Shave Your Utility Bills By Going Green

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By Shades7

Disclosure: With the exception to the CFL data, stats provided by citations have not been independently verified by the author. I have no affiliation with any of these products nor companies.

Enter 'how to go green' into Google and the search will return 167,000,000 hits. Wow. Talk about information overload. If you are considering lowering your carbon footprint, you should just start with the basics and work your way up.

Change your light bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) consume 66% less energy than comparable incandescent bulbs, yet last up to 10 times longer. Let's say you have 16 light bulbs in your home. Replacing them with CFLs would save $70 per year. Over the lifetime of the CFLs, you would save $638. (Based on 60 watt incandescent bulbs with 750 hours of life replaced with 14 watt CFLs with a 10,000 hrs life at 3 hours a day use, at a rate of 0.088/kWh.)

For more information about CFL's including their disposal, go to Energy Star.

Appliances

Make sure all of your appliances have the Energy Star seal. Update any that do not have the seal.

Unplug

Did you know the clock on your VCR uses approximately $12 a year? Your cell phone charger continues to use electricity if it remains plugged in to the socket. Put all of your computer peripherals on a surge strip and turn it off when you are not using them. If you are an infrequent computer user, your tower will need to be plugged in enough to keep the battery charged. Other items to unplug include DVD players, stereos, portable stereos, game chargers and appliances (microwaves, toasters, blenders, mixers, can openers, etc.).

Use a clothesline

Your dryer is most likely the biggest energy using appliance in your home. It is surpassed only by the refrigerator. Since winter is nearly upon us, the clothesline idea sounds like an impossible proposition. No problem. Simply visit your local hardware store and purchase a kit that is installed in your home. The device is attached to one wall and a retractable line is pulled to another wall and hooked. When your laundry is dry, the line retracts.

Once summer is upon us once again, build the clothesline in the back yard as well. Don't worry, you don't have to be an expert to build one. Plans are available on the Internet.

Not using your dryer when it's hot outside will allow a decrease in your air conditioning. Another positive: using a clothesline will cut down on ironing. Just smooth the clothes while they are still wet. The electricity that would have been used by the iron has been saved.

Insulate hot-water heater and pipes

Your home's hot-water pipes transfer heat into the air very efficiently. Unfortunately this efficiency is very bad for your pockets and the environment. Say the water you use is a toasty 105 degrees when you take your shower or wash your hands before starting dinner. You'll need to wait a while before the water is more than just lukewarm.

Insulate all accessible pipes by encasing them in rubber or polyethylene foam tubes. These tubes come with an adhesive-coated slit down the middle, so you just ease them over the pipe and press the ends closed. Seal the seams with duct tape. Unless your water heater already has an R-value of at least R-24, adding insulation to it can reduce standby heat losses by 25%–45%. This will save you around 4%–9% in water heating costs. Insulating your storage water heater tank is fairly simple and inexpensive and it will pay for itself in about a year. You can find precut jackets or blankets available from around $10–$20. Choose one with an insulating value of at least R-8. You can probably install an insulating precut jacket or blanket on your electric water heater tank yourself. Read and follow the directions carefully.

To prevent overheated wiring, leave the thermostat access panel uncovered and don't set the thermostat above 130ºF. Installation on a gas water heater tank is more difficult. A qualified contractor is the best idea but if you feel you can handle it, read and follow the directions very carefully. The insulation is combustible!

Plant Trees Trees use the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When the trees mature (typically about 5 years), they could save you as much as 40 percent on your cooling costs if planted on the south, east and west sides of your house. In urban areas, where concrete and asphalt absorb and hold in heat, the trees will help dissipate the heat.

You should contact your city's public works department before planting any trees. Some trees' roots plug water or sewer lines. Your city's zoning laws may also restrict certain types of trees.

Install a programmable thermostat

Some people are dissuaded by the estimated $50 cost of a programmable thermostat. With an estimated annual savings of $100, few upgrades pay for themselves as quickly as this one can. A programmable thermostat allows you to adjust your heating and air-conditioning to match your family's schedule. For example, you can set it to lower heat at bedtime and have it resume in time to be warm when everyone gets up. It can again be lowered while everyone is out for the day.

For every degree you lower your thermostat for an 8-hour period, you cut energy costs by about one percent. If you reduce the heat by 10 degrees overnight, you'll have a 10 percent savings.

Install aerators on faucets

Aerators are mesh screens which screw onto the end of your faucet. Water drops are broken up by the mesh giving you the rinsing power you need while saving water.

Clean your refrigerator coils and under the refrigerator

Refrigerator coils cannot transfer heat efficiently if they are dusty. As a result it take more energy to cool the contents. There are attachments you can buy for your vacuum cleaner for use on refrigerators and specialty brushes. Coils are typically on the back of the refrigerator or underneath. If they are on the back, you still need to clean underneath.

Replace weatherstripping and caulk around windows and doors

Seals around windows and doors wear out and let winter's bitter cold air into your home. You promptly crank up the thermostat to fight the chill. Winterize all of your windows and doors to help combat this. Clear plastic winterizing kits are also available for windows. The plastic acts as another layer of glass. You won't be able to gaze out your windows for the winter but you will be warmer.

Eliminate electric spotlights

Install motion sensor outdoor floodlights. You will save a lot on electricity and your neighbors will probably appreciate it as well. Better yet, install a solar motion sensor floodlight and save even more.

Catch rainwater

When it rains, it goes through your eves, out through the downspout and out into the yard. It's done nothing to help you and in some cases adds to erosion. Put out barrels to catch rain water in your yard and from the eves. When it's time to water flowers or gardens, you'll have free water to use.

Make a compost pile

You can enclose the pile to protect pets, but this will keep all of your food waste out of the landfills. Once the pile has decomposed, you have free fertilizer for your plants.

Recycle

Soda cans, coffee cans, plastic bottoms, plastic grocery bags, cardboard, paper and numerous other items can be recycled. The most difficult thing about recycling is finding facilities. Once you've determined which facilities take what, it's just a matter of keeping the products separated. Some facilities even pay you for the items you drop off.

You Renew will pay you for any electronic item and even pays the shipping. You can get a free quote on their website. They also accept batteries.

Trade-ups will also pay for any electronic item, however, the shipping is deducted from the amount you are owed. Nothing goes into a landfill. If it cannot be recycled, it is stored.

Install a recirculating pump under the sink

While you stand around waiting for hot water to arrive at your sink, more than 2-3 gallons of water is going down the drain. You are also losing the energy that went into heating it.

Now you can install an on-demand recirculating pump under the sink. The pump captures the cool water before it exits and sends it back to the water heater. Once the water is hot enough for your use, the pump shuts off, you turn on the tap and the water is nice and warm for use. This process saves water and energy. The water going back to the heater is usually slightly warm so it takes less energy to heat it. The pump moves water faster than a typical faucet which means less heat loss in the pipes. The recirculating pumps range in price from $200 - $500.

Switch to a convection oven

If you have a small family, heating a large oven is a huge waste of resources. For about a hundred dollars, you can purchase a Cooks convection oven ideal for baking cookies, defrosting frozen tv dinners or roasting poultry. They have a custom curve for cooking a 12-inch pizza. Other features: toast, bake, broil, keep warm, defrost and rotisserie. Cook up to a 10-pound turkey.

And the best part? Food is cooked much more evenly. Meats will be juicy - not dry. More information is available about any of these topics – and more – on the Internet.

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