Cut electric bill in half with a few changes.

So my kids and I our all about saving the planet (me saving money) and when I bought our house in 2008 my electric bill was well over $350/month. Since it was a new house I didn’t want to replace any of the new appliances, so I started looking at other ways to save electricity and now my bill runs around $120/month.

First thing I noticed is that the builders put in 65-watt bulbs in my house and I have well over 100 light bulbs throughout. Most of my lights are recessed so I went to Lowes (military discount) and bought 3 cases of fluorescent bulbs that took each light from 65-watt to 10-watt (savings of over 5000-watts). When I mean I replaced all light bulbs I mean even the light bulbs in the garage door openers, closets, utility room, etc. Also besides the savings on wattage these fluorescents are cooler and they cut down on cooling costs.

The street lamp which most of us have stays on during the night with 3 bulbs. I took a different approach on these. I was using 40-watt incandescent light bulbs which burned out about every three months. I purchased 3 LED 2-watt bulbs, these are around $20 each but they only pull a total of 6-watts when they are on and they last for a very long time. This ended up being a savings of 114-watts continous (40 x 3 = 120-watts compared to 6-watts)

These are the LED for the lamp post I purchased;


http://www.needabulb.com/EarthLED-DesignoLux-C-Candelabra-E12-3W-Warm-White-3000K-P566425.aspx

Van Metre put in standard thermostats; you know the on/off only option type. I went and installed two Honeywell Prestige 7-day programmable thermostats. I have been playing with the settings for awhile and found the “comfort” zones for our family.

When at home = 68 – 74
When away = 66 – 76
Night while asleep – 64 -76

The main point behind the programmable is that when we are asleep or away we don’t need to be spending the extra money to maintain the “comfort” zone. Yes you have to spend money to save money, but as you can see I dropped my electric bill by over half. Hope this helps someone if you are trying to find ways to lower their electric bill.

 

We did a similar thing, using Lux thermostats from Lowes. Rated very good by consumer reports, but had to take one back for a faulty touch screen.

Upgraded the lighting using Lutron Radio Ra (dimming, scenes, etc) for the lights we use in the house and changed to fluorescent in the garage etc. Standard bulbs last much longer if you run them slightly dimmed, and the kitchen was way too bright anyway with all those cans.

Under cabinet lights in the kitchen are now Kichler, pricey ($60 ea) but look natural and consume 8W. Tried less expensive model by another manufacturer and light was harsh.

I like the idea of the LED lights outside, those do not seem to last very long.

Mike

 

mike, did you see a drop in your electric bill? and if so how much?

After saving such a substantial amount, talking to the wife about purchasing REC (Renewable Energy Certificates) which runs ($0.015 / kilowatt-hour). Anyone else purchase REC?


"Renewable energy plays a role in improving our environment and strengthening our economy by":

• Reducing carbon emissions
• Creating "green" jobs and stimulating the economy
• Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels
• Enhancing our nation's energy security

 

I'll have to look into this, will let you know.

Mike

 

We keep our AC units mostly at 75 during the summer. We do have the windows solar tinted, and shutters are shut in the family room in the back of the house on high heat days, as well as the blinds in the dining room have fulll curtains that we shut. This dramatically reduces the heat. Ok, so it's not quite bright in the back, but who cares if the AC units don't overheat. We have not yet changed the upper unit, which a month after we bought our house in 2003, the govt upped the seer rating, so it is not enough for the upper level - especially the master over the garage. But 7-8K to replace it is too steep for us now.

Some of our bulbs are the new low watt kind, other aren't as they are 3-way lamps. We have the kitchen, dining room, living room, family room and master cans, on dimmers. the new bulbs didn't work in the garage door thing as the light over one side always dies 3 months later, while on my side it works. Will definately try the lamp post. We did put the back porch and basement outside stairway lights on the same sensor that the lamp post is on.

We did not get a house with a second story as we didn't want to pay to heat and cool that area.Currently, for our 3206sqft home, we pay a budget bill of 202. Down from 240 last year. However, we also do not turn the AC on most days leading into June, unless the humidity is bad enough that you cannot have the windows open (which we do on nice days). We also don't use the heat, sometimes until early November. So I expect that we will see it correct for an even lower bill when they re-figure the budget bill in the June/July timeframe.

