Need to save for green solution? Cut costs and help save greenhouse gases by cutting energy use
Published by Deborah DeMann - 17/4/2019
Energy Consumerism and Energy Savings
With Earth Day 2019 approaching fast, Monday, 4-22-2019, there are so many subjects to cover, but the one that I’ve been promising is energy savings.
Obviously, moving to a renewable energy is ideal, but that requires investment that can be more than what our budgets can handle, but there are things we can do to just flat out consume less energy.
Some tools that will help you are your electric bill to look at your wattage or, what is even better is if you have a client portal at your energy company. If you have a smart meter, you very likely have an energy portal; it can be eye opening. You can see some pictures of mine.
The biggest thing you want to pay attention to is the “always on”. The always on can be your vampires. One of my vampires, believe it or not, was my printer. If you are like me you don’t need that printer very often, so I unplugged it to make sure that it did not turn on when I did not expect it.
Another energy vampire; was that I had purchased a new freezer last summer and, of course, when you have a brand new freezer, you need to turn it to the coldest mode to get it cold, I had never turned it down. What a WASTE! Get a refrigerator/freezer thermometer and make sure that you are not having to use cooling compressors any more than you absolutely need. Cooling compressors are your biggest energy consumer.
Then, one more vampire was a light. I know, why have you not changed all your bulbs to LED? Well, this one was not quite that simple. It was a dusk to dawn light. I am aging myself, but when I was a kid, we called them “mercury lights”. You need to replace the entire fixture. You can find the same 175 wattage. They can be not just energy suckers, they can be energy eaters.
Take a look around your home. What can I turn off? What can I unplug (If there is an electronic readout it’s drawing electricity—clocks, coffee grinders, bread bakers, coffee pots—you get the idea)?
One final note, make sure that you are taking advantage of any energy saver that is available from your energy company. Since I have moved in I have installed an air conditioner, there are several programs for air conditioners that offer discounts that I have yet to sign up for.
In one month, just cutting back on WASTED energy, I have saved 133 watts from last month for a savings of $20 just in waste.
I am working on a way to install solar, so watch in the blog for how to do that--with no debt.
Just a reminder! Earth Day 2019 happens on Monday, April 22, 2019. There is no Planet B.
