable world is within reach. That's why it's time for a little experiment.

We will see how sustainable of a home we can create starting from an existing home.  Throughout this process we will outline the good, and the bad of the process. The goal will be an understanding of how close we can get to a sustainable, Net Zero home.

We will gauge how well we are doing based on a series of criteria. Resources used compared to resources produced is the basic concept.  If there's something you think we should add let us know. We want this to be an open dialogue that can help us all live more sustainably.

As always, please comment.

The sustainability experiment - September 2013 - The base line

We have decided to use September as our base line month. We have done this for a few reasons. September is a fairly neutral month. Reduced heating and cooling loads. Daytime is equal to nighttime. During the day we use a significant amount of daylight to light the house, but during the evening we need to use electricity from the grid. 

Here's the data:

Electricity produced: 170 kWh

Electricity purchased from grid: 220 kWh

Total electricity used: 390 kWh

Gas used

Water used: no data

Water collected: none

Food produced: none produced onsite. 50 quart jars canned. This came from neighbors trees who allowed us to use their surplus. 

If you have a metric you would like to see us track, please comment and I'll start tracking it.