There is a lot than can be done to save energy in the home. In many cases, a simple change of habits can result in significant savings on your energy bills. Here is what I have going on so far in my transformation:
Light Bulbs – 20% Complete as of July 2008. Estimated Cost: $22. Estimated Savings: $150 a year when completed.
I have been gradually changing my light bulbs over from incandescents to compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs. These new bulbs use less energy and last a lot longer. They are Energy Star rated and save you anywhere from $45 to $75 over the lifetime of the bulb. Put another way, the CFL lasts as much as 5 to 7 years longer! Energy Star estimates that each CFL will save the user $30 per bulb over its lifetime. Once I am 100% switched over to CFLs, I will be saving $1650 on the 55 lightbulbs I have in the house. (That’s assuming all of the different shapes and brands have the same savings.)
I’m estimated that if a single CFL saves $30 over the lifetime of the bulb and the lifetime is 10 years, than you save $3 per year per bulb. Once I have all 55 bulbs replaced, I’d be cutting my energy bills by $165 a year!
Adjust the thermostat – Estimated Cost: $0. Estimated Savings: $180 a year or more
As long as the humidity of the Midwest doesn’t overtake the comfort level of the house (or over 50%), we try not to run the air conditioning at all. When we do, we normally set the thermostat at 74 degrees during the day and 76 degrees at night. When we are not at home, we turn the thermostat up to 78 degrees. During the winter, we have lowered the heat to 67 degrees. According to Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, adjusting the thermostat 2 degrees up in the summer and 2 degrees down in the winter can save up to 2000 pounds of CO2 in a year! Since we are taking that a step further, we are likely saving 4000 pounds of CO2 a year and lowering our energy bills.
Mowing the Lawn. Cost – $30 for a used mower. Estimated Savings: $20 a year on gas alone.
I came across a great deal recently and found a 16″ manual mower. I’ve only been able to use it once so far. The jury is still out if I will totally convert from my gas mower. The 16″ cut is pretty narrow which means that you have to make more passes on the lawn. The cut of the lawn wasn’t crisp, but the blades need sharpened. I’ll know more later.
Computer Settings – Cost: $0. Estimated Savings: $55 a year
It is very easy to waste power with a desktop computer. Don’t use a screen saver and adjust you power settings to save energy and money on your electric bill. You can do this manually through your operating system or use a free program to manage the settings for you. I use a neat program from Uniblue called Local Cooling that let’s you “fight global warming from your desktop.” When left on 24 hours a day, the average computer burns the same energy as a 155 watt light bulb. You can customize settings to fit your lifestyle; I have my monitor turned off after 5 minutes of non-use, the hard drive after 15 minutes, and the computer after 1 hour.
If my calculations are correct, I have been saving about 172 KWH over the 4 months I’ve had the program installed which equates to about $13.76 or $55.00 a year.
UPDATE 09/20/08: While the program works well on an individual PC, it is no longer updating the web site to see what your contribution is. There is a note in the forum from June that they are working on it, but it is almost 4 months later and nothing has changed.
Phantom Load (or Vampires) – Cost: $0. Estimated Savings: $15.00 a year for just the Entertainment Center
Even when an appliance is turned “off”, it may be still drawing power. Televisions, cell phone chargers, computer printers, and stereo equipment are all great examples of devices that have a “phantom load.” To test this out, I purchased a Kill-A-Watt device that shows me the amount of power a device is using when in use or not. I checked my entertainment center in the living room and found that it draws anywhere from 136 to 186 watts when in use depending on the combination of equipment. When everything is in its “off” mode, it stills draws 51 watts! By simply turning off the switch on the power strip, it stops all of the power. Here’s the catch: when I have a television set to record on my DVR, I can’t have the device completely powered off. So, I’ve compromised and allowed the DVR to be plugged directly into the wall and turn off the rest using the power strip.
Buy turning off the entertainment center using the power strip every night, I’m estimating that it stays off about 10 hours a day as an average. That’s a 1/2 KWH a day saved. Once we get the SmartStrip intalled, that will only increase.
My Wish List:
- BITS LTD makes a Smartstrip power strip that makes it even easier to save energy from the phantom load. You plug in a device like a TV into the master slot. When power is turned off on that device, the strip senses it and proceeds to cut the power to any other controlled device.
- Energy Star appliances like a refrigerator or dishwasher.
- I intend to install a programmable thermostat to automate our desired temperature levels.
- By installing a timer for our front porch light, I can flip it one when expecting family or guests at night and not have to worry about it unnecessarily staying on all night.
- Someday we will be able to afford to install solar panels or a wind turbine to make our own energy.
