We aren't waiting for bills to double...we unplug cell phone chargers everyday and turn off surge protectors on the computers and tvs, etc that are not in use. Why should we pay our hard earned money (and waste electricity) regardless of the cost in my opinion? Our philosophy is if it's using electricity while not in use, unplug it. It's worth the extra 2 seconds, literally, to plug it in when we need it. We forgot one month that the kids' tv/dvd player and a computer were plugged in and sucking electricity while not being used, and our bill jumped $6. Once I remembered to keep them unplugged (they're in the basement, so I'm not down there much, other than to do laundry, but I don't pay attention to the other stuff), our bill went back down the next month. My husband thought I was nuts and too worried about a few dollars, but that's not how I see it. :)

On another note, surge protectors are really important to protect your tv's, computers, etc from just that--a power surge--which can destroy any electronic that is plugged in or worse, cause a fire. So ugly as they may be, we hide them well and use them as often as needed.

You might be talking about Kill A Watt (not sure about spelling). Before you start panicking about the relatively low energy usage of LED lights, try addressing a couple of more obvious energy hogs. The two biggest household uses of electricity are light bulbs and fridge (especially the pre-1993 fridges). Replace as many bulbs as you can, and convince your DH that you need a new fridge, before worrying about LEDs (very low power using lights).

Sometimes the low tech solutions are the right ones. My pet peeve is the charging station that many people think is a cool decorative ways to handle the problem of plugging in cellphones/ipods/etc. The charging stations are actually power vampires sucking up energy, and they're actually less decorative than the low tech solution of keeping the devices plugged in only when needed and sticking the unplugged chargers in a drawer when not needed.

We got a new fridge (ours was about 25 yrs old) and our power bill went down $30 per month.

I never even thought about battery chargers (cell phone, palm pilot, etc) ... I'll have to make sure to unplug mine.

In my area, we are having a serious energy cost crisis. Most families here use heating oil to heat their homes, so last summer it would have cost you $2300 (approx.) to fill up your tank and this year, the same tank cost $4700 to fill up. We went from $.17 per kwh last year (already one of the highest charges in the US) to a whopping $.31 per kwh this year for electricity (our electricity provider also uses oil to power the plant). EVERY single item I have is plugged into a power strip which gets turned off at night except our phone. The difference in doing that is really dramatic and not just a few cents here and there. It does make a difference.. and I can live with a few ugly surge protectors here and there!

~~Veronica

Rooniroo: Just curious. Do you have to fill your tank more than once a year?

It's a little thing but it burns - my analog cable didn't require a box but I was forced into digital - it requires a 20 watt converter box.

Now its an add'l 40 watts being used!

Jim

My house is lit up inside like a Christmas tree at night! No need for nightlights.
Bedroom: alarm system, phone charger, cable box, ceiling smoke detector.
Bathroom: my electric toothbrush holder, DH's electric toothbrush holder.
Kitchen: refrigerator water dispenser, oven, microwave - and the coffee pot and toaster both have clocks.

It goes on and on and on.

The site I have posted below is has everything (and more) that you ever wanted to know about saving electricity. One thing we are doing is downsizing our refrigerator. It has always seemed to big for our kitchen anyway. (Though I'll try to buy used on Craigslist - it is amazing how many people are remodeling and getting rid of relatively new appliances.) We've also gone to CFLs or lower wattage halogens.

I'm more concerned about gas, as we have gas heat, drier, stove, hot water. I have cellular shades on most of the windows, as well as curtains, to save heat loss. We are having our walk-out basement windows replaced (single-paned aluminim to double-paned vinyl.) I hang out laundry 90% of the time. (It is easy where I live - generally sunny, cool, and breezy and very little rain any time of year.) We limit showers and baths and wash all of the laundry in cold water. I try to limit laundry to three loads per week (for 3 people.) I have an old dishwasher and am going to trade up to an energy star. (again, craigslist.) And we always cram the dishwasher chock-full before we run it.

Saving energy is getting to be kind of a hobby with me, and I'm enjoying finding out all the little tricks you can use to cut down.

We hope to have all of energy savers in place by October, and then we will compare that month's bill with the previous year's. Should be interesting!

Here is a link that might be useful: Saving electricity

Be sure to unplug appliances, not just turn it off as electricity can still spike and ruin it even if it's turned off... if it has a remote that can operate it.