So I guess it's a matter of some of the lightbulbs, dimmer switches, AC set at 75, and less use of AC and Heat that matters. When we go out of town I crank the AC back to 80. In the winter we set the heat at 68, which is slightly chilly, but Fleece makes it work

 

I have to agree with Brassy on closing the plantation shutter/wood blinds and getting your windows tinted with solar/uv film. Our house is a Cedarwood (with a basement) and our April power bill was $74.38, I called VA Power verified bc it just seemed too low.

...and then I starting thinking what have we done to decrease our "foot print"? In the past year we have done the following:

HVAC & programable thermostat.

Our family motto: "If we are not in a room then the light isn't on"

I am very strict about this and have become the power patrol in our house. I unplug EVERYTHING from cell phone chargers, pc that are not being used, laptop chargers, hairdryers/curling iron etc or any appliance that is known to be an energy phantom. (it using electricity even if it's not being used)

We have also converted a lot of our lights to low voltage (outdoor landscaping, flood lights, light post & Under/Over cabinet lights).

 

I have started replacing my bulbs with compact fluorescents, but at least a couple of them have burnt out within a few months. What am I doing wrong?

 

Neither of the fixtures has dimmer switches, although maybe they could be equipped. One was in a ceiling fan, which was admittedly too small for the bulb. The other is recessed lighting. Both fixtures were builder installed, which doesn't give me great confidence in the installation.

 

Our April & May electric bills were also pretty low. I looked at them and in April we received a $40 Fuel Credit and in May we received a $66 Base Rate Case Credit. Maybe that's why your bill was lower than usual?

 

Yeah I would think HVAC, water heater, and appliances are the biggest users. I'm looking for a good whole-house power monitor that monitors separate circuits...

here are some good links:

http://www.google.com/powermeter
http://www.powermeterstore.com/
brultech.com

and more --- pretty cool to see your usage in realtime so you can hunt for power-hungry devices, etc.

 

does the ceiling fan have a remote or is it a dedicated switch?

 

Wow, I would LOVE a single story house...I don't think I've seen many around here. Are you in Broadlands?

 

I bought flouresnt bulbs that said they where for ceiling fans and they have been going strong for about 2 years now. Is there any balance issues in your fans? That maybe be an issue.

I also turn off both gas fireplace pilot lights and both heater pilot lights around this time each year to save gas. I know when to start them back up, the wife yells that the house is to damn cold

 

i think Brassy means a two story living room. we have one and definitely wish we didn't. not only for heating and cooling reasons, but it's simply not as warm, cozy and inviting as a single story living room.

 

The ceiling fan is a little off kilter, so that might be part of the problem (it doesn't have a remote, but hubby did redo the wiring so we could have install a dedicated fan switch). Don't know about the recessed light, though.

 

BTW, saw an article in the home/garden whatever section of the WP today. Re Ceiling fans, which we have in every bedroom and the family room, and run all day winter and summer (not the fm rm though). It said the fan does move air around, but doesn't actually change the room temp. It says not to leave them on if there are no people in the room, as it ads to your bill.

 

As far as the fluorescent bulbs burning out quickly, you might check the socket and make sure it's capable of handling the correct wattage. Or it could be the switch. I'm not an electrician but I saw something on Holmes on Homes the other night about that (and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, ha ha ha).

 

We have a similar phenomenom in the kids bathroom. It has a four light fixture from pottery barn that I put CFL's in 'cuz the kids are always leaving the lights on. I have gone through two CFLs and one regular incandescent (didn't have CFL replacement at the time) in one of the spots and zero replacements in the other 3 over the past two years. It's a straightforward electrical connection (no dimmer, typical fixture wiring). I'm suspecting a short or other grounding issue in that one socket. Perhaps the same in the ceiling fan...

 

Holmes on Homes rules! =)

the wattages shouldn't matter since CFLs use very low watts compared to incandescent... like 60w std bulb puts out as many lumens as a ~15w CFL, and make a 5-8w LED.... I can't wait for cheaper LED lights!

Apparently CFLs aren't great for vibrating environs like garage door openers and ceiling fans..... but there are some out on the market that are designed for higher-vibration settings.