# The engery saving thread!!!



## IanT (Jul 6, 2008)

What are your reccommendations/tricks or short cuts for saving moolah on the electric bill!


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2008)

Keep your mini-blinds closed during the day and on cool nights crack the top of a window.


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## Lane (Jul 6, 2008)

Whenever we leave, we shut the blinds. 

In summer we spend more cause I HATE being hot and the AC is running allll of the time....  But we bought a fan for the main room and it kicks up the cold air that settles on the floor and seeps out under t he front door. The AC doesn't kick on as much and our bill was $30 less this month. 

But this last winter, we didn't even touch the heat. It didn't get below 30 degrees outside, and if it was chilling in the apartment, I handend out sweaters.


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## IanT (Jul 6, 2008)

turn your hot water heater off when your not going to use it for a while...then turn back no 30 mins before you need hot water.. 

saves like 50% off your electric bill 

(moved from the food prices thread)


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## Harlow (Jul 6, 2008)

You can purchase motion activated  light switches that will turn themselves off if you leave a room & forget to. The cost is under $15.00 at your local hardware store.

Lower watt bulbs help too.


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## Tabitha (Jul 6, 2008)

By turning the AC thermostat up just 3 degrees, from where it was last summer, my electric bill is literally 1/2 of what it was.


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## IanT (Jul 6, 2008)

Harlow said:
			
		

> You can purchase motion activated  light switches that will turn themselves off if you leave a room & forget to. The cost is under $15.00 at your local hardware store.
> 
> Lower watt bulbs help too.


oooh and I heard CFL (compact flouros) save ALOT over incandescent lights!


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## Harlow (Jul 6, 2008)

My husband is a stickler about CFL too.


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## Tabitha (Jul 6, 2008)

Mine too!


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## Becky (Jul 7, 2008)

Turn stuff off  :shock: 

I know it sounds really basic, but my DH will have EVERY light in the house on if I don't keep at him. Plus the back porch light. Plus the front light. Plus the shed lights. And we will be sitting in the loungeroom watching TV.

Also, like Lane, I try not to use the heater too much in winter. If I get really cold (and I am a big girly blouse - I feel the cold even in Nth Queensland!!) I will take the heater into the computer room & use it in there - it is a really small room, I shut the door & don't waste the heat by trying to warm up the entire house. If I'm watching TV, I just take the doona off the bed & snuggle under it on the couch. The cats love it when I do that!!


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## digit (Jul 7, 2008)

Lane said:
			
		

> It didn't get below 30 degrees outside, and if it was chilling in the apartment, I handend out sweaters.



 :shock:  :shock:  I would need a insulated blanket at 30F!!!! There is the ocassional hot flash, but 30 is a bit on the nippy side.   

When I lived the dessert, I had a swamp cooler that was amazing. I often turned it off and opened the windows to warm up.


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## Soapmaker Man (Jul 7, 2008)

We try to keep the blinds pulled on the side of the house where the sun is.
We use the CFL bulbs everywhere.
We us a lot of timers.
We use solar lighting on the decks, drive, landscaping, fountains.
Keep the temp 75* during the day and 73* at night. Close off rooms where we are not using.

And the #1 energy savings;

I RTCP MY SOAPS!


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## Texas_Bubbly (Jul 7, 2008)

*Ok, so I got carried away*

I am not a fan of the CFL lights.  Have you read what it takes to clean one up if it breaks?  No thanks.   I just buy lower watt bulbs, and save the high beam lights where we need it.  (closets, hall, kitchen ect.)

We have a row of halogen bulbs over the vanities in each bath, and I took out ever other light.  You can hardly tell!

Get power strips that you can turn off, and plug in your TV, surround sound, computers whatever, so you can COMPLETELY turn off electricity to the component when not in use.  The electronics in the house consume electricity 24 hours a day, regardless if it is turned on or off.  

We have lots of fans.  Celing fan in each room, and a small box fan in the MB.  

Turn the AC up a few degrees, and dark curtains in rooms we aren't in all day.  (bedrooms)

A damp sheet hanging in front of a sunny window helps cool the air.  We lived in Mexico for a year, and I can't tell you how effective this really is.  We would mop the floor in the middle of the day, and have damp sheets up.  It would cool the house about 10 degrees.  (it helps that the house was all concrete and tile, just hose it down!) (ghetto swamp cooler!)

Use liquid fabric softener and hang your clothes on a line outside.  The dryer isn't running to heat the house, and if it's electric.. it isn't running!

But the biggest killer for me.... I took down my 125gallon salt water tank.  

This is going to be the first month without the fishtank on the bill, but it will be hard to tell how much energy it acutally consumed since the price of electricity almost doubled in the past month.  (anyone want a big aquarium?  LOL)

We were paying .10 a KWH, now it's .17 KWH.  My husband is the credit manager for an electric company, and he is seeing bills almost double.  Imagine the impact on a small business or a family scraping money together at the end of a pay period.  Devastating.


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## IanT (Jul 7, 2008)

*Re: Ok, so I got carried away*



			
				Texas_Bubbly said:
			
		

> I am not a fan of the CFL lights.  Have you read what it takes to clean one up if it breaks?  No thanks.   I just buy lower watt bulbs, and save the high beam lights where we need it.  (closets, hall, kitchen ect.)
> 
> We have a row of halogen bulbs over the vanities in each bath, and I took out ever other light.  You can hardly tell!
> 
> ...



what happens when you break a cfl??

what you did in Mexico reminds me of what I did in Costa


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## sunflwrgrl7 (Jul 9, 2008)

I'm a fan of CFL's because we started out with incandesants, but then switched to all CFL's and our electric bill was cut down to a third of what it was.

