Gainesville-Green.com (Beta) > Frequently Asked Questions

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Frequently Asked Questions

    Who created this site?
    Gainesville Green was created by Acceleration.net in conjuction with government and university groups. We are a small company based in Gainesville, FL.
    How accurate is this data?
    It varies, but as a general rule, take it with a grain of salt. This represents the combination of three databases, so we inherit inaccuracies from all of them. For homes with good data, the information should be very accurate. The rankings are often skewed by lack of data, and homes on the edges of town use Clay Electric instead of GRU.
    Why would my home have "No Energy Usage Data?"
    Our data comes from a pain-staking process of combining information from a GRU database with other publicly available sources from the Property Appraiser and from the GIS center. This largly came down to matching addresses, with each data source having slightly different formats. In many cases, a direct match could not be made. We're planning another run through the unmatched data with some more lenient matching logic.
    How can I get my home energy report to print correctly?
    Under the file menu or print menu, there should be a "Page Setup" option that you should click. Make sure you have checked the "print background colors and images" checkbox and click OK.
    Why can't I find my apartment?
    Perhaps you should try our advanced search feature. It will allow you to put in your apartment complex and unit number. If your apartment is still not listed it could be because your apartment is "utilities included," so we won't have usage for your individual unit. If you think there has been a mistake, please contact us
    Why can't I see my apartment on a map?
    Because the units in an apartment complex share an address and are very close together, a map comparison doesnt make much sense. All the marks stack up without presenting much useful information. If you want to compare your apartment to a friends apartment, you should try making a group.

    If you want a more in-depth analysis of apartments you might be interested in one of our other projects: ToolsForTenants.com
    Why can't I see my house?
    This is another data problem, sometimes the property appraiser or GRU records had some inconsistency that prevented us from importing your home. Improving the data is our top priority, please check back in a few weeks.
    How do you calculate my ranking?

    The rankings are based on a home's actual consumption history, and how the ranking is calculated changes based on what you're looking at.

    If you're looking at electricity, gas, or water, then homes are ranked based on raw consumption alone, using simple arithmetic.

    If you're looking at CO2e, there's a bit more math. For each KWh of energy you consume, a power plant somewhere generates some greenhouse gas, and the EPA measures the amount and publishes a series of conversion factors. Using those, we do some multiplication and add up how much CO2 you generate based on your electricity, water, and natural gas usage. These rankings are not of any official use and are not certified by anyone. Please use them as a rough guideline only.

    If you've selected the "Normalize Energy Usage per 1000 sq. feet." option, then we normalize consumption based on the size of the home, and rank homes based on usage per 1000 sq ft.

    I've made some massive improvements to my home, why am I still behind my neighbors?
    There are several reasons you could still be behind your neighbors, despite significant improvement:
    • Other homes could be much newer, which makes a huge difference. Ceiling insulation hasn't impacted as much, leaks have had less time to form, better construction materials, etc.
    • Other homes could be much smaller, which also has a dramatic effect. Less space to cool and smaller air conditioners can save a tremendous amount of energy. It's unlikely you're ever going to get your consumption beneath a neighbor with a house half as large as yours.
    • Other homes could be vacation or rental properties, having months of zero usage skewing their averages.
    We're looking at making another ranking for 'Most Improved' which would cover your situation. We're also looking at changing the ranking scheme to better reflect home improvements, weighting recent data more than older data.
    These numbers look inconsistent
    That's very possible. We're doing our best to combine the data cleanly, but sometimes we make mistakes. We've got another batch to import, and will be reviewing all our calculations when pulling that new information in.
    Why don't you show [some feature or data]?
    Good question! If there's some feature or different way of looking at the data that you'd like to see, please let us know.
    How can I download this data to perform my own analysis?

    For a single home, there is a download link to the data on the Home Energy Report.

    For mulitple homes, the easiest way is to create a group (you will need to login) , then from the groups page there is a link where you can download all data about your group.

    For a subdivision or apartment complex, you can simply visit the subdivision list or apartment list, check the items you are interested in, then click the export button.

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