Since I was little, I remember my dad running around behind us, turning off lights grumbling, "Does someone own stock in the Electric Company?!" (I'll leave the discussion of how the concept of owning stock is lost on 6 year olds for another time).
I forgot all about that until I began using a home office for my inspection business (about 4 years ago). Somehow, I overlooked the fact that being home all day, running appliances, using lights, etc, would increase my bills.
Now, I am that guy. Holiday lights aside (my house is only slightly less gaudy than Chevy Chase's in "Christmas Vacation"), I am now the one who walks through the house turning off the TV no one is watching, unplugging the coffee pot, and other crazy idiosyncrasies that suddenly manifested themselves once my home office started impacting my bills.
So, for those of you looking to save money or energy (or both!) here are a few thoughts that make the biggest difference:
1. Replace incandescent light bulbs with lower wattage Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. They use 50-75% less electricity and last 10 times longer. These are not the humming, eerie fluorescent lights you remember from your youth - they were actually preferred over incandescent light in a blind study. The savings can be as much as $60 per year. Don't quite get it? Here it is in plain English (amusing and informative, I promise!).
2. Beware "Vampire Appliances!" - put your energy sucking devices on power strips that can be conveniently turned off when not in use. In the average home, there are 20 ‘vampire appliances, and up to 40% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Yes, they use power even when off! One example: a computer screen on "standby power" uses on $3/year if the computer is shut off at night, but if the computer is on "sleep" (left on) most nights, that figure jumps to $43. Cable boxes, Satellite receivers and DVDs and VCRs are notorious energy suckers. It is estimated that the average household has 20 of these items, and the associated energy drain costs about $200 per year.
3. Buy ENERGY STAR rated appliances. These appliances use approximately 30% less energy than their regular counterparts. The refrigerator is the big energy hog - cleaning the coils can improve efficiency and reduce energy use, but in general, this is the one appliance where energy efficiency makes a BIG difference.
For those who are visual people, here is where your energy dollars go:
Finally, for those of you that like to toy around with the idea of whether you should upgrade a furnace, or add insulation and wonder how much it would help, here is a neat interactive tool to conduct your own "hypothetical" Energy Audit.
Now if can just get my daughter to turn off the TV when she leaves the room......
Joe Michalski
Sherlock Homes Inspections
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