How she cut her electricity use by more than 30%
Posted
Mar 19 2009, 03:16 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Lisa of Condo Blues lives in a 1,500-square-foot freestanding condo in Columbus, Ohio, where summers can be terribly hot.
Yet, with a change in habits and little new investment in her home, she reduced electricity consumption by 32% over the past 12 months.
We love posts like hers -- "How I slashed my electric bills without moving into a yurt" -- that describe how real people save real money, rather than just parrot advice they've heard.
Starting out, Lisa did an energy audit. Her local power company doesn't offer one, so she found a free audit she could conduct online at the Energy Star Web site.
To put this in perspective, her home uses electricity for just about everything, including air conditioning, except the furnace and water heater. Her electric bill for the year was only $534.
Among her methods:
- She switched almost all of her light bulbs to CFLs.
- She put a stake in the vampire's heart. Vampire power is the juice used by TVs and other electronics and appliances when they're not on. Do we really need to see the clock on the microwave? (We've been lousy about this, when all it takes is unplugging the appliance or flipping the switch on a power strip.)
- She washes full loads of laundry and uses cold water. She line dried for part of the year.
- She still decorated for Halloween and Christmas with outdoor lights but reduced the amount of time they were on. (You can get energy-efficient decorative lights.)
- She used small appliances for cooking whenever possible.
- She adopted the rule of one light per person per room. That means that if no one is in the rest of the house, it's dark. (That last link, like many others from her post, includes lots of other conservation tips.)
- She runs the dishwasher only when it's full, uses the short cycle and air dries.
Her original goal was a 20% reduction, mostly by changing her household routine, and that seemed ambitious at the time. She said, "I wanted to see if I could meet my goals this way because a slew of Greenzillas insisted that I couldn't do it without alternative energy and installing new energy-efficient everything. I thought I could."
Bonus tip from Lisa: We love the cleaning power of white vinegar, but usually dilute it with water. So did Lisa until she read the vinegar bottle and realized it's already diluted to a 5% acidity solution. Who knew? She's right. We'll still dilute it for cleaning floors, but for tough bathroom and kitchen jobs, we're going to use it straight. She adds that you should not spray it on marble countertops.
Related reading:
5 big bills you can cut fast
A bright way to cut your power bill
Simple steps to stay warm in a cold house
