On 07.04.09, In Green Living, by Wes Chyrchel
We’ve all been there before, you get your utility bill and its outrageous. What options do we have? Usually, we decide to use less. That means, turning off lights and AC, taking shorter showers and putting on a sweater in the winter. We can do more.
This is part of a series that I will continually be covering on how to reduce your energy consumption on the cheap. You don’t have to spend a bunch of money to save energy. I’ll show you how.
Reduce your consumption first, then supplement
The best advice I received was to not just randomly add solar or start replacing all of your appliances, but to take a step back and see where you are wasting energy first, then supplement with alternative solutions.
1. For electricity – If your electric bill is too high, find out what is plugged in. Many of your appliances, TVs, DVR’s, etc., continue to draw power when not in use. If you plugged many of these appliances into strips and turned them off before you left for the day, you would see a significant drop in your electric bill. To cool off, open all of the windows at night, when you wake up, before it starts getting hot, close everything down. Your house will stay cooler longer. Conversely, figure out when it starts to get cool outside and then open all of your windows in the afternoon. For the in-between time, create zones in your house and supplement with fans. The trick here is to limit the amount of time you have your AC on.
2. For water – 50% of a homes water usage is on its landscaping. Of that 50%, 30% is on your lawn alone! Figure out how much lawn your really need and rip the rest out. Really, just rip it out. Replace with drought tolerant plants or plants that need almost no water at all. Put in drip systems (pretty cheap) to replace your sprinklers. 20% of a sprinklers mist evaporates before it even hits the ground! Drip systems stick close to the ground and put the water, right where you need it.
3. For gas – Turn down your water heater thermostat. Most of us was a ton of natural gas and don’t even know it. Your gas water heater is constantly going trying to keep your water hot and ready for you. In the summer you really don’t need a super hot water shower. Turn down your water heater thermostat to the recommended setting (usually an arrow or something like that) or turn it lower to save even more money! If you go on vacation, turn it on low and spend the extra money on having a good time.
These are just some of the things you can do to reduce your consumption. I will have more tips coming up in future blog posts. Stay tuned, Part 2 will cover how to create some of your own energy!
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