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If these “5 ways” have been hitting home, you’re already halfway there on No 1: doing a home energy audit. How so? Any home energy audit (professional or DIY) starts with a thorough review of your energy bills. Before you can fix problems, it helps to know where you stand. Reviewing several years’ worth of bills (or as many as you have) helps you spot monthly trends as well as subtler changes over time.
Up until now, I’ve kept the start-up expenses of this countdown cheap. Reducing vampire power costs you the price of a surge protector or two (which seem to start at about $12). Driving less costs a bus token, a car-sharing membership or maybe a new pair of kicks. Reading your electric meter or scanning your bill is totally free. But at No. 2, it’s time to move on; some things cost money.
Earlier this week I blogged about my dread of upcoming summer power bills. That’s usually about the extent of my familiarity with my energy bills’ fluctuations — obvious seasonal knowledge. Natural gas goes up in the winter; electricity goes up in the summer. Smaller changes — like those resulting from added CFLs or a strict new policy on vampire power — are less obvious. But when you’re trying to save money, it helps to find out where it’s going in the first place.
Keeping track of your energy costs lets you start to see patterns in your power and gas use. More importantly, if you’ve lived in the same place for a while, it allows you to take note of gradual changes. Bills that creep up over time might indicate the need for new insulation, a more efficient water heater or a patch on the roof.
5 Ways to Cut Energy Costs – No. 4: Drive Less
by Sarah Dowdey | April 28, 2009
If you’re looking to cut your energy costs, your garage is a good place to start. It’s easy to be gratuitous in our driving habits — to take the car around the block or forget to bunch errands into one trip. Add to that the long, solitary commutes back and forth to work, and the money starts to add up. As do the emissions: According to National Geographic, a gallon of gasoline adds 19.6 pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Fortunately, it’s relatively simple to start driving less. If you’re lucky enough to have a public transit system in your city or town, try it out, even if it’s just for a crowded event where you know parking will be difficult. If you don’t have mass transit, or it’s nowhere near where you work or live, carpooling allows you to split the cost of tolls and gas.
I’m still in the calm before the storm. My power bill hasn’t spiked yet and won’t for another couple months. But I can only fight off the inevitable with open windows and fans for so long. Eventually, I’ll have to crank up my deafening air conditioner to combat the 90 degree F days (or worse).
So what can I do in the meantime to help keep my bills low? An easy start is to unplug those energy-draining appliances and gadgets that suck vampire power from helpless sockets. Vampire power, also known as phantom load, is a result of standby mode, a deceptive, costly state of electronic existence. While gadgets might look like they’re switched to “off,” many continue to supply power to certain systems and display screens. Cell-phone adapters and other chargers give off a constant charge — even if there’s nothing plugged into the other end.
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