How to you save on electricity?

Question

In addition to using fluorscent bulbs, what are other suggestions?

Answer 1

There are many things that you can do, I will give you a list for all energy sources that may include gas or oil depending on your configuration:
-Turn down the thermostat and use an energy-star rated programmable thermostat
-Buy energy star appliances they use 10-50% less energy. For example buy a front loading high efficiency washer that will use less water, less energy and less detergent all while being gentle on your clothes. Whenever possible wash with cold water to avoid heating costs. Always look for the appliance that uses the least amount of energy that you can afford that is still of the quality that you want.
-Turn down your water heater temp, buy it a blanket to keep it insulated, or replace if possible with tankless so you don't heat a whole tank of water.
-Unplug electronics when not in use. Many suck energy even when they are "off." Put your clocks and cable boxes on seperate outlets so you can leave those plugged in and unplug everything else.
-Use day lighting to avoid turning on lights during daytime.
-Combine tasks to avoid wasting energy (i.e. baking several things at once or one after the other) and microwave whenever possible they use less energy than an oven. If you want to cook then make a big meal and eat it as leftovers for a few days or freeze it and periodically re-heat for dinner.
-Keep everything clean and clear. Dryer vents, refrigerators, etc. can get clogged from dust and lint. The cleaner they are the more efficient they should be.

Answer 2

One way is the compact fluorescent bulbs that screw into regular sockets. If you use fixtures with the 40 watt T-12 tubes and magnetic ballasts, consider switching to the 32 watt T-8 fixtures that use electronic ballasts. I've been tempted to build light fixtures that use the new high power white LEDs. It may be possible to put 34+ of them in series and arrange them in a fixture. That might only pull 2.5 watts.

Use energy efficient appliances.

Try to keep your activity in one room. You can heat, cool, and light just that one room. This is one more reason to have the PC in the main room instead of a bedroom. That way the lights and heating/cooling can be shared by multiple family members in the same room.

Dress for the occasion. There is no need to sit in your house in a heavy suit in the summer or lay on the bed nude in the winter.

Use more covers for your bed in the winter. If you can get used to it, sleep with your head under the covers. Your exhalations can help heat the rest of you.

Sleep lower in the summer and higher in the winter.

When I lived at home in a trailer, we sometimes shared the tub water since the water heater could not make enough for 2 consecutive baths.

Insulate wherever there are air leaks.

Coordinate activities according to conditions. Ie., do things that require light in the day time, do your heavy cooking/canning when it is cold (so the waste heat can heat the room and you won't need air conditioning or heat).

I heard that you could cook for an entire month in a day and freeze everything in meal-sized portions. What you end up doing is basically create microwavable meals. This helps eliminate wasted food, since if you want to eat out for several nights, you don't have leftovers to go bad. Since you have pre-measured portions, there isn't much food waste.

Reduce the number of times you wash or bathe. If you are careful, you can wear your clothes more than once between washings, and you might can get by bathing 2-3 times a week. If you are just staying around the house and/or live alone, you can get by with less baths and less clothes washings.

Keep control on all the little power wasters. Put them on a power strip if practical. So many people leave the cell phone charger plugged in all the time. There are various transformers for different things, plug-in air fresheners, night lights etc. If you must use a night light, get one of those indiglo nightlights that use a quarter of a watt, as opposed to the 5-7 watt night lights.

Modern PCs can be turned on at the keyboard. To do that, part of the power supply and motherboard is live at all times. My machine even has an LED that burns at all times. Well it, the monitor, and the cable modem are all on the power strip. Despite what you may be told about leaving the cable modem on, you are probably better powering it down every once in a while, since that may be what it takes to get a better connection. The only risk I see with turning a cable modem off every day at a power strip is if the cable company is nearly maxed out. You may find that your cable modem cannot find an open channel. But if this doesn't happen much, switching the cable modem reduces electricity and makes for faster online speeds. Even cell phones may work better if they are turned off every once in a while (some of the software may be lost in RAM and a reboot of the phone forces it to be reloaded from ROM, like if the stopwatch or calculator quits working).

Answer 3

Rather than fluorescent bulbs, consider LED light bulb replacements. They are pricey but you get 50,000 or more hours out of a bulb, they produce almost no heat (which increases cooling bill). They are instant on/off like incandescent bulbs. And they use less power that florescent bulbs.

Also consider lower the temperature just a few decrease when heating your house and raising it when running the AC. Use timers to turn off the heat and AC when you're away at work and modify it while you're sleeping (not as much heating required). The biggest consumers of energy are your water heater, HVAC (heat, ventilation, Air cond.), and your cooking appliances assuming they are electric.

Answer 4

Flourescents are good for lights. add 2 or 3 incandescents for reading and bathroom maybe kitchen. reading light is a pull down type light with switch. bathroom i can reach. seldom need kitchen.

hot water. how much do you need? 1 person doesnt need 40 or more gallons of hot water available all the time. Just showers and dishes. theres a real savings in point of use hot water. electrical and water wise.

food and electricity are related. always cheaper in long run to cook your own as opposed to save money on bill by eating out. fridge slowly adds to bill. if replacing an older one get a usable size one. use stove in winter and micro in summer. propane stove may be even cheaper.

summer cook outside. figure out how to make a used vegetable oil burner and cook with that. costs to cook out are part of the electric bill. moving it does not count it out. propane and charcoal are fuel costs. more difficult- get rid of hot fridge air in summer to outside.

summer shading helps house. californias mandating? of white roof makes sense.

localized a/c and heat should save some. air leaks of course.

summer make solar hot water. I had a simple one that could make 2 liters boil. never really used it though. surprised it did it.

dry at least some clothes outside in summer.

hidden things. all the little transformers plugged in the wall. instant on tvs maybe stereos and game systems, computers. these items could be on a multi outlet with switch. turn off all at switch.

I once bought a vcr for $5 just because it only used 11 watts. It was part of camera setup and ran 10 to 12 hours a night.

I did make a stereo out of basic computer speaker set up. Used a portable cd player with 2 rechargeable aa batteries for source. Added bookshelf speaker for bass and 2 tweeters for high end. Sounded pretty good for 6 watts.

over time it adds up. how much? more than 20 to 30 bucks.

about $500 for last year savings.

Answer 5

Stop using the electric dryer. Hang clothes to drip dry. Install extra shower rods in the bathroom over the tub and hang items there to dry. If your house has dry air, it also helps by providing moisture in the air.

Answer 6

Cold water always in the washing machine.
Turn your hot water heater down.
Shut the lights off in rooms you aren't in.
Only use what is electrically necessary.

Answer 7

Turn off coffee machine after made -Use microwave to reheat if needed.Water bed heaters suck allot of electricity If you have one get a normal bed

Answer 8

Why bother? To much hassel to save a lousy 20 or 30 bucks.

Answer 9

just use a candel, dont wash ur close but once a month, sleep in the dark

Answer 10

energy efficient appliances.