Keep it for yourself! Here are ten ideas to help save big money. Of course, if you want to give your hard earned dough to the power company, we’re sure they’d appreciate it. So would their poor shareholders. If you don’t overpay on your power bill, they might have to skip that trip to Paris… We wouldn’t want that would we? Then again, if you’d rather keep your money for yourself….
- Change every light bulb in your home or office from incandescent to compact fluorescent. See Start Small for details on just how much money you can save.
- Put a power strip on your computer “blob”. Besides saving 1-2% on your energy bill, you will add an extra layer of protection for your computer by further removing it from the electrical grid when it is turned off. See Start Small for details.
- Get a solar water heater for you home. 5000kwh for an electric water heater per year?!? That’s right. A solar water heater is such a great idea it is a total no brainer. EVERYONE should have one. See Start Medium for more details.
- Consider an exterior solar lighting system. A good system lights the outside of your home or office all night, and you’ll never see it on your power bill. See Start Small for the Queen’s favorite.
- When the time comes to replace your air conditioning unit, get the very highest SEER number you can. Many older models have a SEER number of 9 or so. The newest models go up to 23 SEER. Pretty good when you consider that for every SEER number you go up, efficiency increases 5-8%. Go from 9 to 23? You’ll save 70%+ on your cooling costs! AC units can be real hogs, so this is a fabulous opportunity. See Start Medium for more info.
- For dark interior rooms, consider an interior solar system. Almost every home has an interior room which is dark even during the day. Lighten it up during the day with no electricity involved. See Start Small.
- Start yourself on the road to alternative energy with a fun and easy gadget. Like a solar cell phone charger, or an Africa lamp used as a night light (we’ll have these available soon.)
- Consider a solar attic fan. An overheated attic means your AC system works unnecessarily hard. See Start Small for details.
- Better yet, consider changing the insulation in your attic. See Start Medium for details.
- When decorating for Christmas, consider LED lights. Even a few strings of the old style tiny lights use much more than you would think. LED’s are champs for low energy usage.
- Did we say 10? Well, here’s one more. Secretly, we all have our moments when we’d like to “stick it to the man”. Think of your energy usage in those terms. Every kwh you don’t use is one you don’t pay for – and therefore, you get to “stick it to the man” in your own small way. So change your mindset from a one marshmallow mentality to a three marshmallow mentality…. And get on the bandwagon!
