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How much electric energy, on average, would a typical one-person studio apartment consume per month in the winter if everything inside is powered by electricity?

Additional Information:

  • Apartment Location: Wyoming, US
  • Number of people: 1
  • The studio is neither insulated nor surrounded by other apartments on all sides, but is "not too bad".
  • Main appliances: electric heaters, hot water, stove and oven, a typical household refrigerator, microwave oven, light bulbs, etc. (There might be other minor things, but these are the main ones).
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    An uninsulated studio is going to take a lot of power to heat. So much so that you can probably ignore the rest of the loads and approximate the answer as "looooooooooooooooots". – Jean-Paul Calderone Jan 18 '18 at 13:17
  • Could anyone give me an approximate number? – A Slow Learner Jan 19 '18 at 21:32
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    I think "small house" or "one-room cabin" would be more accurate than "studio," since that typically implies a small apartment in an apartment building. – LShaver Jan 28 '18 at 16:15
  • Living in an uninsulated building somewhere that gets to freezing seems like absolute madness to me. Invest in some tapestries at least! – Turksarama Feb 27 '18 at 0:15
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I went down a few rabbit holes to figure this one out -- ultimately the search that got me going the right direction was "estimate savings on heating bills from adding insulation". The first few results there are helpful.

Ultimately, this calculator provides the answers you're looking for: "Home Heat Loss Calculator" from Build it Solar.

Designing for a typical minimum lowest temperature of -20F (-30C), and assuming 8,000 heating degree days in Montana (based on this map), for an 800sqft (75m2) house, using the DOE recommended insulation values for a home in Florida, your total electric usage on an annual basis would be 22,309 kWh. (To get this number I just put the electric cost as $1/kWh, then the value in the "fuel cost" column will be in kWh.)

Using this Degree Days Calculator, it looks like there are about 1,000 heating degree days per winter month in Billings, MT. Thus you can divide the total usage (for 8,000 heating degree days) by 8 to determine energy usage in an average winter month: 2,789 kWh.

I recommend using the tool yourself and adjusting the numbers to get a more accurate answer for your needs.

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  • I used the Degree Days calculator you provided and got the spreadsheet. However, I didn't understand what the numbers mean. What is a "heating degree day"? (i.e. its unit?) and what is "Estimate"? – A Slow Learner Jan 28 '18 at 20:21
  • I just used the degree days calculator to break the annual energy down into monthly. A "heating degree day" is a measure of a cumulative heating demand over a period of time. This link gives a good overview. – LShaver Jan 29 '18 at 3:21
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If you are currently living there then you can work it out based on your energy bill.

It is difficult to estimate how much energy would be used on ** heating** the house as it can vary widely, depending on how the house was built and your preferences (how long you have it on for). Average energy usage in Wyoming is 894 kWh Per Month, but that is averaged over all types of residence [https://www.electricchoice.com/blog/electricity-on-average-do-homes/].

You could try this tool: http://hec.est.org.uk/. Click on more details to see energy usage (not just price)

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