Thursday, July 17, 2014

Curbing Electricity Use

My electrical company has recently starting sending out monthly energy usage reports, comparing our home to typical homes of the same size.  It reveals something I don't like!


My home is the blue line, which is significantly higher, on a consistent basis, compared the the gray line, which shows the typical energy usage of a home my size.  I'd like my blue line to be much closer to the green line, which represents the energy usage of an energy efficient home.  

I'll admit that I'm lazy on several things, so we had a family discussion about not being lazy when it comes to energy usage and finding ways to cut down.  We already have energy efficient light bulbs, so that's not an issue.  Here's what we came up with.

1.  Shutting down the home computer when finished.  We used to let it go into hibernation, but energy is still being used in this mode.

2.  Turning off the printer and computer monitor instead of letting them sleep.

3.  Unplugging phone chargers.  They use energy while plugged in, even if there is no phone connected.

4.  Using a power strip and turning it off when done with the TV.  Same as phone.  Energy is still drawn when plugged in but off.  

5.  Taking shorter showers.  I think we all take long showers quite frequently and hot water is using energy.

A couple of these we started a month ago and there's a drop in our usage compared to the typical home for June, but more months are needed to see if this is a continuing trend.  Check back in a couple of months for our progress on curbing our energy usage.

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