Saving electricity at home.
 

Someone in another topic requested I share some insight into my $5 per month electricity bill.

The main thing is living in an RV. It is small. There is less air to heat or cool, less rooms to light, less space to put lots of appliances and gadgets. The bigger the living space, the bigger the bill is likely to be, all else being equal.
The RV refrigerator also helps because, (unlike most units made for homes) it is designed with efficiency in mind. It uses a totally different system to remove heat (no compressor), the coils vent directly to the roof, and there is lots of insulation and not a huge amount of internal space. It is possible to buy similar fridges for homes, but they tend to be expensive and hard to find. The last advantage is low ceilings. In addition to less air space for HVAC needs, this means the lights don't need to be as bright. Light diffuses with the square of the distance, which means ceilings that are twice as high need lights which are 4 times brighter to seem equally bright at ground level.
This allows me to use all LED lighting. I have white 12volt LEDs which I got online from superbrightleds dot com (I also retrofitted my truck and motorcycle lights with them all around). Rather expensive up front, but they only use 1 watt of power each, and should last a very long time.
There are finally commercially available LED bulbs for regular 120v systems (normal homes) but I have never seen one in use, so I can't say how well they work.

However, some of the things I do could apply to any home.

-If you have a choice, use gas appliances. Electricity is less efficient at heating than flame. Ovens and water heaters in particular. Exceptions include microwaves for food, electric kettles for hot water, and ceramic space heaters for heating a single room. These electric powered heaters are all more efficient than their alternatives.

-Tint your windows. This is very cheap, fairly easy, and depending on the type you get, easily removable. Buy a roll at the auto store, cut to fit, spray with soapy water, roll it on. Keeps heat out in summer, in in winter, and provides privacy without blocking the view.

-Put all phantom power draws (anything with a "wall worts" converter plug, anything with a remote, anything with a stand-by light, anything with a clock) on not just a power strip, but a timer. Set it so that it will automatically turn off, but only turn on manually. With the mechanical style, all you have to do is remove the green tab. Set the "off" timer for 30mins after bedtime. It will not only save power when you forget to shut everything down, it will also help keep you from losing track of time and staying up too late.

-Speaking of which - wake up no later than the sun rises. Why pay for lighting up the night when you can get free light by opening a window the next morning? When you sleep in, you are letting free sunlight go to waste, and paying for it again the next evening.

-Ignore "energystar" ratings. They only compare to other appliances of the same class. It would be like calling one SUV a high mileage vehicle just because it gets better mpg than another SUV. Look at the overall estimated energy use instead (on the same label, but in smaller print.) Most new everything uses more power than older things, even though there is more efficient technology in use, because everything is supersized. Try to downsize whenever practical.

-Do more by hand. Honestly, pre-rinsing dishes is almost as much work as just washing them by hand, which uses no electric. Manual can openers aren't that hard to use (I just use a swiss army knife). Never ever use a dryer. Again, sunlight is free. When it rains, you can dry clothes indoors. (I did this for the first time ever for my last load). It takes longer, and there are ropes all over your living room all night, but it gets done, and it's free. Use a corded phone. They don't need to be plugged in.

-Battery powered things almost always use much less power than their plug-in equivalents. Use a battery powered alarm clock, for example.

If you live in a house, you probably won't ever get down to the 40kWh I average per month, but by being conscious of what you plug in, for how long, and why, you can certainly get it well below the 920kWh that is the American average.


I'm sure there is a lot more that I haven't thought of.
Add your own tips of how to lower one's electric bill.

For heating small amounts of water for things such as washing dishes warm it by running a pot of water though the coffee maker instead of using it from the water heater and having to replace it with cold water that will lower the temperature of all the water in the water heater making it run more frequently. If you are on a public water system this also saves gallons on your water bill not having to let the water run until the hot water travels from the water heater to the fauset.

I'm not sure how much this is going to help, but I'm getting ready to have a metal roof put on my house and am going to install aluminum radiant barrier between the existing roof and the new metal roof. I requested samples of radiant barrier from some suppliers before making this decision and one of them sent a sample about 8"X12" so I conducted my own experiment using it and a portable kerosene heater. I placed the barrier directly on the metal protective grill of the heater for a few minutes then put my hand near the barrier and could feel very little if any heat on that side of the barrier. Then I felt to see if the barrier was hot on the side away from the heater and I could place my hand directly on the barrier and left it there for a few minutes and felt very little if any heat coming through. After this I removed the barrier and even the side that was within 3" of the heater itself and had been exposed to the metal protective grill was even cool.

