can we really save on electric bills?

[Punchy Kaby]

We have a 2700 Sq foot house and we currently do almost nothing to help conserve energy. Finally DH is willing to entertain changes to our habits, will we really see savings?

DH and DS leave lights on all the time. DH likes to have TONS of lights on in our kitchen/family room and I was thinking of moving a couple lights out of there so there are less to turn on. He constantly leaves his Xbox on and sometimes the TV. I am going to try putting them on a power strip right in front of the tv so all of it can easily be turned off (unplugged). Going to also try the kitchen appliances on a power strip. We are also going to turn the temp up in the house this summer (we have kept it at 70, which is way too cold for me to be comfortable anyway) I was thinking 75 (its hot here!) The computers can also be switched off at the power strip.

Will we really see a difference in our monthly electric bills?

[yeahwhat]

My stepfather leaves several lights on pretty much all the time. Just switching to CFLs on all of the lights he leaves on anyway led to a significant reduction in their energy bill. They have gas heat and hot water, so lights make up a more significant portion of their bill than they do for some people.

Turning up the thermostat to 75 will reduce your bill over what you'd have spent at 70. Outside temperature also counts though, so if it's a much warmer year, you won't necessarily see much of a savings over the previous year. We keep our heat fairly low in winter, and still notice huge differences year to year depending on how cold the winter was.

Turning off lights, tvs, etc., and switching to cfls will also save on your air conditioning costs since all of those give off heat.

[sunnysandiegan]

Can you see your usage more often than once a month (on the bill)? Our Gas & Electric company teamed up with Google Power Meter (free) and I get a weekly email showing our electricity usage. It also compares our weekly usage to other's weekly usage. (I don't recall the criteria or parameters, but it is useful in a basic comparison way.)

I found it quite on accident by looking for online copies of old bills on our G&E website for something in this forum. There was a small icon stating something that caught my eye. That linked me to Google and it was a simple sign-up procedure where the two companies share our meter information. We have a SmartMeter, so it is easy for this info to be shared.

Anyway, one week is much easier to sustain a new habit and seeing the results spurs the new habit further, etc. At one point, I could also see daily usage if I went into my account on Google. I forgot my password, though, and there seems to be no way for retrieval or revival of the account. (ETA: There is a link to do this, but nothing happens when I fill it in.) I don't know if that option still exists, but I still receive the weekly email and it is fun to play around with various scenarios to see which ones reduce the energy bill and which don't matter.

[nd_deadhead]

Our electric meter (and gas and water, for that matter) are all displayed somewhere in our home - the water by the main shutoff in the basement, the gas and electric outside, where they come into the house. If you recorded the reading at the same time every day, you could get daily usage - or hourly, if you wanted to compare having tings on with having things off. Remember, though, that a refrigerator is a big eletric user, so if you want to monitor other things, unplug the fridge first (just remember to plug it back in!)

Of course turning off lights and unplugging TVs/computers will make a difference. I definitely think it's worth a look.

And I second the idea of CFL bulbs. I am gradually replacing all our incandescent bulbs with CFLs, as they burn out.

[cristeen]

Computer equipment is another big energy suck. As is an electric clothes dryer. By putting all the computer equipment on a power switch and flipping it off before bed each night, you should see a difference. And committing to line drying even 1 or 2 loads/week should show a difference also.

Also - any nightlights you may have that are incandescent... replace them with LED nightlights. They suck a LOT less energy.

Oh, and unplug things like cell phone chargers, anything with a converter box at the plug is continually sucking power.

[Punchy Kaby]

The igoogle thing looks really cool! Unfortunately it is hardly anywhere yet. I asked a neighbor where our electric meter is and it's 5 houses away! I'm going to go out tomorrow and see if I can take a reading.

[sunnysandiegan]

Thanks to your thread, I pursued the issue with our power company and Google Power Meter. I tried several different things online and finally called the G&E company. The initial contact was somewhat clueless, but polite and effective in getting me a callback from a tech. The tech understood the issue, but cannot do anything about it right now. Google and our power company have temporarily stopped the data sharing due to some "behind-the-scenes" work (whatever that means). The tech is checking into the situation to see if my issue is related to the work they're doing or if there is someone else who can help me through Google.