I realized I wrote that we turn our surge protectors off when not in use. I typed that inaccurately. We unplug them, as turning them off wouldn't stop a surge of power. ;)

My little old house is woefully under-insulated, and unfortunately there's not a lot I can do about it right now. I do try to remain mindful, however, of unplugging electrical items when they're not in use. And since I only have one outlet at my countertop workspace in the kitchen (yes, one! How do I manage? ;-)), I'm always having to unplug an item to use another item anyway, so unplugging is pretty much becoming a habit it seems.

fernswirth, one tank SHOULD last us from Sept. to March (depending on how cold the winter is.. if we have weeks below -40 we might have to bite the bullet and pay the higher prices to get a small fill up to help us make it to spring). We do a big fill up in March, then another smaller fill up at the end of September to refill what we've used during the summer as our furnace also supplies our hot water, so we use 20 or so gallons each month during the summer. We just put in a wood stove this summer to supplement our oil heat, so keep your fingers crossed that it helps keep our oil usage down, LOL!

~~Veronica

postum, good for you for all the steps you are taking! I wish I could say the same, I really do try to conserve electricity but I can't get myself out to hang up the laundry. Even IF I did have a clothesline. But I can admire you for doing so.

I do use CFL's and have probably less electrical games and entertainment systems than the average family! I am getting all new windows (partially because of a freak hail storm but I'm upgrading to all new instead of just glass replacement) and it should be an energy saver. Plus new double cell shades on some.

In Minnesota it is impossible to use a space heater vs heating the whole house. But luckily my hubby did agree with me when we bought out last house. We stayed on the small side instead of getting a two story foyer and lots of rooms that we don't use. Everything is compact and well used, less to heat and cool. And we run the central air very seldom. I find it easy to keep shades pulled and strategically put a fan here or there. I have no cell phone or iPod to recharge. (I know, I'm the last person not to have one. But really, I lived through the seventies without ever knowing that I "needed" one!)

Did you know that a tv is like a 200watt light bulb running? I had no idea.

I like to unplug everything! -- Ever since seeing toaster ovens and other small appliances melt down on 20/20 due to their running microchips or whatever. I just don't trust all those gadgets anymore. Aside from that, I just don't like leaving electrical things running when I'm not around. Don't know what causes electrical fires and I have cats, so I just like things off.

Wait a sec... if I have things plugged into a power strip and turn off the power strip, that doesn't stop the electrical usage???

I love trying to become more energy efficient. A few years ago we made some easy changes. We ditched my husband's alarm clock for a battery operated one (I learned how much clock/radios suck power), and also use only corded telephones that don't need to be plugged in (we have pretty bad power service here in the country, so it was necessary anyway).

I put tons of stuff on power strips too... but now I am confused about them.

I use CFLs in some rooms, but really, what is a chandy supposed to do?! I read some where that the chandelier bulbs suck lots of electricity, but I love them too much to care.

Not necessarily decorating, but every time I say "turn off your lights" I think I've turned into my mother. Her statements weren't green, but good old-fashioned frugality.

I hate to say it, but I charge my kids $$$ for leaving lights on. We've installed four ceiling fans, raised the thermostat, bake with a "full" oven, bought appliances without digital clocks, etc., and have seen a dramatic decrease in kilowatt usage. That said, our electric bill from Duquesne light rose $15 more a month.

On a more decorating note: I'll be trying to make thermal curtains for our huge drafty living room window come fall.

Interesting thread.

Cathy in SWPA

Well, we are building a new house (which I know is not green per se) which will be LEED Certified (Silver) and Energy Star certified. We just didn't want an older house with all its inherent issues and discovered a new building project in our little town that is also employing "smart use" guidelines for the land -- small lots and plenty of open, shared space. There is basically no development going on in this part of the world, so the only alternative would have been to renovate an older house, a project which would not work for our family right now.

My builder wants us to go all CFL, but I am having a hard time with that. I am not yet happy with the color rendering and worried about the mercury. I think CFLs will not take long-term and that they are just an intermediate stop along the way to LEDs. Phillips, one of the three big manufacturers in the lighting world has no R&D money in CFLs. It's going to LEDs instead.

I will use LED recessed lighting in my kitchen. There will be some CFLs elsewhere in the house and outside, some low watt halogens and I guess a few of my old favorite Reveal bulbs where I can't stand the CFLs. I feel a little guilty about that, but maybe I can offset those few incandescents with powerstrips that I can unplug.

Our house will be situated for maximum solar gain which will help with heating in the winter, as well as daytime ambient light most of the year. The windows and doors will be super tight. There will be some kind of an air exchanger so that we don't have a stale air problem. And all the building materials are non-outgassing so we won't have a sick building.

