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Interesting ways to save money on electricity
Spring is officially here in Nashville. It will bring some much needed relief to my wallet by encouraging me to venture outdoors, enjoy the weather, and turn out the lights when I leave.
Summertime is fast approaching. With the heat brings increased power consumption and a hefty electric bill. It gets hot down here in the south and the air conditioner is a transplanted Yankee's best friend. While I'm basking in my cold comfortable home I will also be using my computer, watching television, or cooking in the kitchen. Like the winter months, it is easy to spend endless hours inside consuming loads of energy.
It's not just consumers who are paying attention. Businesses are taking note as well. I was just reading a an article in the Nashville Scene, WKRN to Douse Lights. Apparently WKRN, Channel 2, in Nashville is planning on using dark screens for backgrounds and minimal lighting for their newscasts in hopes of setting themselves apart from competition and saving serious bucks on electricity. I vote for a film-noir look and I encourage WKRN to ditch the color and go black and white.
“We think this will really make our newscasts stand out from the competition,” Kinsey says. “The dark screen gives a ‘theater of the mind’ aspect to the news, and those shadows look especially good on HD sets.” The “shadowcast” plan is only the latest cost-cutting scheme management has put forth at the perennial third-place news station. Four years ago, the station adopted a “video journalism” model in which reporters and photographers cross-trained and worked solo, rather than in two-person teams.
Supercheap Electricity has some really good tips for home and small business owners to follow:
1. Adjust your water heater's temperature to 120 degrees (save up to 10 percent on water heating costs; verify this by placing a thermometer below some of your taps). Most people in general don't comprehend that their electric water heater is essentially constantly on heating the water.
If you will set the water temperature around 120 degrees your water heater will not have to re-heat the water as much as it does at hotter temperatures therefore saving you electricity and money.
2. Wash and dry only full loads of garments. Use cold water as much as possible (save 2 to 4 percent on your energy costs). This additionally saves time when you plan ahead and wash a full load of your items. Who wants to fold their stuff more than necessary?
3. As a general rule, typically once a month, change your air conditioner's air filter (save up to 5 percent on your yearly electricity bill). Moreover, this helps with dust and dirt in the air making your house cleaner and more enjoyable place to live.
4. Put compact fluorescent lights in high-use fixtures (save close to 66 percent on lighting cost per light). Furthermore, these type of lights manage to last much longer than the conventional light bulbs that many of us use today.
5. On hot, sunny days, keep your drapes shut on windows facing to the south and west (save 2 to 4 percent on your energy bill). The drapes will help keep the suns heat from heating up your house which means you use less energy to stay comfortable.
What are your tips?
If you have any genius tips for being frugal with electricity we'd love to hear them. Feel free to leave them in the comments below.
Posted on March 27, 2008
