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ok, well I went back online and read the bill in pdf and it says consumers copped a break because the higher rates will actually apply to the June bill. So I called AEL&P just to ask a few questions and CSR said that yes the June bill will be higher, based on May useage and that they expect the June bill to be the highest because repairs are expected sooner than first reported. She did check my useage since my last reading on May 9th and said I'm using 22kwh per day and that is pretty low and my April total useage was low.
Basically we don't turn on any lights unless absolutely necessary. TV on only if being watched. Now I haven't gone to the lengths some have such a hanging clothes out to dry. No-I use my washer and dryer, but only twice a week. I use my dishwaher once a week. Showers/baths kept to a minimum. We unplug appliances that can be unplugged when not in use. I'll add other things as I think of them......but someone is on the phone for me right now...be back later...
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Originally Posted by Alaskagrl
This is a good topic; what have you been doing for conservation Dream?
Kewl...I'm not much of a "greenie" but neither do I believe in waste--and my financial bottom line is pretty important to me, too! I read something lately about "vampire electricity" that was pretty fascinating. I guess if you unplug any appliance/electrical gizmo not in use you can significantly reduce energy usage...even if powered off some amps get through. Like you were talking about in your home.
A co-worker recently put this to the test in her home and said it saved her between $20 and $40.00 a month (along with other conservative use methods) on her electric bill, depending on the season (lights, obviously).
That's pretty significant over a year of electric bills! I'm doing it right now. We'll see what my next bill is.
We've had to supplement our hydroplant with diesel a few times; causes a BIG jump in our electric bills...
Power strips are your best friend! We're a bunch of techies so have lots of equipment that have vampire/phantom loads. So what we ended up doing was putting our computer stuff, TV/Video, cell chargers, etc on power strips... when we're done with them, we just click off the strip and zero-energy draw, nothing easier! Just doing that saved us somewhere around $30 a month.
Compact Flourescent Lamps (CFL) were next on the list... we replaced all our bulbs at once (pretty hefty investment - say, $250), but they paid for themselves in about 6 months... sweet!
Programmable thermostats for the HVAC & turning the temp up 2 degrees in the summer and down 2 degrees in the winter saved us another $20 a month. Lowering the temp on our water heater, adding an insulating blanket, and taking 5 minute showers saved us another $10 month. And both those would have been MORE if we weren't already on natural gas. I swapped my old washer & dryer (electric) with high-efficiency washer and dryer (gas) and saved almost $30 a month... more like $50 if you count the reduction in water usage and water heating. We only wash the laundry when we have a full load, same goes for the dishwasher (actually less energy for the EnergyStar DW than washing by hand!)
We're also looking into on-demand/tankless water heaters since we're already on gas... should reduce about $100-200 a year on energy and no more wasting perfectly good water down the drain waiting for the water to run hot!
And the best thing - we got a pretty decent federal tax break for the improvements by itemizing, and WA state subsidized replacing our major appliances. Can't beat that really.
We do the power strip thing, turning electronics off at night and for most of the day. Room lights are hardly ever turned on, instead we use individual lamps near the working areas. I've also disconnected the bulbs on the motion sensor light in the front (would go on at all times in the night). We turned down the thermostats to out summer temp levels, over a month early and will likely keep it down for a couple of months later. We've cooked several full meals on the barbecue, including a roast and food prep is done with window light. We've been doing full loads in the dishwasher and clothes washer and hang most loads to dry either in the house or outside. The only thing we haven't done is go to candle and oil lamp light, which we keep available for power outages.
The thing is, we'll likely keep doing this for months after the powerlines are fixed to make up for the high months. Many of the actions may even become permanent so we see continued savings.
Yeah...I do about the same. Oil lamps are coming next; can't believe how long a small-ish oil lamp will burn bright enough to read by on a .5 liter bottle of oil. Romantic, too!
Bad thing is...right now I have to live in a place with electric baseboard heat! Windows right above radiator...so heat goes shhhhuck...right out. My ideal house; small, well insulated, and uses wood heat backed up by other fuel system.
A handy guy I know told me I should take some flexible aluminum sheets and bend them to deflect heat into room...anybody know what this material is? I never saw it before. WIll look in local hdware store I guess.
Yeah...I do about the same. Oil lamps are coming next; can't believe how long a small-ish oil lamp will burn bright enough to read by on a .5 liter bottle of oil. Romantic, too!
Bad thing is...right now I have to live in a place with electric baseboard heat! Windows right above radiator...so heat goes shhhhuck...right out. My ideal house; small, well insulated, and uses wood heat backed up by other fuel system.
A handy guy I know told me I should take some flexible aluminum sheets and bend them to deflect heat into room...anybody know what this material is? I never saw it before. WIll look in local hdware store I guess.
Sounds like a wood pellet or monitor stove would help. The initial cost is the only problem. We supplemented our heat with the wood stove and we used wood pellets to supplement our firewood because it wasn't fully dry. The combination seemed to work well.
It sounds like what you need is roof flashing. It comes in aluminum rolls and either 6" or 12" widths would work. You would need to cut sections the length of your baseboards, stuff it behind them and bend it forward to deflect the heat. Lumber/hardware stores should carry it.
I recently took a close look into wood pellet/compressed waste burning systems. This is awesome technolgy that has been in operational form since the late 1980's...but has not ever been mainstream.
What quantities, cost, and any associated costs do you spend on manufactured wood pellets to burn in your stove? I would like to get a good estimate on what cost/benefit analysis on using mostly this material to heat your home would be.
I also wonder if it would be possible to develop small scale machinery that could produce the pellets or cubes on like a neighborhood/individual homeonwer scale.
The pellets have to be compressed and dried before use, I know that much. This kind of thing would be perfect for rural communities who wanted alternative energy options that would make them pretty well self-sustained. Curious to know more about your home heating deal. Thanks for the posts!
Pellet stoves were a fad around my area back in the 80's. They didn't last long. You had to buy bags of wood pellets. Nobody made them here. The fad went out as fast as it came in.
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Windows right above radiator...so heat goes shhhhuck...right out. My ideal house; small, well insulated, and uses wood heat backed up by other fuel system. 