Thanks for starting this thread. I know we can and need to do more. I am looking forward to having the watt meters available so we can actually watch the dollars flowing out. And remember, even if you only save $6 per month, multiply that out buy thousands and hopefully millions someday soon!

PC, I remember reading that if you turn your strip off, but it's still plugged in, the surge can still come through the outlet and, so, the protector is not actually working to protect your equipment :( I've been meaning to research that but haven't. Now, I just (briefly) tried to look it up and don't find anyone discussing that aspect, but do see that there are a number of varieties of strips that work in different ways with regards to power usage -- some draw when off and others don't. So, I guess you have to know your surge protector too :(

I know nothing about electronics, but think it is all worth looking into.

As for the surge protector issue, the biggest issue would be with lightening storms (of which we have a good amount of here), so it's a serious concern for us. I'm definitely not an electrician, but try and research as much as I can, and this is what we've determined. If there's someone who knows more about it, please share!!

If lightening were to strike (which it has several times in our neighborhood in the last few years), and you leave a surge protector plugged in (on or off), it may not protect your computer or tv. Unfortunately, we have neighbors who lost 2 tvs during a storm last summer. They were using good surge protectors and thought they'd be fine. Note that a power strip and a surge protector strip are NOT the same thing.

The first week we lived in our brand new home, there was a power surge, which messed up the screen on our microwave (which was plugged into a gfi outlet no less!). It still worked, but a few weeks later, I came down one morning, to discover we'd had an interruption in power again, and guess what--the screen returned to normal on the microwave that day!! We did have an electrician check the wiring and all passed, but power is a funny thing and not something that we have full control over, even yet.

My understanding is that anything that is plugged in can be a conductor of electricity, whether or not the item is on or off. A surge protector's main purpose is to protect from spikes and surges (changes in the flow of the electricity), but if lightening were to strike, the surge of electricity flowing through the wires is much much higher and more than what most surge protectors can handle. So unless you have security features of the pentagon, unplugging is probably the best way to go!

Re: curtains. I added blackout/thermal lining to my daughter's curtains, as she has the hottest/coldest bedroom in the house at the wrong times of the year. The liners have worked perfectly! They have adjusted the temp in her room the few degrees that we needed it to do.

Excellent news, regarding the thermal curtains, mpmg46! My daughter's room gets the afternoon sun also. She wanted to totally blackout her room and used clothespins to hang a fleece blanket over her window (I remind myself it's her room:) Albeit eclectic decorating, she noticed her room became cooler as an added benefit.

I have to research the lining a bit more. I have a ~ 13ft x 6ft bank of cranky 45-year old windows.

Thanks.

Cathy in SWPA

They have toaster ovens now (slightly bigger than the regular ones) that are billed as convection. I use my old regular toaster a lot (unplug when not in use) 1) because it seems wasteful to let the big oven to heat up (takes a fair amount of time) to just roast some carrots for dinner, especially when 2) my toaster oven does it so much faster. I also "finish" baked potatoes in it after microwaving as I like my baked potato skins with that oven cooked dryness.
When I replace my current regular one I am considering the convection type which will allow me to use it for even more - say cooking a few cookies at a time from frozen cookie dough (a weight loss tactic for me) etc.
I realize this won't work for a larger family but for two people or even 3 its something to consider - unless toaster oven's use much more energy than regular ovens, even if they are on a much shorter time? I guess I haven't researched that, never seen a figure.

As a side note - I have been reading lately how much even small sources of light can disturb sleep - so thermal curtains may improve sleep as well.

Amy, we have had a couple CFL bulbs explode and the smell was horrible, made the whole house smell like something plastic burning. We opened the windows (in winter) to get rid of the odor, which took several hours.

Granted, they last a very long time but that smell is so toxic when that happens and we do not have the option of using halogen. My husband does have a halogen bulb in his office room and I have to call him on the phone and ask him to turn it off if I need to talk face to face, since my eyes will not tolerate halogen bulbs secondary to the optic nerve damage.

I hope we are not going 2 steps forward and 3 backward.

Just wanted add about surge protection - for a few hundred dollars a surge protector can be added to your circuit breaker box that will protect the whole house.
If lightning or a surge occurs - it absorbs it and only it must be replaced!
Mike Holmes from the Holmes on Homes tv show added one after he had $10,000 worth of damage from a lightning strike surge to his house.

Jim

That's very good to know that's so affordable, Jim. I may have that done when I have my electrical system re-inspected.