ARE DEGREE DAYS IMPORTANT

Absolutely, they can really make the difference in calculating your return on investment.  Let’s take a quick look at how this October with the unseasonably warm weather, could impact our perceived savings not only historically but in the future. By using my house as an example, which has a single pipe steam system with a standard efficiency boiler we can see the weather related impact.  Last October we used 82 therms for heating and hot water production, this year that dropped to 50 therms or a reduction in use of 39%.  Since I did not make an efficiency upgrades these savings are strictly weather related.  Now let’s look at my usage factoring in degree days, last October we had 271 degree days vs. 157 days this year.  So my usage last year was .30 therms per degree day and this year .31 therms which is actually an increase.  If next year the weather pattern is the same as 2010 some customers who have made high efficiency upgrades may actually see an increase in the fuel usage, so it is important when discussing energy savings to base it on degree days.