Going Green to SAVE GREEN?

Saving Money by Saving Energy

With rising gas, energy and food costs, I am taking steps to reduce our energy consumption.

Who would have thought that leaving your toothbrush, camera, cell phone and other chargers plugged in could cost so much money? Did you know that leaving your computer, monitor, television etc. in STANDBY mode (ready to come on as quickly as possible) could cost up to $200 more on your electric bill per year?

I bought and installed the new “smart” power strips. In addition to protecting your electronics from power surges, these power strips also turn off all accessories when the “main” appliance is turned off. In my case, I have the stereo tuner plugged in as the “main” device. When I turn it off (using the remote), it removes all electrical power from the main and all other devices…CD, DVD, Video, and TV. (I took our satellite box off the controlled outlets when I discovered it must go through the entire “transponder” thing each time it starts up.) It takes only slightly more time to wait for all the devices to come on.

Compact fluorescent bulbs and Solatubes have reduced the cost to light our home.

A thermal imaging scan targeted areas of energy loss in our home, so we sealed gaps. We also had additional inches of insulation blown into our attic to bring it up from code required R-25 to the recommended R-49. (BTW – you don’t want your home to be too “tight” – mold and mildew could grow more quickly.) Make sure you have a professional assess your home and blow in the insulation. You don’t want insulation in the eaves blocking attic air flow and you definitely don’t need to breathe the insulation.

My next steps:

- Buy, install (and program) programmable thermostats for each zone of my house

- Buy a plug-in Watt meter to measure my refrigerator’s energy consumption…seems like the compressor comes on a lot more than it should.