MamaStories

The last month for which I calculated our Riot was August 2010. That was month 22, so the calculation here will include the last two months of our Second Year of Rioting. Our first year’s averages were calculated here, our second year’s averages can be found here.

Gasoline. I haven’t been able to calculate in our trip to India (wish the Riot Calculator  was back online!). Without that trip, we used:

10.78 gallons per person pp. per month

25 % of the US National Average

(First year’s yearly average: 24.8%)

Electricity. The calculator reckons per household, not per person. We did well, got our usage down more. We have  made some serious solar PV plans and have calculated that with this kind of usage we could get all of our electricity from the sun. 

398 KWH (all wind) per month

12 % of the US National Average

(First year’s early average: 18.2%)

Heating Oil and Warm Water. This is warm water and back-up heat during the night and when we’re not home to build the fire in the wood stove and keep it going. This too is calculated for the entire household, not per person. (I didn’t figure in the cord of wood, because I don’t have enough data to calculate what that does to our percentage of the national average).

Considering (or wishfully thinking) that the coldest months are over, we did well.

48 gallons of oil per month

80% of the US National Average

(keep in mind that is is for what I hope are the coldest months)

(First year’s yearly average: 77% / Second year’s yearly average: 42%, see here)

Trash. After recycling and composting this usually comes down to mainly food wrappers.

10 lbs. pp per month

7% of the US National Average

(First year’s yearly average: 7.3%)

Water. We did quite well here too, bringing our usage down by another percent or so. If we could rig up a plumbing system that would pipe the bath and sink water into the toilet tank…

458 gallons of water pp.  per month

15 % of the US National Average

(First year’s yearly average: 16.5%)

The last month for which I calculated our Riot was August 2010 (month 22). In the meantime the Riot site has been taken down and bought by a link farm. That means the calculator is gone too. The Riot Yahoo-group has looked into restarting it, or at least putting the calculator up, but it hasn’t happened yet. While I was waiting I failed to record the numbers at the end of Year Two, so for the last two months of Year Two (September and October 2010) I have to hypothesize. Our first year’s averages were calculated here.

This is the outcome for Year Two:

Compared with Year One (red):

1 = gasoline / 2 = electricity / 3 = hearing oil / 4 = water

We used a lot more gasoline in Year Two mainly because of Amie’s and my trip to Europe, which brought that month’s percentage up to a whopping 302%! Not calculating that trip, we did better than Year One.

The biggie is heating oil. In Year One, when we had our super efficient, new oil burner, but no woodstove yet, we scored 77% of the US national average, which comes down to about 50 gallons per month. In Year Two, our average went down to 26.6 gallons, or 42%. So with the help of the stove we almost halved our reliance on heating oil! What  a pleasant surprise this was. If we get to add a solar hot water system to our roof, our third year would see this number lowered even more.

In electricity we’re doing better by a little. This is one of the hardest category to tackle, I find. We’re mulling the installation of solar PV on our roof – a 5 KWH system that, with this usage, would produce all our electricity. Stay tuned!

As for water, Year Two saw the expansion of the garden plus a relatively much drier year than Year One (when blight struck because of the swampiness). Our rain barrels were frequently empty so we had to look to the tap.

What about trash? I now always calculate our trash production to be at 10 lbs per person per month, or 7% of the US national average. I just don’t weigh it anymore. That’s about the same as Year One.

There’s Amie, counting on her fingers

This is what our living room looks like now. DH said it looks a bit weird, those big peppers.  I said, well count yourself lucky I’m not overwintering the eggplants! (Poor eggplants.)

At least I’m making that big picture window pay for all the heat loss in cold weather.

Speaking of heat loss, I need to calculate the Riot, it’s been two months now, but the site and so the calculator are down, hopefully not for too long.

This month our household was even more in flux than in July (see this entry for all the coming and goings). In August we averaged 6 people. Last year’s averages (calculated here) are mentioned as a baseline. I use this calculator. Don’t ask me how it works, all I know is it keeps me honest.

Gasoline. The biggest expenditure here is that we drove from Boston to Cape Cod with two  cars, packed to the brim with people and dogs.  DH had to drive into work because the shuttle doesn’t go in Summer. And with so many people around it was tough to consolidate drives, like I usually do, and our sundry crises also necessitated more driving than we usually do. So though I am dividing by 6, our mileage was still quite high.

12.625 gallons per person (pp) in 2 carsi

31 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 24.8%)

Electricity. Even though we had more people in the house, we used less electricity than last month (489 KWh).  The calculator reckons per household, not per person.

417 KWH (all wind).

12 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s early average: 18.2%)

Heating Oil and Warm Water. It’s just our warm water. As there were more of us – more showers – it is up a bit, because this is calculated for the entire household, not per person.

11.05 gallons of oil.

18 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 77%)

Trash. After recycling and composting this usually comes down to mainly food wrappers.We had a huge potluck but used compostable plates and bowls (let’s see if they really do decompose in my hot pile!).

10 lbs. per person

7% of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 7.3%)

Water. It was pretty dry all month and we had to resort to the tap for a couple of waterings.  At the end of the month we had four days of incessant rain, so the garden and barrels were topped off.

647 gallons of water pp.

22 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 16.5%)

This month there were 4 1/2 of us -  though one was a teenager and in my opinion teenagers count for 1 1/2, but okay. In any case, these here are the calculations for one month of (not very conscious) rioting for two adults, one four-year-old and one teenager (my nephew from Belgium) for the whole month and one adult (Amie’s grandmother from Singapore) for half of that month. Last year’s averages (calculated here) are mentioned as a baseline. I use this calculator. Don’t ask me how it works, all I know is it keeps me honest.

