Remember to dust the light bulbs too. A coating of dust can reduce light output by as much as 50%.
Be careful! Incandescent lightbulbs can be hot, because as much as 90% of the energy used by the lightbulb escapes as heat.
Tip: Dust Light Bulbs
Tip: Use Motion Detectors Outside
Add motion-detectors to always-on outdoor security lights — that way the light is on only when there is someone around to appreciate it.
One Year of Energy Watcher
Energy Watcher has been up and running for one year today. We've learned a lot and hope you have too.
Gas prices are higher than ever and the EIA is forecasting that we may see $4.00 gas this summer. Food prices are soaring and the economy and the environment both seem poised on the brink of disaster. Why? There are lots of complex reasons we can talk about, but they mostly boil down to energy.
We all want it — lots of it — and there isn't enough to go around.
Our accumulated carbon emissions may or may not be changing our climate, but no one can argue that energy prices have been climbing steadily for years. The laws of supply and demand dictate that as a scarce commodity is used up, the price of that commodity will rise. Easily-accessible fossil fuels in America were all burned up decades ago, so we spend $500 billion or so every year importing oil, a situation that is clearly going to bankrupt our country.
Every bit of energy we conserve today buys us time until the researchers and inventors and geologists and politicians can figure out a solution.
We can do without. Or we can do less with more. Or we can make small investments in our homes, our offices, and our schools to ensure that the energy we use is put to good use. And the less energy we use, the more money we save! It is not often that we have the opportunity to both do good and save cold, hard cash at the same time.
We will continue with our mission here at Energy Watcher to identify what we can all do together to save on energy costs and, at the same time, do something useful for our planet. (Just for reference, average monthly temperatures here in Atlanta are running 2°F higher than the 30-year reference average. Climate change is real.)
We welcome any helpful tips or information that can help us all save money. You, too, can be an Energy Watcher!
Tip: Ditch Your Ironing Board
Instead of ironing your clothes, buy clothes made from fabrics that don't wrinkle so much. If you dry your clothes in a dryer, remove them while they're still slightly damp and hang them up. In addition to saving energy, this will reduce static and wrinkles.
Vampire Hunting For Fun & Profit
Unplug anything with a plug that's not going to be used in the near future. Try this: at night, turn off all the lights and look around. Anything with a tiny light on it is drawing power — TV, DVD player, computer — even though it may not be turned on. Many of these vampires draw power without letting you know — unless they aren't plugged in. If you cannot conveniently reach the outlet to unplug an appliance, plug it into a plug strip that has a switch you can reach.
March 2008 Utility Bill
The March utility bill was a considerable improvement over February, just $272 vs. $346. It's warming up outside, so even though the cost of gas went up 12 cents per therm in the past month, we still paid a lot less.
It was a year ago when I started keeping track of my utility bills. What's changed, you ask? Well, the price of electricity is actually down 6 cents a kilowatt-hour, the cost of gas is up six cents a therm, and the cost of water is way up, by 37 cents a CCF, or 22%.
March 2007 was more temperate than March 2008, so we used a lot less gas a year ago, which accounted for $85 of the swing in utility bills year-over-year.March 2008 Data
Electricity, in kWh
Cost / Unit
Gas, in Therms
Cost / Unit
Water, in CCF
Cost / Unit
775
$.086
137
$1.42
6
$2.04
Tip: Use Satin Instead of Flat Paint
Using satin or semi-gloss paint on your walls will reflect more light and therefore allow you to use lower wattage bulbs. Semi-gloss paint is also much much easier to wash fingerprints off of. When choosing colors, remember that darker colors absorb light and require a higher wattage for a the desired amount of light.
Tip: Work From Home
Work from home! Avoiding the daily commute can save you an average of 10 cents per mile. (Unless you drive a SUV, in which case this can save you 20 cents per mile.)
Reminder: Spring Clean Your Air Conditioner — 2008
It's officially spring, so it's time once again to change your furnace filters! It's also time to give your air conditioner a spring cleaning. With the cost of electricity higher than ever, it only makes sense to make sure that your A/C is operating at peak efficiency. You can always call the HVAC guys to come in and do it for you, or you can follow these instructions.
By the way, if you didn't get your HVAC systems tuned up last fall, you really should consider it. Would you let your car go a whole year without a tune-up?Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.