My husband and I always used to bicker about the thermostat, especially in the winter. Not any more. Now that I’ve realized how much of a difference one or two degrees can make not only on our bills but on the CO2 emissions, I keep my fingers off the thermostat.
You don’t have to freeze to be green … you only need to adjust by one or two degrees all year round. The biggest savings come when you turn your thermostat down during the cold months. For every degree you turn your heat down in the winter you can lower your energy bill by as much as 5%. We’ve recently installed a programmable thermostat, so that while we’re at work or sleeping the temperature can be adjusted without much notice.
Another big change we’ve started making is unplugging and turning off all unnecessary electronics and devices. The easiest way to do this is to have everything plugged into a power cord, where you just need to turn off the button on the power strip to turn off everything. Many electronics continue to draw energy out of the wall even after their power button is turned off, especially the ones that have a small light to indicate they’re turned off.
We recently purchased new appliances for our home and we made sure to choose the Energy Star program. Although initially it may seem more expensive to go this way, the energy efficiency adds up and will far outweigh the initial cost. This doesn’t mean run out and buy a new appliance, but just keep this in mind when it’s time to buy a new one.
And finally, I think I mentioned it before but we’ve changed all the light bulbs in our home to the compact fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs apparently will last up to ten times longer than the traditional incandescent bulbs, but once again they are more costly up front. For those using the new compact bulb for the first time keep in mind they take a few minutes to warm up and get to their full lighting capacity. I learned this the hard way after I told my husband that we were going to have to return some of our new light fixtures because they weren’t working properly.
Cumulatively any small change made will help save you money and resources. Once you start making changes you will feel good about taking a stand and doing your part to help save our precious planet.
As Confucius once wrote “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change”.
Heather Harris
Tags: co2 emmissions, compact bulb, compact fluorescent bulbs, energy, energy efficiency, energy star, incadescent bulb, light bulb, thermostat
August 15, 2008 at 8:55 am
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!