What are you doing to reduce energy costs? (city hall, appliances)

[Maineah]

This thread is a natural spin-off of the "Is it time to Nationalize Oil ?" thread.
People adjust to circumstance as need arises. In other posts folks have alluded to savings they have made whether it was a new efficient water heater,more insulation, compact florescent lighting,installing a wood or gas heater,turning down the thermostat, buying a more fuel efficeient vehicle,drinking more beer....no wait, that wasn't one of them.

You get the point.

What have you done to save energy or what are you planning to do if anything?

So far we have done a few things here. I bought and fixed up two old mopeds. We use them to run to the store for incidentials when the snow is gone. My son rides one of them to school most of the time. They get 100 miles to the gallon and are kind of fun to ride. They're not a great thing if you have to ride more than 10 miles to the store but for some they are a good alternative to a car. You won't be lugging a whole weeks worth of groceries home with them but to pick a few things I like them.

Burning more wood. We cut an extra cord of firewood this year and although we only use a fireplace and old fashioned kitchen wood stove the wood has helped measurably this heating season.

Thermostat on 60 degrees.
"60 is the new 72" as they say. It takes getting used to but it does save oil.

Compact Florescent lights.
They hum when it's quiet but they light up much better than they used to. We have changed out all of our lighting to these now and have already seen a reduction in our power bill.

That's a start....How about you!

[BacktoNE]

I have CFL's where ever possible, but some of my lamps are 3-ways and I haven't seen bulbs made for them yet. As soon as they are available, I will switch. I haven't seen any reduction in our electric bill though.

I only drive my AWD vehicle out to do errands one day per week whenever possible, and never more than twice a week.

[AustinB]

We are going to get a pellet stove. We have a wood stove, but we aren't home most of the time. So far we haven't been able to trust the dogs with filling the stove. I don't see that changing, so we will be counting on the pellet stove for the bulk of the heat vs. oil.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by AustinB

We are going to get a pellet stove. We have a wood stove, but we aren't home most of the time. So far we haven't been able to trust the dogs with filling the stove. I don't see that changing, so we will be counting on the pellet stove for the bulk of the heat vs. oil.

We ran a coal stove for several years. Someone always had to be working close by to come home at noon and shake it down. If we did it stayed running for literally months. We used an oiled pea size coal that was dust free and easy to handle. We had a bin down in the cellar that held 1 1/2 tons. The problem with coal is it needs a good chimney the size of the rear opening to be efficient. We ran a stainless liner up the chimney and it lasted about 5 years before the acidic coal fumes finally ate through it. By then we had little kids all over the place and decided we would rely on the central heating until they were old enough to stay away from hot stoves.

[Bydand]

I have put in a programmable thermostat so we never forget to turn it down. Compact fluorescent bulbs, better windows. That is about the extent of it right now.

[futurecruiser]

Wow 60, huh? I'm not quite that brave but do turn the thermostat down
more than I used to. Next year we are going to put a wood or pellet furnace in.

Flourescents wherever possible.

Turn off my computer every night (I work on it 12 hours a day so just tended to leave it on).

Got a new refrigerator EnergyStar*

Drive less.

Own a sailboat :-)

[CreditWitch]

Good post! We have a brand new home so we wne the extra mile with energy efficient everything. It saves money in the long run. I love my tankless water heater.

My major energy saving project? Getting my two adorable children to shut the darn lights off when they leave the room. I am contimplating having them pull gaurd duty on them! LOL

[mollysmiles]

CreditWitch I can completely relate to the turning off the lights....I just got back from doing my morning "run through". After everyone leaves for work and school I go through the house and shut everything off that they left on! My oldest daughter leaves her bedside light on every single morning, no matter what I say. I'm now in possession of the light bulb from that lamp. I'm preparing the speech that will follow the "who took the light bulb from my lamp??!!" yell that will reverberate through the house later

ok....what have we done?

This summer we had a new, more efficient boiler installed. It's all ready cut down on our electric and oil bills from the previous years . A few years ago we converted one of our fireplaces to propane. This saves because I'm the only one home during weekdays, and I can turn the thermostats back to 60 in the three zones, and heat only the kitchen, dining room and living room with the propane IF I get chilly. The propane fireplace has an auto feature, so I set the temp and leave it.

What else? We've put the CFLs in most of the lights....but not all. I'm snobby about the lighting, and I don't like the color of the light they emit in some parts of the house. I have my favorite chair and the bulb in the lamp nearby is a Reveal, and I just can't bring myself to swap it out! Um....we have three bathrooms---all have the "water saving" shower heads, but honestly I don't know how well *that* really works with 3 teenagers and a 9 year old in the house who all use the shower as their personal meditation area. The appliances are all energy star rated, but I'm saving right now for the newer front load washer and more energy efficient dryer--I'd like it in blue please

As far as the vehicles....we have 2 Jeeps and a minivan. The van stays parked most of the time. The new Jeep gets decent mileage, but not great. The older Jeep is what the kids drive, and their miles are around town, but they don't go out "driving around" like we all used to-usually they're here with a group of friends, but I'm happy with that. DH walks or bikes to work sometimes during the warmer weather--we're less than a mile from the hospital

We have made a huge change here over the last month. We have converted every cleaning product in our house to an eco-friendly, green cleaner. I found a company online that's been in business for 25 years (they were green before it was cool).....after doing the price comparisons I found the products through them weren't more expensive. I didn't know how well they would perform--I've been a big time "Tide" fan for a long, long time--but, their products work just as well as the brands I was buying, and they're safe for my family and my environment. I just changed where I was shopping. Read your labels on your cleaners....google some of those "ingredients"....honestly, it's scary what we're putting in our houses and exposing ourselves to. If the 18 month old that I babysit a couple of days a week were to get her hands on one of these new cleaners-unlikely, but "what if"- she wouldn't feel great, but they wouldn't hurt her at all. So, we're changing everything here over to more earth friendly stuff---energy saving? somehow I'm sure....but life saving

[flycessna]

My entire house has CFL's along with any lighting that I provide at my properties. To be honest though.........I have NOT seen a savings as far as money is concerned. My wife and I have started to recycle....I guess we were just too lazy before And we have made a strong effort to reduce travell.


On another note.......I have researched the possibility of solar panels for electricity....and hot water. I have researched the use of heat pumps. and looked into buying a hybrid. (personally Id like to see more Desiel options in the US....they get the same kind of overall gas mileage as a hybrid and cost less) Right now I just cannot afford the costs of making such a transition....the idea of getting off the grid completely really excites me.....but for now is not a reality.

[Newdaawn]

We always keep our thermostat at 60 and push it down to 58 at night. But our system is steam - radiators - so when it comes on it always goes up to 4 or 5 degrees over the setting. I find when visiting people who use the 70 setting or when in city hall etc. I am roasting. By setting it back a few degrees at a time - and getting used to that over a period of weeks helps. I think we are going to do siding this spring.. Not sure how much, if anything that will save in oil but I have heard it will help the comfort level. We had new replacement windows installed about 5 years ago and that made a tremendous difference. The also look great and are so easy to clean, especially upstairs.