Gasoline. Two round trips to NYC (from Boston area) to pick up and drop off my nephew from and at JFK, and more trips for DH to his office in Cambridge than usual because his shuttle doesn’t operate in summer. I also had to drive the kids to their summer farm camp for a week. This adds up to an unusually high gasoline bill. I’ve been eying the listings for light diesel pickup trucks and instructions for making one’s own biodiesel, not just because of the gasoline, but also because it’s been one thing after another with our cars – the dashboards are lit up like Christmas trees with all the warning lights.

17.84 gallons per person (pp) in cars

43 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 24.8%)

Electricity. Our electricity bills is up a bit. We’ve had fans going (we don’t have AC) on the hottest days and nights. And what can I say, teenagers are not very good at turning off unused light and computers.

489 KWH (all wind).

14 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s early average: 18.2%)

Heating Oil and Warm Water. It’s just our warm water. As there were more of us – more showers – it is up a bit, because this is calculated for the entire household, not per person.

11.05 gallons of oil.

18 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 77%)

Trash. This one I’ve got down really well, and since I’m still the one buying things, I’m still the one controlling the amount of trash, which after recycling and composting usually comes down to mainly food wrappers. 10 lbs pp.

7% of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 7.3%)

Water. Our rain barrels are have been mostly sufficient. I’ve had to water the garden with tap water once or twice.

723 gallons of water pp.

24 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 16.5%)

Well, it’s again 2 months since I calculated our last riot. I’ll average May and June. Last year’s averages (calculated here) are mentioned as a baseline. I use this calculator.

Gasoline. 14.528 gallons per person (pp) in cars + 10 miles pp on public transport.

35 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 24.8%)

Electricity. Our electricity bills is back to normal: 352 KWH (all wind).

10 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s early average: 18.2%)

Heating Oil and Warm Water. It’s just our warm water that was heated now with 9.35 gallons of oil.

15 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 77%)

Trash. The usual: 10 lbs pp.

7% of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 7.3%)

Water. Our rain barrels are paying off but there were still many periods when I had to water the garden with tap water. Hence the still unusually high number: 1134.5 gallons of water pp.

38 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 16.5%)

Wew, it’s May 2 already, over two months since I reported on our Riot.I’ll average March and April (Mapril). Last year’s averages (calculated here) are mentioned as a baseline. I use this calculator.

Gasoline.

12.66 gallons per person (pp) in cars + 10 miles pp on public transport

= 31 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 24.8%)

Electricity. Our electricity bills are high for these months because of the growing lights and heat mat. I’ll be happy to turn them off as soon as the new hoop house is up and running hot.

631 KWH (all wind) =  17 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s early average: 18.2% – we only switched to wind in the middle of the year)

Heating Oil and Warm Water. Finally going down. (Also our warm water is heated with this oil.)

23.8 gallons =  39 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 77%)

Trash. The usual.

3 lbs pp = 2 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 7.3%)

Water. We’re way above our usual average, which is around 14-16%), because seeds and seedlings and newly planted bushes and trees need a lot of water, and we are (still!) trying to establish a small lawn in the back (it’s been a dry couple of months). I had only one rain barrel set up for a while and several beds already in operation, it emptied too quickly and a dry spell kept it empty for too long, to my liking. We have added a second one in the meantime and hope to fit our waterworks into our busy schedule so we can hook up the other two.

628.3 gallons of water pp = 21 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 16.5%)

Consumer Goods. All of our purchases were towards the garden this month, so I won’t count them (good, because we spent quite a bit, what with timber and new plastic for the new hoop house, compost, etc).

$0 = 0% of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 27.2%)

Last year’s averages (calculated here) are mentioned as a baseline. I use this calculator.

Gasoline. I can’t wait for the temperatures to go up and the rains to stop so I can bike Amie to school.

9.96 gallons per person (pp) in cars + 10 miles pp on public transport

=  24 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 24.8%)

Electricity. This went up a lot because of the growing lights and heat mat. I’ll measure how much is consumed by the full setup of eight lights, heat mat and fan.

539 KWH (all wind) = 15 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s early average: 18.2% – we only switched to wind in the middle of the year)

Heating Oil and Warm Water. I’m relieved to say this number is finally going down. It’s warming up and we had some good thaw days. We still heat to 58F at night and most of the day. The wood stove goes on around 6 pm and goes till when we go to bed, heating the house to around 64F. I’ll count the second cord of wood we started once it’s finished. Also our warm water is heated with this oil.

50.15 gallons = 81 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 77%)

Trash. We did even better here. I reuse most unrecyclable containers for the seedlings. 90% of our trash is plastic food wrapping, so I watch the packaging of the food we buy, and try to buy mostly in bulk anyway.

3 lbs pp = 2 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 7.3%)

Water. This again crept up. We had four guests over for the holiday week and I also did a lot of washing and rinsing of last year’s plant and seedlings pots. Those seeds and seedlings also need a lot of water…  The lower one’s water consumption, the more these little bits count and jump into the eye. I’ll be happy to see the rain barrels back in use.

494 gallons of water pp = 16 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 16.5%)

Consumer Goods. Most of our purchases were towards the garden this month, so I won’t count them. For the rest we did well again, only splurged a bit at the MFA ($20 for a book and some small toys) and bought two magazine subscriptions.

$60 = 7 % of the US National Average

(Last year’s yearly average: 27.2%)