Mineral Hill Mine Update
The following documents have been made available to us from Mineral Hill Mine:Minor Operating Permit Revision – Evaporation PondEvaporating Pond Design SummaryEvaporation Pond…See More
Prelim Results of Our Energy Survey
In August 2007, Bear Creek Council began a survey of electricity consumption in the Gardiner, Montana area. The objectives were: (1) to estimate total electricity demand for the greater Gardiner area, and (2) track changes in electricity use from year to year. The first objective will help Bear Creek Council set a realistic target for its Greening Gardiner Campaign, which has the long-term goal of generating all of Gardiner’s power with renewable technologies such as solar and wind. The second objective will help us determine if our educational efforts have helped increase residential energy efficiency. So far, 23 residences (and a small number of businesses) have turned in their electricity bills, and the summary results are presented below. Because of the small return rate, these results are preliminary. The survey is on-going and we expect to have a larger sample in the future. Nevertheless, the results so far indicate that Gardiner’s energy habits are pretty much “average” for the United States.
Figure 1. Average residential energy use in Gardiner, Montana (average kilowatt hours per household). Bars indicate one standard error above and below the mean for each month. Raw data from electricity billing cycles (which have arbitrary lengths for each power customer) have been normalized and expressed in terms of 30 day periods.
According to the US Department of Energy, the average US household in 2001 used about 10,600 kilowatt-hours (KWH) per year (see # 1 below). Based on the data collected so far, the average Gardiner household uses about 9396 KWH per year (see #2). Given the margin of error surrounding our estimates (see the error bars on the graph), our data so far indicate that average Gardiner power consumption does not differ significantly from the US average.
When more data arrive, we will be able to extrapolate these numbers to an estimate of Gardiner’s total energy demand. Currently, we do not have enough data. Please encourage everyone you know to drop their energy bills off at either the Food Farm or the Gardiner Chamber of Commerce. If you have already turned in your bills, please continue so that we can update our estimates.
Note: People that want to participate should remove identifying information (i.e. name, address) from the bill and put their survey number in the top corner of their bill before they drop it off. If you do not have a survey number, call 406-579-7701 or email information {at} YellowstoneEcology.com so that we can assign you one.
Also, we are offering a number of prizes to survey respondents, including a $475 telescope that will be awarded at the end of the year. If you want to be entered into the monthly drawing for these prizes, write your phone number on the top of your bill next to your survey number. Your phone number is not a substitute for your survey number. We need the survey numbers to keep the data organized.
1. (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/recs2001/enduse2001/enduse2001.html)
2. This calculation is based on normalized data for 12 thirty-day standardized months. The raw data that appears on an energy bill is expressed in terms of KWH per billing cycle, and the number of days in a billing cycle varies both from month to month and among customers. In order to calculate normalized energy usage for a household, the following formula was used:
normalized use = (30 /# of days in billing cycle for each house in each month) * KWH on energy bill for each billing cycle The normalized use for each month was then averaged across all survey respondents, and the averages for 12 thirty day standardized months (360 days) were summed to arrive at an annual estimate of average household use.
Figure 1. Average residential energy use in Gardiner, Montana (average kilowatt hours per household). Bars indicate one standard error above and below the mean for each month. Raw data from electricity billing cycles (which have arbitrary lengths for each power customer) have been normalized and expressed in terms of 30 day periods.
According to the US Department of Energy, the average US household in 2001 used about 10,600 kilowatt-hours (KWH) per year (see # 1 below). Based on the data collected so far, the average Gardiner household uses about 9396 KWH per year (see #2). Given the margin of error surrounding our estimates (see the error bars on the graph), our data so far indicate that average Gardiner power consumption does not differ significantly from the US average.
When more data arrive, we will be able to extrapolate these numbers to an estimate of Gardiner’s total energy demand. Currently, we do not have enough data. Please encourage everyone you know to drop their energy bills off at either the Food Farm or the Gardiner Chamber of Commerce. If you have already turned in your bills, please continue so that we can update our estimates.
Note: People that want to participate should remove identifying information (i.e. name, address) from the bill and put their survey number in the top corner of their bill before they drop it off. If you do not have a survey number, call 406-579-7701 or email information {at} YellowstoneEcology.com so that we can assign you one.
Also, we are offering a number of prizes to survey respondents, including a $475 telescope that will be awarded at the end of the year. If you want to be entered into the monthly drawing for these prizes, write your phone number on the top of your bill next to your survey number. Your phone number is not a substitute for your survey number. We need the survey numbers to keep the data organized.
1. (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/recs2001/enduse2001/enduse2001.html)
2. This calculation is based on normalized data for 12 thirty-day standardized months. The raw data that appears on an energy bill is expressed in terms of KWH per billing cycle, and the number of days in a billing cycle varies both from month to month and among customers. In order to calculate normalized energy usage for a household, the following formula was used:
normalized use = (30 /# of days in billing cycle for each house in each month) * KWH on energy bill for each billing cycle The normalized use for each month was then averaged across all survey respondents, and the averages for 12 thirty day standardized months (360 days) were summed to arrive at an annual estimate of average household use.
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