When spring gets here I also plan to build an incasement around my central a/c unit and cover it with radiant barrier to help keep the condensor cooler which should also help lower a/c costs.

I didn't think of hot water in writing this, because I have a gas one, but certainly reducing hot water usage is a big one.
When my previous hot water heater died I went without hot water for several days, and I discovered that showers were the only time I really missed it.

I subsequently removed part of all hot water handles in the house except for in the shower.
They can still be turned, but the missing piece serves as a reminder to only use hot water if I really need it, which turns out to be pretty rarely.

Another thing I realized was how crazy it is to make the water hotter than we want it to be, and then cool it back down by mixing cold and hot together. It would be like flooring the gas pedal at all times, and then regulating speed by simultaneously stepping on the brake. Now I set the water heater at exactly the temperature where I can take a comfortable shower by turning on only the hot water tap and leaving the cold off.

Radiant barriers don't work unless there is an air space on the reflective side. Most references I've read recommend at least a 3/4 inch air space. For a roof, it is recommended that the reflective side face down so that dirt doesn't settle on it and degrade the radiant barrier with time.

Check out this Florida Solar Energy Center publication for more info: FSEC-EN-15

I only turn on my hot water heater when I want hot water, which is only when I want to take a shower. I also set the thermostat on the water heater for a comfortable temperature when I'm showering with just the hot water faucet turned on and no cold water turned on.

I'm getting a barrier that's reflective on both sides which will help in the winter by reflecting the heat back into the house and in the summer by reflecting heat away. I've talked with several contractors who sell/install radiant barrier and they have all told me the air space can be on either side of the barrier. I'm aware you need an air space so I'm going to put the barrier down, have perlins placed directly over the barrier which will give me approximately a 1" air space then have the metal roof attached to the perlins.

Here is the barrier I'm getting. The price is $116. per 1000 sf roll including shipping which was the best price I was able to find, most other companies were anywhere from $130-$150 + shipping for the same weight in case anyone else is interested in buying any.

I've thought about installing a radiant barrier but couldn't decide which way to put it.... Cold winters here! So both sides reflect kinda makes sense but... Why use it at all then? In the winter I'd want any heat to get down but in the summer I'd want the opposite. I suppose if it works off the temperature differential that could still work but is that how radiant heat works?

We need rotating walls- reflective on one side and flat black on the other- that get adjusted seasonally.

Set it up for winter. In Buffalo, which is much milder than MN, there are about 15 times as many Heating Degree Days as Cooling Degree Days.

I like Frank's idea, too.

I don't plan to include radiant barriers in any of my designs (except in high-temperature gadgets), because I'd rather have a fiberglass batt than a radiant barrier and an air gap.

Sounds like a deciduous tree.

Sorry I forgot to include the link in the previous post Texas Heat Management — Store Home

The barrier will work in the summer and winter, because radiant heat always transfers from the hot environment to the colder, so the double sided reflective barrier reflects your heat back into your house and the cold away in the winter keeping it warmer instead of letting it go through the roof and in the summer it reflects the heat away from the house and reflects the cool air back into the house keeping it cooler.

You can use radiant barriers with batt insulation which is what I'm thinking about doing in my garage, then the radiant barrier reflects heat that radiates through the batt insulation. The exterior of the garage is going to be metal, then I was thinking about putting batt insulation in the walls and covering it with the barrier. It will still do it's job because the air in the interior of the garage will act as the needed air space. You don't have to have an air space on both sides of the barrier. I used a double aluminum sided foam insulation (1/4" foam) in my garage at the house I have in NC and it made the garage warmer in the winter and much cooler in the summer without using heat or a/c. It made enough difference in the summer that it was actually cooler feeling in the garage than it was outdoors most of the time. I used the barrier/insulation on the bottom of the trusses and on the interior walls without any other insulation, so I had about an average of 1' air space above the insulation and 3 1/2" air space between the exterior wall and barrier/insulation. I never checked the temperature in the garage prior to or after the installation, but my guess is that it lowered the interior temperature at least 20* in the summer and I've worked on cars in there at night in the winter when the temperatures would be in the 20's and 30's without any heat other than what 3 40 watt light bulbs put out.

