The joy of finding a new dataset to explore enflamed my modeling focus more than was justified. IT WAS GREAT TO BE LOOKING FOR STORIES IN A BRAND NEW DATASET! Challenge #1: Monthly data from the power utility was too … Continue reading →
A year contains half a million minutes. The residential solar panel data arrived in five-minute increments, or about 20 percent of the annual minute universe. Adding in the utility generated data, the two data sources delivered about 130,000 data points. … Continue reading →
Excel sheets happen, but only if one knows the hidden menus upon which to click. One of the most useful Excel tricks is copying spreadsheets. Copying and moving a sheet doesn’t show up a lot in the spreadsheet tricks that … Continue reading →
Modeling tools are used for more than forecasting. To complete the analysis of household energy consumption, forensic data modeling was required. Data from two different datasets were needed, and was in slightly different formats that prohibited a smooth alignment. The … Continue reading →
In February, I asked my Electric Cooperative for help in understanding our solar panel output for 2024. They responded with 10,000 data hourly power consumption points over the 12 months of 2024 and the first two months of 2025. As … Continue reading →
This post continues the deeper dive into power production of a residential solar array. The last post on solar output looked at daily variability of this solar array in June 2024. Variability from cloud cover in this geographic location, 45 … Continue reading →
As the 2025 Easter weekend approaches, the Biomass Rules winter compost pile nears ready-to-apply status. This photo illustrates all the undervalued organics from 2024, being prepared to add organic matter to the ancient clay soils, which after last year’s construction, … Continue reading →
Conceptually solar energy is straight-forward. The sun shines and power is produced. Solar power production has much more variability. This chart reflects 30 days of solar power production recorded every 5 minutes each day. The data was collected each day … Continue reading →
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) carries significant weight in the flow of decisions and confidence in the US economy. Does the CPI mirror authentic food purchases? YES! Are household food expenditures and the Food … Continue reading →
Over the last few weeks, we have been sharing grocery retail prices (food at home) from our 2024 receipts. Today’s post captures four produce items: potatoes, mandarin oranges, dill pickles, and raisins. It is important to recall that this is … Continue reading →
