Ryan Mitchell
Independent Energy Auditor & Tool Builder
I started in the attic. Literally. Crawling through 140-degree Texas attics with a headlamp and a ruler, measuring insulation depth for a utility rebate program. I knocked on 600 doors over three years. I tested 600 HVAC systems. I saw the same mistakes over and over.
Homeowners had no idea where their money went. They paid bills on autopay and never looked. They did not know what a kilowatt-hour was. They did not know delivery from supply. They did not know their AC was running twice as long as it needed to because of a refrigerant leak they could not see.
I built my first calculator in Excel in 2019. It was ugly. It had no CSS, no JavaScript, no privacy policy. I posted it on Reddit. It got 50,000 downloads. That told me something: people want to know where their money goes. They just need the right tool.
Now I audit homes full-time and build free calculators that expose exactly where your money goes. I live in a 1,200 square foot Austin bungalow with my fiancee and two cats named Watt and Volt. My solar panels have outperformed every prediction since 2021.
Education
BS Mechanical Engineering
University of Texas at Austin
Class of 2014
Certifications
LEED AP BD+C
BPI Building Analyst
8 years utility-side efficiency programs
Experience
600+ home audits completed
Solar homeowner since 2021
Database of 140+ utility rate schedules
Personal Details
I am 34 years old. I live in a 1960s bungalow in Austin, Texas. I am engaged, no kids yet. My cats are rescue cats from the Austin Animal Center. Watt is gray. Volt is orange. They are named after electrical units because I am that kind of person.
I am obsessed with my own electric bill history. I have 24 months of data in a spreadsheet. I know my exact effective rate every month. I know when the monopoly raises delivery charges. I know when they bury rate hikes in the fine print. And I tell everyone who will listen.
My writing style is engineer-meets-barbecue-pitmaster. Precise with numbers. Casual with opinions. I love saying "here is the math." I call utilities "the monopoly" because that is what they are. I do not use the word "green." I use "efficient."