Check with your electric company to see about rebates for purchasing energy saving appliances, if you are in the market for an appliance or a/c or evaporative cooler, for example, and check for any summer programs that might be available.  SCE here in So Cal has a summer program where they install a kill switch on your A/C if you sign up for the program, and then give you a credit on your bill for the 4 summer months.  The kill switch is only activated in energy crisis times and you can sign up for different levels of the program, such as no more than 2 hours at a time, no more than 4 hours, and no more than 6 hours.  The electricity in your house still works, so you can turn on fans.  Most of the time, the kill switch isn't even used by the electric company, but you still get the credit.

Swamp coolers and fans are two huge energy saving cooling ideas, if you have access to them.  Even running a fan, but turning the thermostat up on your A/C will help cool things down but save energy as opposed to just running the A/C.

Unplug stuff that you aren't using or put plugs on a power strip that you switch off.

Turn off the light when you leave the room. 

Okay, that's all I got...


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## Barb (Jul 9, 2008)

started hanging clothes out instead of using the dryer all the time
purchased the new light bulbs
keep the mini blinds closed on windows where the sun is directly shining at various times of the day.
completely unplug anything when not in use ( like my 4 embroidery machines, computer, printer etc. )
we have been lucky it has been cooler here this summer so far, which has made it bearble to go without the ac unless the humidty is 85 or higher which it has been for a couple of days here and there. but if i do need to run it i have it set at 80 instead of the 68 the hubbs prefers. he just has to deal.

he is the biggest waster of electricity. i am constantly after him to turn off the light in rooms like the bathroom, pantry when he is done, he will leave the patio door open if the ac is on, would run the tv all night if i let him even though he is asleep on the couch. it's a good thing i luv the man but he needs a good knock up side the head sometimes.

i just got my electric bill for this month ( first one with hanging clothes and very very little ac ) while we used 197 kwh less then last year at this time my bill was actually $30.00 higher then last year. i just can't win.

oh and i just replaced our old toilet with a water saver version, which the average family should save 2000 gallons of water.


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## Texas_Bubbly (Jul 14, 2008)

*Re: Ok, so I got carried away*



			
				IanT said:
			
		

> Texas_Bubbly said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You are *supposed* to not sweep or vaccuum a broken CFL (the dust inside is dangerous to inhale) The instructions to say remove everyone and pets from the area for at least 15 minutes to let the particles settle, then after donning haz-mat gear, clean it up with a wet paper towel.  

I'm happy with my $$$ saving energy effort without spending 5 bucks a bulb.


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## IanT (Jul 14, 2008)

lol true that, didnt know they weres dangerous!!...


have you seen this ???http://www.solatube.com/homeowner/

i feel like itd be  easy enough to build one??


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## Texas_Bubbly (Jul 14, 2008)

IanT said:
			
		

> lol true that, didnt know they weres dangerous!!...
> 
> 
> have you seen this ???http://www.solatube.com/homeowner/
> ...



YES!  Those things are awesome.  Some friends of mine installed 3 of them in their house.  If I were a bit more handy (or brave, or stupid) I would try it.  They have come a long way, the style they used was bare bones, nothing fancy... but they still really brightened up the house.


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## digit (Jul 18, 2008)

Barb said:
			
		

> i am constantly after him to turn off the light in rooms like the bathroom, pantry when he is done, he will leave the patio door open if the ac is on, would run the tv all night if i let him even though he is asleep on the couch. it's a good thing i luv the man but he needs a good knock up side the head sometimes.



   Our DH's must be related. 

Digit


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## digit (Jul 18, 2008)

Becky said:
			
		

> I know it sounds really basic, but my DH will have EVERY light in the house on if I don't keep at him. Plus the back porch light. Plus the front light. Plus the shed lights. And we will be sitting in the loungeroom watching TV.



Must be a "man" thing    



			
				Becky said:
			
		

> I shut the door & don't waste the heat by trying to warm up the entire house. If I'm watching TV, I just take the doona off the bed & snuggle under it on the couch. The cats love it when I do that!!



I also close the vents and rooms we do not go in much like the extra bedroom. We invested in new windows for the house and I saw a noticable difference. Also an attic fan on a thermostat. Amazing difference in the summer.

Digit


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## IanT (Jul 18, 2008)

just got my first electric bill....27.89...wooohoooooooooo 


i hope it wasnt so low because of the fact that i might have started service in the middle of a billing period. So I think maybe at most itll be 60 bucks or so..??...been turning off my water heater every day after i shower (and youd be suprised how long hot water will keep in the boiler. I swear it was off for two days and the water was still hot...)


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## Tabitha (Jul 18, 2008)

> $27.89?



Mine was $500.00, down from $800.00 last July! It's for our shop/loft combined & is at a higher commercial rate though. This year we are keeping our AC set on 82. Last year I think it was set at 78.

If we have a kids are class I turn it down for a couple hours, no one wants to arm hot cranky kids w/ paint :? ...


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## IanT (Jul 18, 2008)

very true!!!


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## Tabitha (Aug 1, 2008)

Throwing a dry towel in the dryer w/ your wet laundry will shorten the number of minutes needed to dry a load.


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## IanT (Aug 2, 2008)

reaaaaally...will have to try that sometime..


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