Saving Electricity
There are many ways to immediately reduce electricity consumption! Saving 10% or more can likely be easily achieved in both work and home settings - some tips are listed below.
Easy things to start with are checking for "Phantom Loads" and signing up to help "Shave the Peak" as sugested in the introduction. Lighting is as easy as changing a lightbulb! Many more ideas and tips follow!
Lighting
Many residences have already switched to LED lights due to the huge savings, and ease of simply screwing in an LED lightbulb! Encouraging this change in commercial buildings where they have not yet made the switch can make a huge difference!
Use natural sunlight!
Turn all lights off at night when not in use and when going to bed (this is also beneficial for night creatures.)
Use solar powered outdoor lights.
Outdoor security lighting can be on motion sensors. Use solar powered outdoor lights.
Switch to LED lighting:
LEDs are inexpensive, versatile, and use far less energy than incandescent and significantly less than fluorescent as well.
Do not place flourescent bulbs in trash or curbside recycling as they have mercury! Seek out special recycling for these.
Turn lights off when not in use, and consider installing motion sensors where lights tend to be left on.
Place any decorative lighting on a timer so that it turns off when few people will appreciate it.
Appliances:
When replacing appliances consider the energy star rating to get more efficient models.
Refrigerator Uses 14% of electricity in some homes (don’t forget the business refrigerator too.)
Very old refrigerators may be inefficient enough that replacing them with energy star ones may be the best option. Make sure to get the right size for your needs as extra large ones will consume more energy. If you have an extra, rarely used refrigerator, store it unplugged with doors secured partly open until needed. Chest freezers with a door on top may be more efficient if you store significant frozen food (larger families or businesses.)
Clean cooling coils - recommended 2X/year
Adjust setting at the most conservative level to achieve proper cooling - adjust seasonally as needed to conserve energy and appliance wear.
Keep the door closed as much as possible
Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator
Let hot items cool before placing them in the refrigerator
Prepare for occasional power outages - solar generators are available!
Clothes Washer & Dryer
Clothes Washer
Newer front load washers use less water & extract more water during spin cycle - use eco or cold settings
The extraction of more water makes a huge difference in drying clothing.
Clothes Dryer
Clothes Dryers use a significant amount of energy.
Use a foldaway indoor drying rack or line dry when possible. This also puts less wear on clothing.
Dishwasher: Only run full loads and use eco mode (avoid heat drying); go easy on the soap (use a small amount in prewash and wash cycles.)
Computers:
Laptops, tablets and smaller devices generally consume much less energy than computers and are portable! Place device on energy saving mode or turn it off when not in use.
Cooking:
Single portable induction burners are under $50, and one of the safest, quickest, most efficient and versatile cooktop options! Entire induction ranges can be expensive, but induction burners are so efficient it is easy to cook in series or simply use a 2 burner cooktop or 2 single burners. You can easily eliminate the need for a gas stove with induction burners and a convection oven or toaster oven for nearly all uses. Converting can free up a lot of space taken up by a traditional large oven.
Utilize a pressure cooker, convection oven, or microwave rather than a gas oven.
Ease into renewable energy sources!
While relying completely on solar, wind, water, geothermal or other renewable energy is ideal, an immediate conversion may not be manageable. Fortunately, there are ways to ease into these options!
You can opt for an energy plan which prioritizes renewable energy, or you can try some options to get familiar with the technology incrementally.
Combining a solar generator battery with portable or even thin hangable solar panels can give you an experimental system to offset your power usage and also offer a backup system if the power fails.
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) battery storage is a great option offering thousands of recharging cycles.
A substantial 2000 watt/hour LiFePo4 power system, can now be obtained for about $1,300 with compact solar panels to charge it costing around $300. Small solar powered generators are closer to $100 and can be a great way to introduce kids to solar power.
This page is under construction, more tips and references at a later date. Thanks for taking action on this critical issue!
Easy things to start with are checking for "Phantom Loads" and signing up to help "Shave the Peak" as sugested in the introduction. Lighting is as easy as changing a lightbulb! Many more ideas and tips follow!
Lighting
Many residences have already switched to LED lights due to the huge savings, and ease of simply screwing in an LED lightbulb! Encouraging this change in commercial buildings where they have not yet made the switch can make a huge difference!
Use natural sunlight!
Turn all lights off at night when not in use and when going to bed (this is also beneficial for night creatures.)
Use solar powered outdoor lights.
Outdoor security lighting can be on motion sensors. Use solar powered outdoor lights.
Switch to LED lighting:
LEDs are inexpensive, versatile, and use far less energy than incandescent and significantly less than fluorescent as well.
Do not place flourescent bulbs in trash or curbside recycling as they have mercury! Seek out special recycling for these.
Turn lights off when not in use, and consider installing motion sensors where lights tend to be left on.
Place any decorative lighting on a timer so that it turns off when few people will appreciate it.
Appliances:
When replacing appliances consider the energy star rating to get more efficient models.
Refrigerator Uses 14% of electricity in some homes (don’t forget the business refrigerator too.)
Very old refrigerators may be inefficient enough that replacing them with energy star ones may be the best option. Make sure to get the right size for your needs as extra large ones will consume more energy. If you have an extra, rarely used refrigerator, store it unplugged with doors secured partly open until needed. Chest freezers with a door on top may be more efficient if you store significant frozen food (larger families or businesses.)
Clean cooling coils - recommended 2X/year
Adjust setting at the most conservative level to achieve proper cooling - adjust seasonally as needed to conserve energy and appliance wear.
Keep the door closed as much as possible
Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator
Let hot items cool before placing them in the refrigerator
Prepare for occasional power outages - solar generators are available!
Clothes Washer & Dryer
Clothes Washer
Newer front load washers use less water & extract more water during spin cycle - use eco or cold settings
The extraction of more water makes a huge difference in drying clothing.
Clothes Dryer
Clothes Dryers use a significant amount of energy.
Use a foldaway indoor drying rack or line dry when possible. This also puts less wear on clothing.
Dishwasher: Only run full loads and use eco mode (avoid heat drying); go easy on the soap (use a small amount in prewash and wash cycles.)
Computers:
Laptops, tablets and smaller devices generally consume much less energy than computers and are portable! Place device on energy saving mode or turn it off when not in use.
Cooking:
Single portable induction burners are under $50, and one of the safest, quickest, most efficient and versatile cooktop options! Entire induction ranges can be expensive, but induction burners are so efficient it is easy to cook in series or simply use a 2 burner cooktop or 2 single burners. You can easily eliminate the need for a gas stove with induction burners and a convection oven or toaster oven for nearly all uses. Converting can free up a lot of space taken up by a traditional large oven.
Utilize a pressure cooker, convection oven, or microwave rather than a gas oven.
Ease into renewable energy sources!
While relying completely on solar, wind, water, geothermal or other renewable energy is ideal, an immediate conversion may not be manageable. Fortunately, there are ways to ease into these options!
You can opt for an energy plan which prioritizes renewable energy, or you can try some options to get familiar with the technology incrementally.
Combining a solar generator battery with portable or even thin hangable solar panels can give you an experimental system to offset your power usage and also offer a backup system if the power fails.
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) battery storage is a great option offering thousands of recharging cycles.
A substantial 2000 watt/hour LiFePo4 power system, can now be obtained for about $1,300 with compact solar panels to charge it costing around $300. Small solar powered generators are closer to $100 and can be a great way to introduce kids to solar power.
This page is under construction, more tips and references at a later date. Thanks for taking action on this critical issue!