Comments on: Save Money on Utilities

By: ryan

ryan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:52:46 +0000

There is some great information in this post. Also consider the following to save money:
- Increase the temperature of your fridge – it accounts for about 15% of your electricity bill
- Turn down your water heater to 130C and insulate the first 2m (6′) of pipes
- Stop using the extra rinse – it can use up to 40 gallons of water.
- Open blinds in the day to increase solar heat during the winter

Check out the following site for several more money saving tips:
http://www.intelligentmoneymanager.com/reduce-utility-expenses.htm

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:44:39 +0000

Simple tip to save on heating bills: Close/seal air vents and shut the door to rooms you aren’t using during the day. Why heat them? Same advice works in summer for air conditioning too.

By: Amber Weinberg

Amber Weinberg — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:08:45 +0000

I downsized my place of living – from a 3 bed 2 bath to a 750 sq ft one bed one bath..my heating bill actually went up 3 times as much. It’s what I get for living in this old apartments >_< Also TVA keeps upping our bills from $10-$20 every month. It’s ridiculous!

By: Andrea Paulinelli

Andrea Paulinelli — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:59:15 +0000

Toilets account for approx. 30% of water used indoors. By installing a Dual Flush toilet you can save between 40% and 70% of drinking water being flushed down the toilet, depending how old the toilet is you are going to replace.
If you are serious about saving water, want a toilet that really works and is affordable, I would highly recommend a Caroma Dual Flush toilet. Caroma toilets offer a patented dual flush technology consisting of a 0.8 Gal flush for liquid waste and a 1.6 Gal flush for solids. On an average of 5 uses a day (4 liquid/ 1 solid) a Caroma Dual Flush toilet uses an average of 0.96 gallons per flush. The new Sydney Smart uses only 1.28 and 0.8 gpf, that is an average of 0.89 gallons per flush. This is the lowest water consumption of any toilet available in the US. Caroma, an Australian company set the standard by giving the world its first successful two button dual flush system in the nineteen eighties and has since perfected the technology. Also, with a full 3.5″ trapway, these toilets virtually never clog. All of Caroma’s toilets are on the list of WaterSense labeled HET’s http://www.epa.gov/watersense/pp/find_het.htm and also qualify for several toilet rebate programs available in the US. Please visit my blog http://pottygirl.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/what-you-should-know-about-toilets/ to learn more or go to http://www.caromausa.com to learn where you can find Caroma toilets locally. Visit http://www.ecotransitions.com/howto.asp to see how we flush potatoes with 0.8 gallons of water, meant for liquids only. Best regards, Andrea Paulinelli

By: Devin Elder

Devin Elder — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:29:31 +0000

Ha, I just put a bottle in the toilet the other day…

By: kosmo

kosmo — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:55:27 +0000

Jumping off from Saver’s comment – often, the energy company will also charge different rates if you agree to one of their programs. A couple of programs that I’m aware of (obviously, these will vary by market):

1) They give you better rates for off-peak, but worse rate for peak, in an effort to get you to shift heavy usage (washing clothes) to off-peak. For example, they’ll charge you 90% of normal rate during off-peak, but 110% of normal rate during peak. If most of your usage is already off-peak, this makes a lot of sense.

2) You get a better rate in exchange for allowing the electric company to cut your power in times of extreme demand. This seems to apply mostly on those August days with a heat index of 115 and air conditioners running full blast. Some of the local schools take advantage of this (although there has been some grumbling in recent years, as some have had to cancel a few days of school)

By: Saver in the City

Saver in the City — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:32:32 +0000

In my city, the energy company provides a programmable thermostat for free in exchange for signing up for a program that gives them permission to cycle your energy use during peak periods (which, to my knowledge has not happened once in the three years I’ve lived here). I’d recommend checking with your energy company/city to see if they offer something similar.

That said, I unfortunately have one of those roommates who is too dense (or lazy) to understand the concept of a programmable thermostat. Regardless of the temperature, she turns the heat/air on as soon as she walks into the house. It drives me up the fricking wall!

By: jim

jim — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:27:40 +0000

Glad to see the programmable thermostat is the #1 option, it’s cheap relative to how much you save and it’s easy to install (most of the time).

By: kosmo

kosmo — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:33:55 +0000

We replaced our programmable thermostat a few years ago (shortly after moving into the house). Somehow, the previous owners had allowed the batteries (AAs used for backup) to become COMPLETELY corroded – to the point that the battery area basically came apart in my hands when I went to change to batteries.

I think the thermostat cost somewhere in the $60 range. Ours has weekday/saturday/sunday programs (as opposed to the slightly more expensive ones that allow you to customize every day of the week). I was able to install it myself … which basically means that 90% of the population should be able to handle the task.

If this country is serious about energy independence, we need to harness the power of hamsters. Get a few dozen hamsters, turn them loose on some wheels, and capture the power that is generated. If you put the little guys through strength and conditioning excercises to build up their endurance (and maybe a wee bit of flaxseed oil), you could probably power your entire house. Then capture the hamster output (er, the poop) and burn it to generate even more energy!

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:34:03 +0000

My wife and I are building a house right now. I’mgoing to talk to HVAC about programmable thermostat. I’m all about savings.

By: Richer and Slimmer

Richer and Slimmer — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:03:05 +0000

Great post. I actually have one scheduled to be published on the 28th about the same subject – some additional tips I have about keeping warm in my post include:
– wearing warm clothes at home so that you can keep the heater low
– using a space heater like the presto heat dish instead of your room heater
– using a hot water bag to keep warm
– drinking warm tea and soup during the winter
There are a few more tips in the entire article, and you can find it at http://www.richerandslimmer.com/ on January 28th.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:06:22 +0000

She owns the home outright

By: Kristy @ Master Your Card

Kristy @ Master Your Card — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:54:00 +0000

These are all great tips, and simple ones that some people just don’t think of. You forgot turning off the lights when you leave a room (surprisingly there are a good number of people who don’t do this regularly), turning off your computer when you’re done for the day…leaving it on consumes a lot of power, and then I also use the automatic power strips that shut off when the electronics plugged into them are not in use for a period of time.

BTW – I think I’d have a stroke if I opened my electric bill and it said $700…I’d just die right there on the spot for $900. I can’t believe how expensive it is in Boston. And I can only imagine what your mother is paying in rent/mortgage! My condolences to her for that!

By: Jason from MoneyTheory

Jason from MoneyTheory — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:01:07 +0000

CFLs make for such a great way to save energy. The price has come down considerably over the past few years, so they are much less expensive than I think many people realize!

A programmable thermostat is a great thing to have too, but if you don’t have one or can’t afford one at the moment, it certainly pays to always be conscious of what it is set on, and to always remember to adjust it before you leave the house, before bed, or to whatever other setting will be the most energy efficient.

Thanks for bringing such an important subject to light!