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Cut Your Electricity Bill 
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Time to complete:
| 5 minutes to unplug devices
10-20 minutes to buy bulbs |
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Money you'll spend:
| $3 to $13 per fluorescent bulb
$80-120 for a microwave or toaster/convection oven
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What you'll get:
| Around $100 to $500 per year off your electric bills. |
List of Electricity-Saving Tips:
- Use compact fluorescent bulbs in lamps that are on
for more than one or two hours per day. Fluorescent
lights have greatly improved in quality over
the past ten years, and prices have come down recently:
you can get 13-watt bulbs for less than four dollars. Fluorescent bulbs are
6-8 times more energy-efficient. They last 10-20 times longer
than normal bulbs, so you won't have to change them for
years. You can buy fluorescent bulbs that give
off a very warm yellowish light, not that harsh white
light. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, a fluorescent
bulb will prevent the emission of 1000 pounds of carbon dioxide from
electrical power plants.
Let's say you have a light on for 4 hours a day, 250 days in a year.
On average, running a 23-watt fluorescent bulb for that long will cost
you $1.88, while a 100-watt incandescent bulb will cost you $8.30 in
electricity. A 23-watt fluorescent bulb costs about $13, but
it saves you $6.42 in energy costs per year, so it will
pay for itself in 2 years. Your local power company might even help you pay for your
fluorescent bulbs. I recommend that you buy them at a local hardware store rather than buying
them online, because many fluorescent bulbs don't fit into normal light
sockets. If you still want to buy them online, check out
Bulbs.com.
Note: Sometimes you'll see a light bulb advertised as a
"long-life bulb", or something like that. That's not a fluorescent bulb,
and it won't really save you much money.
- Do you work at a desk at home? Use a 20-watt desk
lamp instead of turning on a 60-watt light bulb
that lights the entire room. You'll save about $5 on electricity
for every 500 hours you spend at the desk. Look for one in
the Electronics category at the
MySimon.com
shopping agent.
- Go around your home and unplug devices you haven't used in the past
month. Even if they aren't turned on, they probably use some juice
just to stay warm.
- Use a microwave oven or toaster oven when cooking small items. They use less energy
and they don't require preheating. The approximate yearly cost to use
ovens of various types is:
- Electric Oven: $27
- Toaster Oven: $14
- Gas Oven: $13
- Convection/Toaster Oven: $10
- Microwave Oven: $5
Use the MySimon.com
shopping agent to look for one.
- A computer system can use $35 to $140 worth of electricity per
year. You can reduce this cost by about 85% if you use a laptop
computer. Or you could use the "standby" mode that's available in
newer desktops, and/or use flat-screen monitors. You can go to
your PC's power settings and tell it to automatically go into standby after
not being used for a while (when it wakes up, your PC will still have the
files and programs that were there when it "sleeped" itself.)
- Set your refrigerator temperature to 38-40 degrees Fahrenheit. If
it's set 5 degrees lower than that, it's costing you about $5 more per year
than it should. Defrost it as needed, to save another few bucks per
year. Don't open the door too often, or for too long.
- Employ your kids as "Energy Rangers": Offer to pay them
half of the utility-bill savings they can generate, compared to last year's
bills. Turn them loose on this site, then sit back and watch as they
frantically plug every energy leak you can imagine.
- Get your deposit back from the power company (you probably paid it
when you moved
in.) Usually you can get it back after living in your home for a year
or two. So if you've established a reliable payment record, ask to get it
back. They'll usually pay you 6% yearly interest on the deposit.
- Washer/Dryer. You can save money by washing
clothes with cold water, drying only full loads (without overloading), cleaning the
lint filter, and stopping the dryer as soon as the clothes are dry.
- Your local power company probably has a "Time of Use"
program. This means you'll be charged more for electricity during
prime times and less during off hours. When you switch to TOU,
the power company will install a new meter. You may be able to save
as much as $500 a year with this idea. Businesses can participate too.
- For more ideas see Home Energy
Savers, a government site that helps consumers find the best ways to
save energy in their homes.
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Sponsored Links
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Further Reading:
 EnergyGuide.com
is a good source of free unbiased advice about
your energy choices. There's an Energy Analyzer that
helps you learn about your energy use, get personalized recommendations
and save money.
- 66 Ways to save money: Utilities, an article showing how to save money on electricity,
heat and phone bills.
 Smart Homeowner Magazine, a 90-day risk-free trial of this magazine
about home improvement.
 Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, 7th Edition,
a top-rated book about energy savings at Amazon.com.
- Energy Efficiency Manual: for everyone who uses energy, pays
for utilities, designs and builds, is interested in energy conservation and
the environment, a top-rated (but expensive) book about energy conservation
at Amazon.com.
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