Anyway, back on topic, yes, I can relate to wacky meter locations! Even if you have to see the results with your monthly bill, it is likely to be worth the effort. Seriously, though, the fridge is a HUGE contributor to the electricity usage every month (percentage-wise). We don't unplug it in our messing around, though. Before Google Power Meter, we compared the usage from month to month and from year to year...right on the bill and easy to see. Month to month is good for short-term changes, like turning off lights and computers, etc. on a consistent basis. Year to year is good for seasonal issues and how you handle them differently this year compared to last, like A/C and heating, etc.

[JamieCatheryn]

They sell meters to plug in to specific items to measure the power usage, you can measure your entertainment center's usage with a Kill-A-Watt meter if that will help you make the case for shutting it off after use.

[CookiePie]

You should see a difference if you do the things that you mentioned. We were able to cut ours back.

[mnnice]

Do you have an electric dryer? We stopped using our dryer about 18 months ago and it saves us in the neighborhood of $20-30 per month and was about a third of our power consumption.

We found out that DH and I both like to hang up laundry and now it's just part of the routine.

[bananahands]

I found this site helpful when I was trying to decide how to tackle the electric-bill challenge: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/

There's a lot to digest, but the information seems solid.

[TEAK's Mom]

A couple of years ago, an avalanche took out the lines to the hydroelectric plant that powers my town. The city had to run diesel generators for six weeks and the cost of electricity quintupled for that time period. We had a powerful incentive to drastically reduce our electric use. Some of the things we did during that time are a little drastic and we ceased using them (mostly raw food). Here are some of the changes we kept:

*CFL bulbs in all fixtures
*Line dry clothes as much as possible (and since we live in a rainforest, we line dry in the basement)
*We put a vacation timer on the refrigerator so that it turns off for a couple of hours at a time in the middle of the night. Since no one opens it during this time, it does not measurably warm up inside. I was amazed at how much this saved.
*Cook double recipes so that you can make a meal or two from left-overs.
*Put all electronics on power strips and turn the strips off when not in use.

[karkli]

I don't have anything to add for reducing your electric bill, but I wanted to mention something that helped me when we started monitoring our electricity usage and our finances a few years ago.

We, too, used to use the "But it's hot here!" excuse to justify keeping our a/c on all the time and at a low temperature. It took us a while to get used to having our house a little warmer during the summer months, but instead of thinking "It's hot; therefore, we need to keep the house extra cool," we now think "It's hot; therefore, keeping the thermostat a couple degrees higher will still feel good when we come in from outside."

In other words, if it's 80 degrees out and you come into a 75 degree house, it won't feel all that different. But if it's 100 degrees out and you come into a 78 degree house, it will feel nice and cool!

And, yes, those few degrees can make a difference on your electric bill.

Good luck! I know how hard it is to change habits.

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by TEAK's Mom

*We put a vacation timer on the refrigerator so that it turns off for a couple of hours at a time in the middle of the night. Since no one opens it during this time, it does not measurably warm up inside. I was amazed at how much this saved.

This is awesome!

[SleeplessMommy]

The xbox burns 185 Watts during play,
157 Watts at idle, 2.5 watts at standby.

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-356-4.htm

It is a GREAT idea to turn it off when not in use.

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by SleeplessMommy

The xbox burns 185 Watts during play,
157 Watts at idle, 2.5 watts at standby.

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-356-4.htm

It is a GREAT idea to turn it off when not in use.

Thanks for posting that link! We have a Wii and I don't recall if Connect24 is on or off, but I'll be making sure it is OFF in the future!

[ErikaLeigh]

We do not run the AC at all. We simply have a floor fan that runs in the room that we are in or if it is breezy outside we open the doors and windows and let it air the house.

I LOVE the idea about the vacation time with the fridge.

A lot of people think too that just because nothing is plugged into the plug that it is not draining

For example my laptop charger has a little bitty light idicator to let me know that it is gaining power from the wall and i make sure that i unplug it because otherwise it is drawing power that we call vampire power!

Yes you can see a drastic change if you make small changes in the home. Line drying is something great or if that is not an option (there are SO many ways to line dry!) then drying your clothes in the later part of the afternoon is better because it doesnt heat the house up!

Good luck on lowering the bill!