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Thought of the Week (7/28/2010)
Reducing Energy Usage
The easiest and least
expensive way to save money and energy is to simply reduce the amount of
energy that you currently use in your household. For some people this is a real
eye-opener and an option they can embrace and use to save a tremendous
amount of money. But in order to
really reduce energy usage substantially this strategy often requires
constant attention and a change in daily habits. Some people do not want to mess with
this and would rather move to one of the other strategies that requires
a do-it-and-forget-about-it approach.
The strategy of
reduction is focused almost entirely on looking at the existing
appliances, fixtures, electronics & lighting in the household and
determining how they could be used differently to save energy; for
instance, turning off lights when they are not in use.
You may be rolling
your eyes right now, thinking “Does this guy really expect me to believe
my monthly bills will be reduced substantially by shutting off the
kitchen light when I leave the room?”
It is normal to dismiss the “small” things that can be done to
save energy, since they seem as though their impact is so little. How could they really save enough money
to be worth the effort? Before you
dismiss these opportunities though, let’s run through a quick
example.
And remember, you
don’t necessarily have to fully understand the calculation. But it is important that you trust in
the calculation – no smoke and mirrors – you need to believe that you
really can save money!
The remainder of the article
is continued below▼
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View the Book
Could You
Use More Money?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could
find extra money right inside the walls of your own home?
There
are many steps you can take to save energy in your own home, and we
have detailed the simplest ones and the ones that can save you the most
money with the least amount of effort.
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Continuation
of the article begins here:
Calculation
Example:
These are the
assumptions for this example:
There are two 150-watt flood lights in the backyard that need
to be on at
night for security, but they often get left on in the day
as well. There are two 60-watt
lights in the garage that get left on a couple of days each week all day
long. Last, including all taxes
and all fees, the electric company charges $0.10/kWh
(Kilowatt Hour1) for electricity. Of course, this will be slightly higher
or lower depending on the city you live in, but it’s pretty realistic for
most locations.
For this
example here
are the factors we are dealing with:
-Two 150-watt lights in the backyard =
300 watts
-The Two 150-watt lights are sometimes
left on all day. Let’s say they’re
left on 3 days/week for an extra 14 hours each day. That equals 42 hours/week or approximately
168 hours/month.
-Two 60-watt lights in the garage = 120
watts
-The Two 60-watt lights are sometimes
left on all day. Let’s say they’re
left on only 2 days/week, but they’re left on all day and night (24
hours) each day. That equals 48
hours/week or approximately 192 hours/month.
-Electricity costs $0.10/kWh
In this example
the calculation looks like this:
300 watts x 168 hours/month = 50,400
watt hours
120 watts x 192 hours/month = 23,040
watt hours
50,400 + 23,040 = 73,440 watt hours
73,440/1000 = 73.44 kilowatt hours
73.44 x $0.10
= $7.34 saved over the course of the month simply by turning off two
light switches. That’s over $88
per year.
1Kilowatt Hour - A unit of energy
equal to the work done by powering a Kilowatt (1000 watts) for one
hour. For instance, the energy
required to power ten 100-watt light bulbs for one hour would be a
Kilowatt Hour.
Now,
your first thought might be that $7.34 is not really that much money, and
in this day and age, you’re kind of right, but I would challenge you on
two points:
- If
you saw $5 or even $1 lying in the street, wouldn’t you bend down to
pick it up? The effort to
turn off those two light switches a few extra times each week is
hardly more than bending down to pick up that dollar.
- If
we are honest with ourselves, most of us will realize that we have
more than just two lights that are left on for a few hours here and
there each day. When you add
those up, your savings could easily be double that in our
example. And some of you who
have large homes, several children, lots of outdoor lighting, etc.
know that in your particular situation you would save triple or
quadruple that in our example or even more. I have seen homes where the simple
act of becoming diligent about turning off lights inside and outside
of the house has saved over $100 each month – That’s $1200/year!
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