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Saving Electricity
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| As seen in Newsweek, the Christian Science Monitor, PC Magazine, InfoWorld, and everywhere else. |
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Saving Electricity |
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Welcome! I've always hated "How-To" guides which don't explain why a certain tip works, or how well it works. Sometimes a topic is just as mysterious after you read the guide. My guide is different. I explain exactly what a kilowatt hour is and how much you pay for one. And I show you how to calculate exactly how much electricity your household appliances use, so you know which items are guzzling the most juice (and which ones are the best targets for savings). You'll also learn exactly how to read your electric meter, if you like. (Find that on any other website.) And I not only give you meaningful tips for slashing your electricity consumption, I give you the tools to figure out exactly how much you're saving as well. Finally, I've answered countless questions from readers about saving electricity. If you have a question, it's probably answered here already. Saving electricity doesn't just save money, it also saves the planet. This is news to a lot of people. After all, when you plug something into the wall, it seems clean enough -- you don't see or smell any pollution, like you do with your car. But the pollution is there -- it just happens at the power plant. Most electricity is generated by burning coal and running nuclear power plants. Every time you turn on the lights, you create a little pollution. (See the sidebar.) In fact, the average home pollutes more than the average car! (See my Carbon Footprint Calculator for the numbers.) So saving electricity doesn't just put money in your pocket, it helps keep the air and water clean, too But don't just take my word for it. The legendary James Hansen, one of the first scientists to sound the alarm about global warming way back in the 80's, recently said that the real key to preventing climate change is reducing home energy use. That's because, as he says, we can't stop the oil from being burned for transport, since if we don't use it, another country will. But we can certainly stop burning our coal. And the quickest way to reduce coal emissions by 50%, is to reduce our electricity consumption by 50%. (more on climate change) Note also that as the age of oil is coming to a close (we've already used more than half of the oil that exists on the planet), our energy appetite puts more pressure for utilities to build dangerous nuclear power plants. Thinking about going solar? Solar is indeed now affordable in many cases. My concern about this is that, just like with cars, people are looking for an alternative fuel source so they can continue blissfully using ridiculous amounts of energy. I would prefer that we all first stop using such a ridiculous amount of energy in the first place! In reality, conservation is pretty easy; the problem is that most people don't want to. That's why people bought SUV's in droves. (Yes, the price of gas used to be lower, but the point is, even then, people were still buying the most wasteful vehicles available to them. The fact that they used to be affordable is fairly irrelevant.) When I go to the gym, I see that everyone has turned on the little TV attached to the treadmill or exercycle. I always go and turn them all off, but probably 90% of the people who use those machines again will turn the TV back on and leave it on when they leave. That's an easy way to see why we've got a problem. If most people won't do an easy thing, like turning off a TV when they're not using it, how can we expect them to do things that actually require a tiny amount of effort? But you're here, you're reading this, so you're the kind of person willing to make some modest changes. So good for you! If you're serious about saving energy, then there's no better place to find out about it than here. And the time is right, too. U.S. taxpayers can now get a whopping 30% tax credit for installing things like attic insulation, a metal roofs, and EnergyStar rated HVAC (air conditioning systems). And if you really want to lessen your carbon footprint, you'll also want to look into eating less meat and driving less. I hope you find this website useful. Happy savings! -- Michael Bluejay
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Easy Strategies |
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Strategy |
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(1) Use space heaters to heat only the rooms you're in, (rather than a central system that heats the whole house), and turning off the heat when you're not home. |
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(2) Use ceiling fans instead of the air conditioner |
if you don't already have ceiling fans |
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(3) Turn off lights you're not using |
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(4) Wash laundry in cold water instead of hot or warm |
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(5) Sleep your computer when you're not using it |
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(6) Use a clothesline or a laundry rack instead of a dryer |
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(7) Turn off a single 100-watt light bulb, from running constantly |
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(8) Replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescents |
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Total |
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Aggressive Strategies |
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(9) Replace top-loading washer with front-loading washer |
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(10) Replace 1990 fridge with 2004 model |
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Total |
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Assumptions: |
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»» Next: How much electricity costs »»
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This chart shows where the U.S. gets its
electricity. Note that most of it was from burning
coal. (Source: Department
of Energy) How much pollution? More on energy
production |
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Google PowerMeter Google is coming out with a free program that will show you how much electricity your house is using at any given instant, taking advantage of the new digital electric meters that were recently installed on homes all around the country. But you'll have to wait a little longer -- as I write this in July 2009, it's not available yet. (See Google's PowerMeter project page.) |
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30% tax credit available now U.S. homeowners can enjoy a whopping 30% tax credit for installing things like attic insulation, a metal roofs, and EnergyStar rated HVAC (air conditioning systems), in 2009 and 2010. (more...) |
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Super-Efficient Home Three college students live in an Arcata, CA house, run as a university project called the Humboldt State University Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT). Founded in 1981, the house uses a number of ingenious ways to generate and save electricity, including a television powered by an exercise bicycle. [Sorry, that article is no longer available from the LA Times website, but here's CCAT's website.] |
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Troubleshooting Home
Electricity |
If you like this site, you might also like this other site of mine:
Which battery is best? We cover rechargeable and alkaline batteries to show you what's hot, what's not, and the best way to charge them. (visit now) |
Mr. Electricity is your guide to saving energy in your home.
