Article: 'Hypermiling' for Housing

[cfg83]

Hello -

Darin has been busy :

'Hypermiling' for Housing | 2012-08-01 | ED+C Magazine

A 1996 Civic DX Sedan is not usually considered to be a preeminent fuel-efficient vehicle. Try telling that to Darin Cosgrove of Brockville, Ontario. He’s the cofounder of an online forum, EcoModer.com, chalk full of stories where consumers have taken vehicles like the Civic DX Sedan and increased their fuel efficiency by more than 100 percent over the EPA’s “combined” fuel economy rating. Cosgrove himself averages 69 miles per gallon (MPG) in his 14-year-old Geo Metro.

Cosgrove represents a growing community of drivers who are fed up with high gas prices but can’t necessarily afford to go out and buy a brand new Toyota Prius. Instead, these drivers are taking matters into their own hands. By monitoring their vehicle’s fuel economy, they have discovered that certain driving habits will result in higher MPGs. These techniques, collectively referred to as “hypermiling,” range from acts as simple as eliminating hard acceleration to more complex (and sometimes illegal) acts like “pulse and glide” — which is basically turning off the engine and coasting while driving. Hypermilers exemplify the liberating successes that an energy-conscious consumer base can have when armed with one simple tool — real-time energy use data. If homeowners obtain real-time energy use data for dwellings, can this phenomenon translate into the realm of home energy management? Can there be hypermiling for houses?

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You and I know the answer to that, but go the article and read on ...

CarloSW2

[jalmir]

Interesting, but I think it's more habits than gadgets (though, they help!).

Take my appartment for exemple, it's an old building and the electric water heaters are all located in the basement and we are at the 3rd floor ... That means every time I want to use hot water, it has to travel a LONG way and lot of heat is lost, so I finally installed a timer to see if I could save money, turns out my eletric bills went down. (the timer opens around 3pm and closes at 10pm, since we are out all day, there is no need for it to be open)

Another power hungry machine is the dryer, turns out that putting the clothes out on a line as much as possible made us save more money.

In the end with all the tricks we are using, the electric bill went down by 50% ... That is significant!

[101Volts]

Old thread bumped. Thanks for the link. Does anyone here have recommendations for what one may dub "Tree Hugger" websites? And one way to shower is to get wet, Turn the water off and lather up then rinse off. Perhaps some folks here have been doing that already and if so, Good going!

Edit: "Yes, Look at the stickied thread."

Edit 2: Does what I said above in the first edit sound silly?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Everytime I consider some refurbishment at my apartment or some relatives' residence, I always look for how energy-efficient would those changes become.

[betasniper]

Did they misspell Ecomodder.com?