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Step 4Energy in House--everything else
Rishnai:
Just turning electronics off isn't really enough, especially if you have more invested in electronics than cars and their gas. Your home entertainment system (even if that's just a TV and rabbit ears) pulls quite a bit of energy even when they're "off". Use a power strip so that you can flip a switch when you're done and cut off that power entirely. The house I'm in right now has one outlet in every room that is wired to a wall switch. That's very handy, but don't get one installed if it didn't come with the place. Don't plug your cable box or VCR/TiVo into the power strip or switched outlet, as they need to be on to continue to keep time. That way, you can record things without having to set your clocks every time. Plus, if yours is like mine, the cable box will take 5 minutes to connect to the central office and work right, especially the Pay Per View and TV guide features. You don't want that, so it's probably best to just continue to pay for their "parasitic" electricity. The rest of everything should be switched, though.
For more information on this, here's some links:
Here is an article about getting rid of these "energy vampires"
The whole chart of energy used by standby mode is here
Another major source of energy loss is through an inefficient heating/cooling system. If you have an A/C instead of a swamp cooler, you'll be using more, but even a swamp cooler can be made better. Of course, you want to make sure things are well-insulated so all that effort doesn't go right out the walls, but before you pay for someone to drive over and install insulation that was expensive and energy-intesnsive to make, make sure you're using what you've got effectively.
If you have air conditioning, though, don't despair. Run your A/C in the morning to a little colder than you'd have it, then turn it off and let your house warm up naturally. If, by nighttime, it's too hot, open a window instead of turning the cooling back on. That rule is the same no matter how you cool your house.
Swamp coolers rely on evaporation of the water in the pads to cool the air. Therefore, you can't run them in the morning to be more efficient, since the cold air won't evaporate it as quickly. Instead, run your cooler in the hottest part of the day until your house is the right tempurature. Now turn your cooler off and close your drapes on the side of the house that the sun is facing. In fact, keep your drapes closed until that part of the house is in shadow as a rule. If it's winter and you're trying to warm things up, open the sun-side drapes instead.
Just turning electronics off isn't really enough, especially if you have more invested in electronics than cars and their gas. Your home entertainment system (even if that's just a TV and rabbit ears) pulls quite a bit of energy even when they're "off". Use a power strip so that you can flip a switch when you're done and cut off that power entirely. The house I'm in right now has one outlet in every room that is wired to a wall switch. That's very handy, but don't get one installed if it didn't come with the place. Don't plug your cable box or VCR/TiVo into the power strip or switched outlet, as they need to be on to continue to keep time. That way, you can record things without having to set your clocks every time. Plus, if yours is like mine, the cable box will take 5 minutes to connect to the central office and work right, especially the Pay Per View and TV guide features. You don't want that, so it's probably best to just continue to pay for their "parasitic" electricity. The rest of everything should be switched, though.
For more information on this, here's some links:
Here is an article about getting rid of these "energy vampires"
The whole chart of energy used by standby mode is here
Another major source of energy loss is through an inefficient heating/cooling system. If you have an A/C instead of a swamp cooler, you'll be using more, but even a swamp cooler can be made better. Of course, you want to make sure things are well-insulated so all that effort doesn't go right out the walls, but before you pay for someone to drive over and install insulation that was expensive and energy-intesnsive to make, make sure you're using what you've got effectively.
If you have air conditioning, though, don't despair. Run your A/C in the morning to a little colder than you'd have it, then turn it off and let your house warm up naturally. If, by nighttime, it's too hot, open a window instead of turning the cooling back on. That rule is the same no matter how you cool your house.
Swamp coolers rely on evaporation of the water in the pads to cool the air. Therefore, you can't run them in the morning to be more efficient, since the cold air won't evaporate it as quickly. Instead, run your cooler in the hottest part of the day until your house is the right tempurature. Now turn your cooler off and close your drapes on the side of the house that the sun is facing. In fact, keep your drapes closed until that part of the house is in shadow as a rule. If it's winter and you're trying to warm things up, open the sun-side drapes instead.
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Aug 13, 2008. 6:56 AMtradergordo
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Swamp coolers only work in arid climates, a small percentage of the U.S. Texas, Arizona, sure... anywhere along the east coast - no.
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