Good Habits?

We have covered a lot of ground concerning energy-efficient appliances and equipment. So what if you have taken all our advice? Will that necessarily reduce your bill by hundreds of dollars a year? Maybe, but if you've replaced your lights, windows, and air conditioning, put in new appliances, but the bill still seems too high - its time to check your habits.

>Jason: This week's post probably should have been written first, but it just seemed too mundane to talk about until now. I feel the need to remind you of what you already know. I'm going to start with lighting. When you walk into a room, what is the first thing you do? You turn on the lights. When you leave the room though, do you shut your lights off? If the answer is "No," check your habits. an average light bulb will cost you $15 per year, assuming 3 hours of use per day. An average CFL will only cost you $3 per year with the same assumptions. But both of these figures increase incrementally as you leave the lights on longer. Granted, changing the bulb will decrease your bill, but changing your habits can decrease your bill even more. Also, leaving a light on adds heat into your room. In winter, this can be a cozy benefit, but in summer your lights will always work against your air conditioner. In fact, an incandescent light can add up to 3 degrees per hour in a a small room. Thats like running a small heater in your house.

>Ken: How about air conditioning, and heating? If you are gone all day, what do you leave the temperature at? If you shut it off, the temperature in summer can increase in an inefficient home to well over 90 degrees. Then turning the AC on when you get home can be expensive because it isn't just the air that has heated up. The walls, furniture and floors have all heated to the same temperature. That means the entire house has to be cooled which can take a lot of time and energy. Starting with an efficient AC unit of at least 13 SEER, set the temperature 8 to 10 degrees from the ideal. In other words, in summer if you like the temperature to be 78 degrees, set the thermostat to 85 degrees when you leave. In winter, do the same thing. If you like the temperature at 68 degrees, set it to 60 degrees when you leave. The building won't take nearly as long to become comfortable, and the energy demand will be decreased.

>Jason: Of course, leaving your doors or windows open will let all of your conditioned air escape outside, doing you no good at all. Remember that the more sealed your home is inside, the more effective your AC or heater will be. Anyway, we're about done for today. Take this with you: your practices in your home will largely determine your cost in your home. In my home, if I'm careful I can use less than $100 of power all month, even in summer. With someone else in my home, it has gone up by more than 30%. This was all costs due to bad practices. In closing, remember that power flowing in you house is money flowing out of your pocket...every second. Ok, that's all. Be energy smart!