Welcome to our 350 kWh Saved! Project and the first of our monthly 350 Saved! messages Thank you for signing up to save money and electricity!
So far, we have two families who have already saved 350 kWhs over the same period last year. Needless to say they are continuing to save.
Please check your bills and compare the current month with the same month last year. Any savings? Report them to us. You can bring us your proof at our next forum on wind power, Tuesday, April 27th from 7 to 9 PM at the Park Street Complex in Honesdale (former Stourbridge School), call us at 224-0052, or e-mail us at seedsgroup@gmail.com.
Besides the really EASY changing to compact fluorescent and LED light bulbs, here are a few other tips to help you save kilowatt hours:
- Consider using a simple timer set to cycle on and heat water before the time of day for most use and then off the remaining hours. It can save as much as 50 percent of your water-heating costs. They cost less than $100, plus installation.
- Waste-water heat exchangers recover heat from waste water (showers, baths, clothes washers*, etc.) and warm incoming water (on its way to the hot-water heater). 50 percent to 70 percent of the energy required to heat the water may be recovered.
- Use a solar clothes dryer. It is made out of clothesline rope and some clothes pins. Some think this is only for summer. We don’t even own a dryer. We hang our clothes indoors in winter adding humidity to a dry house.
*You shouldn’t really have waste heat from clothes washers. Cold water washing is the norm today. Detergents are designed to get your clothes clean in cold water.
Thank you for being a part of this exciting project! We hope to hear from you soon with your progress and ideas for saving!
Sincerely,
Katharine Dodge
350 Project Coordinator
May 23, 010
Dear 350’ers
Here is our May e-mail with an update on the “350 kWh Saved!” project. If you have just come on-board, we are going to put our past messages to the 350 crowd on our website: seedsgroup.net.
We now have about sixty families signed up! Three families have met their first 350 kWhs saved goal. (Remember, you can keep on going and save another 350, getting your name added to the hat each time for next Spring’s drawing for prizes!)
Don’t forget to show us your energy bills when you have more than 350 kWhs saved! Contact us and we will work out a time and place.
Kim Manoy and her family were the first family to make the goal. Here is how they did it:
- They made an energy inventory of their home and outbuildings.
- They reduced phantom power—many appliances and electronics draw juice even when not in active use—by pulling the plug on everything except the fridge, washer, dryer, and stove. “The rule is ‘we only plug it in when we use it.’ That includes microwave, television, computer, lamps, etc. At first it was only me,” she says, “and for two weeks everyone thought our appliances were broken. Now everyone is on board and is happy to participate.” That includes husband James, children Cora (18), Ripley (17), Sofia (8), and James (4).
- They changed their front-load washer setting to a cycle that runs 15 minutes less then the typical cycle, and only use cold water for which today’s detergents are designed anyway.
- They hang their laundry out as much as possible to dry under that ultimate power plant: the sun.
- They are making their 1940s era home more energy efficient as they have time and money to do so, including additional insulation in strategic spots.
Kim says, “For me this is not a short term exercise, it is a lifestyle change that I want my children to take with them when they have families of their own. It is a small part that I play to make our world a better place to live.” Was it difficult? Kim says it was not a hardship, just hard to get used to.
Here are a few more ideas:
- Experiment: Unplug everything in your house. Go see if your meter is still going around. If it is, have a treasure hunt to find where stuff is still drawing electricity. Or, you can get a usage meter such as a “Kill-a-Watt” (about $20.) to calculate how much your different appliances use. SEEDS also has one you can borrow. Call 224-0052. This will help you see how much wattage each appliance is using, how wasteful phantom power is, or to help you decide what appliances are so inefficient, it would be best to replace them. If you want to go more high-tech, check out energydetective.com for a meter that will track what you are using in your home up to the second.
- Reduce or eliminate outdoor lighting that might be pretty, but just lights up the night unnecessarily. There are low-light solar-powered options out there if you must have night-time lighting.
- Consider locating your water heater close to the end use site so that you don’t wait forever for the hot water to reach your faucet. Or, use an on-demand system. Gas on-demand is apparently more efficient than electric on-demand, but, both have environmental consequences: electric spews out emissions from fossil fuel power plants and drilling for gas can be a messy business.
Good luck!
Katharine Dodge, SEEDS 350 Coordinator