Entry bubble DOE Website for Energy-Saving Tips

By: Colleen | April 30, 2008 | Category: General

To continue on Joanne's "everyday is Earth Day" theme...gas pump

Anyone currently residing on planet Earth knows the cost of gas is soaring sky-high. Because prices at the pump are following the same trajectory as a spaceshuttle, it's important to find other ways to cut costs and reduce energy consumption.

Last week the U.S. Department of Energy launched a new website. The interactive page gives you a virtual tour of a typical home. Just click your mouse on different areas of the house and you're given tips and ideas about saving energy and costs.

One of the more interesting tips I found by clicking on the car in the driveway. It told me to "Get the junk out of the trunk and properly inflate your tires! An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your fuel efficiency by up to 2%."

Off the top of my head, if someone were to break open my trunk right now, they'd find: a pair of roller blades, a wool winter coat, my old non-functional laptop, my sister's semi-functional laptop from college, a garbage bag of old clothes I've been meaning to donate, and a heavy-duty ice scraper. And that's just the stuff of which I am AWARE. It's time for a vehicular spring cleaning.

Check out other suggestions for getting the most energy efficient appliances, and using mother nature herself as a natural means of heating and lighting. Little changes can add up to BIG savings, for both our wallets and environment.

What tricks do you have for saving money and energy? Any good tips?

| Comments [4] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: colleen  consumption  doe  energy  gas  money  saving  tips 

 

Entry bubble Baby, It’s Cold Outside

By: Sam | November 28, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

I wouldn’t call myself a snow bunny.  In fact, I dread this time of year.  The bitterly cold walks to and from the metro, the howling wind, dressing in layers…I could just skip the next couple of months.  The only thing I really look forward to is the fashion.  Who doesn’t love a good pair of boots?

But as much as I would like to live in a tropical climate year-round, I must come to terms with Old Man Winter coming back into my life.  His unwelcome appearance means it’s time to get my home ready for the winter.  Thankfully, the ultimate home improvement guru Bob Vila has put together this handy home maintenance checklist.  There are plenty of great tips whether you live in a house, town home, or apartment.  Did you know a full fridge uses less energy than empty one?  Time to stock up!

With an average American spending $1,900 annually on energy bills and half of the energy going to heating and cooling your home, we can all take steps to reduce our energy use this winter, while still remaining comfortable.  Some things I try to do are change all my air filters before heating season begins, set back my thermostat when I’m away, use compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), power down my computer and other electronics, and open my shades during the day.

To help you get started, I’ve put together some of my favorite resources that give you easy ways to lower your energy bill and make a big difference in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Please share any tips that you have about how to winterize your home or lower your energy bill. 

| Comments [1] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: energy  heating  home  money  winter 

 

Entry bubble You Light Up My Life

By: Sommer | September 28, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if every household in the United States replaced just ONE regular incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star approved compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) we’d save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.  Now that’s all well and good, but come on, let’s be realistic here. How does that really apply to you and me?

I used the Energy Department’s lighting cost calculator* to see how much money my family might save if we replaced all our light bulbs with CFL’s. I tried to do a rough count in my head and I think we have around 25 light bulbs in our townhouse. So, after the cost of new light bulbs (estimated at $3.50 each) we’d save about $134 in the first year.

Now, I have to be honest that I was a little disappointed by that small dollar amount. Especially since we live in a housing co-op and split our utility bills with the other 159 homes in the neighborhood. Our family won’t directly see any of the benefit so what’s the use, right? There has to be a way we could save some money from this, though, so next I calculated the cost difference if all 160 homes in our community replaced their estimated 25 incandescent bulbs with new CFL’s, too. If everyone changes their bulbs we’re bound to see a difference, right? Right! After the first year, our co-op would save more than $35,000 just in electric bills!!! Now that seems like a bargain! Even if the co-op coughed up the money and purchased all 4,000 CFL’s for the homes to make sure everyone switched them out we’d still save around $21,000 the first year. Even better, over the estimated 6,000 hour lifetime of the 4,000 CFL’s we’d save $158,000! And that’s just in our little corner of Falls Church, VA. Imagine the impact we’d have if all 100 million households in the U.S. chipped in and did their part. The results would be astounding – maybe even $600 million dollars!

*The calculator is a Microsoft Excel document so if you don’t have Excel you won’t be able to open the link.

| Comments [15] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: conservation  energy  home  money  sommer