That reminds me I still need to adjust the thermostat in the water heater in the home I just moved into and wrap it with radiant barrier too. I've found that for most of our use 120*-125* works out pretty well. My guess is that the water heater here is set at about 140*-150*. I guess I need to put that on my list of things to do tomorrow.

I kept turning down the setting on my gas water heater until I found the lukewarm showers on full hot objectionable (a nice hot shower of more than adequate time is a luxury I'm not willing to give up) then I put it back up a skosh from that. Turns out, that's also the "vacation" setting, LOL. Mine has a blanket on it too.

Electric tea kettles that turn off on their own are amazing, from tests that I've seen they use 1/4 of the energy that stove top water heating uses, half of what it takes to boil water in a microwave and about half of what a tank style water heater uses, they also get the water up to temp then turn off so that you never waste energy, just like a toaster pops when the toast is done.
LED lights are coming along quickly, what is avalible in stores are impressive and cheap.
I also like automation, the light in the garage turns on via a motion sensor, the light next to the front door is a solar charged LED motion sensor light, my water heater is on a timer, all of the cell phone chargers in the house are switching power supply chargers that pretty much turn off once the device is charged, everyone in the house uses their cell phone as an alarm clock, all of the flash lights are LED so the number of rechargeable batteries need along with the number of chartings needed are cut back and for most of the lesser used LED flashlights I use disposable batteries because they last 5 years or so in the flash light where rechargeable batteries only hold a charge for 6 months or so.
I did notice the jump in electrical use when we got a desk top computer, my lap top/net book uses 15-25 watts depending on how it's being used where a desk top seems to use 100 watts or more.

The way my electric coop keeps raising rates and fees are gonna drive me to go off the grid altogether. :mad: Used to have a $10 "Monthly Facilities Charge" which has quickly morphed into a $19 charge, and yesterday's coop newsletter says they'll jack it to $24 in April AND we've gone to 9 cents/kwh from 8 too. My wise fellow Minnesotans voted an increased sales tax upon us a few years back and everything on our electric bills is subject to MN sales tax, so the tax bite is higher. There is also a renewable energy surcharge which I don't mind so much if that helps expand the wind farms.

The funny part is, in one part of the coop newsletter they say the recession has caused reduced electricity consumption by businesses; for that reason they must raise the rates. Then in another part of the newsletter they say increased consumer electricity consumption is causing them to have to buy more power; for that reason they must raise the rates. OK. Color me confused. :confused:

We are still paying $9.77 per month electric bill on our house in NC just for having the power on, nothing at all plugged in, but I need to leave the power on until I get a chance to get back up there and finish some work before putting the place up for sale.

Me too.

I got my 3 rolls of radiant barrier yesterday, now if only the weather would cooperate so the garage could be built and the new roof put on the house, maybe I could start saving some energy.

Yeah, but did you ever think about how much it costs to e.g. fix all the lines that get blown down every time a hurricane blows through? Or someone runs off the road at 10 pm & takes out the power pole that carries all the neighborhood service - which actually happened to me a few months ago.

This seems a pretty reasonable way of arranging things: you pay $X to cover the cost of line maintenance, then so much per kWh for whatever electricity you actually use.

Some of that is surely minimum maintenance fees and taxes, but did you look at the wheel on the meter and make sure it is perfectly still? There could be tiny loads somewhere you aren't aware of, perhaps something as small as inductive current in crossed lines. If it moves at all, try shutting off all the circuit breakers.

The bill shows 0kw used.

It amazes me that electric kettles aren't standard in the US, all the people I know in NZ and Australia have them, and that has been the case all my life (I'm only 19 though). The only thing I'd really like on mine is a beeper so I don't end up reboiling the darn thing all the time (I walk away and forget to return). The ultimate sign you need coffee is when it takes 3 tries over an hour to make a cup.

Electric kettles are very common in the US. We just call them coffee pots or coffee makers.

