Green Living: How to Save Energy

Whether you're looking to save energy to help the environment or to save money on your energy bill you should have a basic understanding wattage and how much energy each electrical or electronic device is using per hour.

The easy route would be to attach a watt meter to the device but they are expensive and most of us don't have one laying around.

Not to fear though, by doing a few simple calculations you can determine this fairly accurately. Before we get to the calculations you need to have a basic understanding of a watt and Kilowatt per hour.

The watt is the measurement used to specify the rate at which energy is dissipated. It is similar to horsepower. Horsepower describes the strength or power of physical energy such as that of a car's engine. A watt is a measurement of electrical energy. The watt is a rating of the electrical power such as found in a light bulbs. A 60 watt bulb has less power, or wattage than a 70 watt bulb.

The other important calculation you'll need is the Kilowatt hour. 1 Kilowatt is 1,000 watts of energy consumed over a period of an hour.

Now, to make this whole calculation simple. There are 24 hours in a day and 30 days, on average in a month.

• 24 x 30 = 720 hours per month

So if you have a 60 watt bulb that is left on 24/7 then your monthly kilowatt usage would be:

• Convert 60 watts to kilowatts for one hour .06 kilowatts.
• Multiply watts by .001 to get kilowatts
• .06 kilowatts x 720 hours = 43.2 kw/h of electricity

If you did this for each appliance, and add them together you should get approximately your total electrical energy usage for the month.

OK, you have to start somewhere and this is the best place. Before you make any changes, analyze your electric bill. You want to know the current reading and the previous usage reading. If you have been in your home or apartment for a year or more, it will have last years readings for the same period as well.

As you make changes compare the bills after the change with the ones before the change. This will keep you on track and indicate how far from your monthly energy goal you are.

Lighting can account for 10% of your electric bill and with just a couple of small changes you can make large difference in your energy usage fairly quickly.

• Wattage - Look at the wattage of all the light-bulbs in your home. If all of your light fixtures are using 100 watt bulbs look at replacing them with 60 or 70 watt bulbs.
• CFL's - A CFL or compact fluorescent bulb are smaller versions of regular fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs provide the same amount of lighting as incandescent bulbs and consume much less energy. CFL's cost more, anywhere from 5 to 20 dollars each, compared to a regular incandescent that is a substantial difference in price. However they consume 75% less energy and last up to five times longer and in the long run the investment pays off.
• Make Use of Natural Light - Open the blinds when the sun is out. Position your furniture to take advantage of the sunlight and leave your lights off. If your budget and home permits look at installing a skylight.
• Reduce Background Lighting - Turn off all lights you don;t need. In other words if your working at your desk install a track light or a clamp light so that is the only light you'll need.
• Turn Your Lights Off When Not In Use - You'd be surprised how many homes leave lights on unnecessarily. Check when you go to bed that all lights are turned off. if you need to leave one on for children, make sure it is the lowest wattage rating necessary or a CFL. If you need to leave lights on, when on vacation for example, consider a timer or a motion sensor.
• Use Three-Way Lighting and Dimmer Switches - Rooms such as dens and living rooms may need varying levels of light such as higher levels when entertaining guests, or lower levels for watching TV. Use three-way bulbs or dimmer switches for the lights in these rooms.
• Keep Lamp Shades and Bulbs Clean - Dust can block up to 50% of the light a lamp or light fixture puts out. if you find yourself turning on extra lights, clean your lights and lampshades. You might find you don't need that extra lamp or light afterall.

Your appliances are using approximately 75% of their total energy when they are turned off. The term used to describe this phenomena is vampire power. Other terms used to describe the energy waste of appliances that waste energy when not on are:vampire energy, leaking energy, wall warts, idle current, phantom power and ghost load.

With this knowledge you can save energy on your electronic appliances by:

1. Surge Protectors - Certain components like plasma TV's and cell phone charges crave electricity. They are energy hogs, other appliances like video players and recorders, televisions, have timers, clocks and other accessories that constantly draw power. The simplest way to save energy would be to unplug them all when not in use. Simple way to save energy, but not to actually do. What a pain it would be to unplug six cords of your entertainment system and then plug them back in everyday. The way around this is to use your power-strip as a on-off switch. You can even purchase power-strips with motion sensors and timers.
2. Type of Television - If you're concerned about the amount of energy your television consumes look at the type of television you have or are going to purchase. Although other factors need to be considered, High Definition Televisions are at the top, followed by Plasma TV's, LCD's, projection TV's and last CRT's.
3. Power Saving Tips for Televisions - Power down completely, Use any power-saver feature, disable quick start options, watch in a dark room. Watching in a dark room requires less back-light thereby requiring less energy.
4. Computers - Turn off computers and monitors and consider purchasing a laptop if you don't require the speed and brains of a computer. Laptops consume less energy.
5. Cell Phones - Unplug chargers when not charging phone. Chargers are notorious energy vampires.
6. Energy-smart - Before purchasing any new electronic component become familiar with the energy-smart guidelines to get the most energy efficient product.

Little things add up to make a big difference. So even the smallest of changes will help you save energy. Saving energy is good for our planet and your pocketbook, so start today.