General Power Saving Tips

[James Taylor]

Thanks for sharing helpful information on saving energy. Recently I went through the website of Torch Energy an energy advisor. They provided excellent energy saving tips which can help in reducing energy bills.

 

[~gd]

Strange as it may sound check with your Power company, Many of them are pushing for power savings because pf the huge expense and hassle of building new plants to supply power. In most states they are regulated utillies that have to go to the government to build new or even to raise rates [most are allowed to keep PART of the money saved. They don't offer cheap power savings bulbs out of the goodnessf their hearts. Mamy offer budget plans.energy audits, and will loan meters that will allow you to quickly see how well your changes are working {the meter is not senstive enough to do that] HOWEVER DO NOT ALLOl them to install a device to limit your power durning peak demand periods! In the South they mention Air Conditioning but the truth is these devices will eat any electric motor for Lunch because they "brown out" your power first. Durning a brown out lights will dim. TVs and monitors pictures will shrink around the edges and Motors tend to Overheat! I was on my third motor before my repair guy tolld me why. During Peak times the whole grid is on the edge of a brownout, the device clicks on and your power is deverted to others and you suffer both the real brown out and the one produced by the device. I just received a new request because one power company bought out my old power company. To induce me to accept the device they offered FIVE DOLLARS/YEAR! gress where I told them to kiss me.~gd

 

[jamescolon]

Switch off the lights at right time

 

[Marianne]

Did I miss it? Hanging your laundry to dry will save you probably $20 a month. It all adds up, but the clothes dryer was our biggest energy glut. I dry clothes for 5 minutes with a couple of dry towels, then hang inside.

 

[katev]

Great threads. I think only by a small action, we may save more and more. And who know, if 7 billions have 7 billion action, we may save the Earth, right?

 

[sumi]

Welcome to SS @katev You are exactly right. All the small things adds up nicely and makes a big difference in the long run.

The electricity saving tip I can add here is to fill your deep freeze. A full freezer needs much less power to keep everything frozen, compared to keeping air at the required temperature. Not everyone can keep their freezers chic-a-block with food all the time, us included, so we fill empty freezer space with bottles of water. Once that water is frozen the previous empty space is filled with ice, which makes the freezer's workload lighter = less electricity needed.

 

[Denim Deb]

And if you're buying a freezer, don't get one that's frost free. It uses more electricity and doesn't keep things as cold as one that you need to defrost.

 

[Britesea]

and chest freezers are better than uprights- Since cold air sinks, you lose some of your cold air every time you open the door of an upright compared to a chest freezer which keeps the cold air in.

 

[Hinotori]

Frost free actually increase freezer burn and the food doesn't last as long in them because of it. They have to heat around the coils to get rid of the frost. I did not get a frost free when I bought my freezer even though the guy was trying to push me towards one that was much more expensive. I told him why I didn't want the frost free and he was "they can't be that bad".

I wish sometimes I could make it sound like I was stressed and panicky like Mom does. They tried to sell her an extended warranty on her fridge. She went on "Is there something wrong with this fridge? Is the brand bad? Should I not get this? Is the manufacturers warranty no good?" She had that guy going really good. The fridge was way on sale and special, she got it for less than a third of the price. The extended warranty would have cost more than the fridge did.

 

[goatgurl]

@Hinotori, i think i would like your mom. i don't really have anything else to add for energy savings. youall have pretty much covered it all. the only thing i can think of is to buy your heating oil now and get the summer rate instead of waiting till there is a chill in the air. i do that with propane and save hundreds of $.