My electricity bill for this 1400 s/f house has ranged from $5.67 to $6.76 over the last 7 months through the winter. The kw/day/month have ranged from 2.2 to 2.6, or about 1.2 kw/day per person. I would like to keep getting this lower. My next priority is to get rid of the gas bill completely.

WOOD HEAT
I hated the dry blown air from the gas furnace, and it's inefficiency, so I got a fireplace insert 10 years ago, and haven't used the gas furnance since then. I have usually paid $100 for wood each winter, but last year I free rounds from the city from trees they cut down, split the wood, and plan to do this myself from now on. Total yearly cost for heating the house: $0.

LIGHTING
I got a bunch of Feit 13 watt daylight bulbs and they're great. However much of the time they put out more light than I need, so I got some 2 watt led's on E bay from hong kong. They provide plenty of light at light, unless I want to use one of the daylight bulbs for reading. I think the optimum for indoor living would be no more than 5 to 10 watts per bulb. My cost for lighting is quite low. I have a record of the cost for electricity for each item in the house.

COOKING
I hated the fumes from the gas stove more than anything, and finally got rid of it completely last fall! I was going to get an electric stove, but fortunately was guided to induction cookers! I got 2 of the burton 6200 induction cookers and they are so amazing that so far I've only used one of them! The cost of cooking has been greatly reduced, is faster, and best of all the pre and post fumes are gone!

ELECTRONICS
My first computer build with sabayon linux, plus connection uses 58 watts. The vizio 26" tv uses 26 watts.

REFRIGERATOR
The old upright was very annoying, as it ran about 50 percent of the time, all the cold air would fall out every time it was opened, and it would go on again. So I converted a chest freezer to a fridge, and got rid of the fridge. The conversion uses an average of only 8 watts an hour, compared to the 100 watts that were used by the fridge. For awhile I used a separate chest freezer for freezing, then decided that I didn't need to freeze anything anyway, and don't use it any more.

HOT WATER
This is the only gas applicance left in the house, and I can't wait to get rid of it. The bill is $8 a month, and most of that is bill cost! Actual gas use for heating the water amounts to about $3 a month, and most of this is for reheating the water in the tank, due to heat loss up the chimney! An electric tank has no chimney, so the reheating can be greatly reduced. Also I can put an electric tank on a timer, with or without a thermostat. Recently I found the following link that shows how to convert a gas water heater to electric, which I am planning to do very soon.
IWillTry.org » Convert your gas hot water tank to electric

OTHER
The treadmill and washing machine hardly use anything.

Right now the electricity plus gas bills total about $14 a month. I'd like the hot water conversion to bring this combined total to less than $10 a month.

Electric hot water heaters tend to use more energy over all and cost more to run, going to a forced vent gas hot water heater shrinks the flu size because it has a fan that pulls the flu gases out instead of relying on natural draft or you can go even further like I plan to do and get an A.O. Smith Vertex, the flu in that only goes half way up the tank then spirals back down exiting the bottom, 90% or 96% efficient depending on what one you get, electric hot waters just burn the natural gas at the power plant, so why not burn the natural gas where you need it?

Already have the gas service; depends on if he feels any sense of security by having the gas backup- nice to have if away from home any length of time in the winter. So, might as well keep the gas water heater.

Comparison of Gas Hot Water Vs Electric

GAS = 0.356 therms to heat a 40 gallon tank
123 days = $35.06 / (20 therms (18 CFC's) / .356 = ) 56 tanks = $.626 per tank
This is a ridiculous 18 gallons of hot water a day, probably at least 4 times the amount of hot water that is used. Due to the gas exhaust, probably most of the heat is lost up the chimney.

ELECTRICITY = 6.63 kwh (x $.12233 per kwt) = $.81 to heat a 40 gallon tank
56 tanks x $.81 per tank = 45.36 for 123 days / This would be only if no gas heat is currently lost up the chimney, which is not possible. Electric cost would be $2.58 higher than gas.

28 tanks x $.81 per tank = 22.68 for 123 days / This would be if only 50% of gas heat is currently lost up the chimney. The electric cost would be $3.10 less than the current cost for gas.

