Calculate Energy Use with Online Tools

My eighth grader called out from behind the computer the other day to ask what our average gas bill is. She was filling out this simple Calculate Your Impact form on the An Inconvenient Truth web site for a class assignment. As I helped her fill it out, I realized we haven't taken a close look at our energy consumption lately. With Earth Day approaching, now is as good a time as any throughout the year to take stock of how we use energy as a family.

The calculator on climatecrisis.net asks how many people live in your house, what kind of car you have and how many miles you drive, and how many flights you take a year. Then it asks you to choose a range for average electric and fuel bills, and if any of your electricity comes from clean, renewable sources, such as wind or solar. At the end, you learn if your household's usage is average, below average, or above average.

It's a good start, but there are other energy calculators on the web that let you dig a little deeper into your usage history. Some also recommend changes you can make at home—better insulation, different light bulbs, new energy-rated appliances—to reduce energy consumption and save some money while doing it.

Want to know how much energy your family uses at home? A good place to start is this energy calculators and software guide on the U.S. Energy Department's web site. There are several tools on the page, including one that measures water wasted due to faucet leaks (guilty), and appliance cost calculators that figure the savings you'll net by spending money on new appliances with better Energy-Star ratings. But you'll want to start with this one:

Home Energy Saver Calculator - A form with 18 questions asks for some details on your house: year built, number of windows, floors, what kind of insulation, how many refrigerators and standalone freezers you have, etc. You'll also need to supply what price you pay for energy (price/kilowatt per hour for electricity, for example). When you click "save answers" on the bottom, you'll get a grid that shows how your energy usage compares with a more energy-efficient home in your area. The results are broken down by categories, including lighting, heating, cooling, major appliances, and water heating.

Our results show we could save about $611 a year if we were to making some changes, including adding compact fluorescent lamps, buying a new Energy-Star rated refrigerator, and insulating the basement walls in our house that are not insulated. The calculator assigns you a number so you can go back and look at your findings more than once.

Here are some other guides:

Energyguide.com - Plug in your zip code and you'll be redirected to your state and to a Home Analyzer that will use the information from your energy provider to see the average energy usage of a home in your area. By filling in a home profile that includes every monthly bill total for all of your energy bills you'll get a more accurate look at your energy usage than other calculators provide.

Flexyourpower.com - You won't find a home energy use calculator here, but you will find lots of advice, tips, and resources for saving energy.

If you want to take it a step further and conduct a do-it-yourself energy audit of your home, check out this federal Energy Department guide that helps you find air leaks in your home and fix them.

That's a start. If you know of any other energy-saving web tools, please post them. Spring is a good time to take a fresh look at our homes to see if we can make some energy-saving changes before the heat of summer descends.