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Saving Electricity 101: Start Here
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General
Specific Appliances |
Environment
Special Topics |
We're recommended by the government of Berks County, PA.
Watt Watt. News about efficiency and conservation, written by readers of the site.
Home Power Magazine. All about renewable energy for the home.
Thin House. Blog about a family committed to cutting its energy use by 80%.
No-Impact Man. Blog about a family striving to have no net impact. (i.e., What little they use, they offset.) Inspirational.
Off-Grid. News and resources about living without being connected to a utility company.
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I'm just dropping a quick note to thank your for your amazing electricity subsite. It's outstanding. I've been working to improve my finances for a while, and every little bit helps. I've heard about the Kill-a-Watt energy meter for a while now, but never got around to picking one up. I'll do that now. I recently started a site geared toward sound personal finance advice. I just posted a brief entry about your Saving Electricity pages there. I hope to steer others to the information you've provided. -- J.D. Roth, Get Rich Slowly
We took a lot of advice from your web site last month. Got electric bill today. 30 days later & we have a $100 savings! the weather has been MUCH colder this month than last. THANK YOU! - Eileen Phillips & Cheryl Myers, Blackstone, VA Great web site. Thank you for you sharing your knowledge. (Saved me from the surge suppression scam.) -- Liz McLean, Feb. 2006 Hello! Although you have made it clear that you are not fishing for compliments, I just wanted to say that I found your site extremely useful. In trudging through an assignment from "quantitative aspects to global environmental problem solving" (which is as time consuming as its title), I searched google for some information on energy cost and usage, and the two most relevant pages I found were from your electricity site. So, thank you. I really appreciate it. -- Amber I can understand your frustration companies that exploit the unknowing public with smoke and mirrors and delusions of power savings with the use of a TVSS unit. I spent 25 years in the US Navy and started their TVSS program to save ONLY on maintenance costs and and to decrease equipment down times, not to save energy. A TVSS unit does not modify current usage therefore doesn't save energy. I have a TVSS / consulting company which recommends TVSS for things such as DC to 4160VAC. For those of us who tell the truth I applaud you! -- Steve Salka, VP PhaseFree Inc. I studied your site after deciding that I was determined to put an end to paying for (and wasting) lots of electricity. I bought a kilowatt meter to measure my usage. In the first month I dropped my from 578 kWh avg. to 197 kWh. This past month after replacing my 1980's fridge with a new one I was able to get down to 150 kilowatt-hours, and that includes my home office. My electric company lets you look at and compare the past 14 months worth of usage and bills online. I saved$50 this past month compared to last year and plan on saving more than $1000.00 for the year over 2004. Our rates in the Northeast are about 14 cents for delivery and usage not including the $7.36 customer charge, so this has made a big impact. So I just wanted express a quick 'thank you' for your site. I appreciate the depth of information and the ability to reference many other sites. best regards, Aaron Patt Just wanted to say that you have some really really good information on your website and everything is explained in a simple and understandable manner. For some reason it's hard to get information like that when it comes to electricity. -- Ceasar Gonzalez see more fan mail & success stories... ...or connect with folks living off the grid at Off-Grid.net. |
 All advice is given in good faith. We're not responsible for any errors or omissions. Electricity can kill you; if you're not competent to work on your electrical wiring then hire a professional to do it. |
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