14 tanks x $.81 per tank = 11.34 for 123 days / Considering that 75%+ of gas heat is current lost up the chimney, the most likely scenario. Electric savings would be $5.93 a month, approximately 75%.

Additional advantages, an electric hot water heater can be completely insulated top to bottom, and a timer can be used, along with a thermostat.

I discovered that the only time I ever actually need hot water is for showers.
I was turning on the hot faucet to wash hands, but by the time the warm water reached the tap, I was finished washing my hands anyway! So I put a lot of hot water in the pipes to cool off, while the heater had to heat new cold water. Totally pointless.
So I removed the end of all the hot water handles in the house except for the shower, to remind me not to turn it on. I haven't missed it at all.

A single fixture instant water heater (whether gas or electric) is not very expensive, and uses negligible power compared to any kind of tank heater. There is no tank to heat, it only comes on when you actually need it, and the water doesn't have to travel through dozens of feet of pipe before reaching its destination.
As a bonus, if you are partial to long showers and have several people in the house who shower consecutively, you will never run out of hot water. You can indulge in even longer showers, while still saving energy overall!

That's a great idea.
I have similarly turned the hot water valves off under the sinks.

Do you use cold water in the washing machine?

Where do you find one that is reasonably priced, and how do you connect it to the shower?

Have you calculated its kw per day use for showers?

Gas water heaters that have a forced vent work great with timers or manual switches, they also don't have pilot lights so you save more gas there as well, they also heat much faster so if you do want to leave the tank cold for days at a time they tend to heat as much as twice as fast compared to electric water heaters.

I don't have my own washing machine, but from what I've read, warm water does much less for cleaning power than we tend to assume.

I got my water heater from ebay.
I live in an RV, for the pipes are different than most houses - the way I hooked it up (under the bathroom sink) probably wouldn't work for a regular house.

I haven't calculated exact cost.
My old water heater tank leaked, so I needed to replace it anyway, therefor I wasn't concerned with payback time.

Lets see if I can get a rough estimate right now though...
Two tanks of propane cost about $40 and last me about a year when its being used only for water heating.
So, assuming one shower a day on average, rough estimate is ten cents per shower.
Very rough estimate though.

I have also found that I really only use hot water for showers. I also have turned off the hot water valve under my bathroom sink.

I still have a tank electric hot water heater. I have it hooked up to a water heater timer where the timer portion is off. I strictly use the timer as a manual on/off switch for my water heater, which saves stress on my breaker. I only turn on the hot water heater shortly before taking a shower. I turn it off just before stepping into the shower. I have my hot water heater temperature set so that if I shower with only hot water, no cold water turned on at all, the shower water is a comfortable temperature. This is about 112 degrees F, as indicated by the markings on my water heater thermostat, which I'm sure aren't too accurate. In the winter when it is in the 30's F, I find I need to run the heater about 18 minutes for a comfortable shower. In the summer here in Florida, I don't have to run the heater at all for a comfortable shower. My hot water heater is located in my attic, which helps in the summer, since attic temperatures heat the water.

I haven't used hot water for laundry for decades. Consumer Reports claims the most effective laundry detergents are the ones formulated for and used with cold water.

Thanks for the great responses!

Ryland, the gas heater you're talking about sounds expensive. Since you're going to use an electric forced vent, so the gas can work more efficiently, why not just convert entirely to electric.

My figures show that electric water heating is much less than is gas. Another reason besides less heating of the water, is that you can entirely insulate an electric tank with 6 inches of insulation, including on top, which you can't do with gas. But if you like gas, that is fine. Up until a year ago I always thought gas was more efficient, though the fumes were annoying. However, with each appliance converted to electric, my bill has gone down! How much are you paying for gas and electric?

I used to pay $25 for electric a month, and $50 for gas. Now the bills are $6 and $8 respectively. My objective is to get rid of the gas entirely and bring the total (electric only) to less than $10.

JacobAziza, thanks for your feedback. You're inspiring me to do more.

Sid, thanks for the helpful details! I'm going to do the same thing with my water heater.
How do you determine the temperature, just by feel the way it comes out?

Another thing will be trying the cold water laundry, and using less laundry soap.
Do you have a particular recommendation for brand?

A couple things that have been touched on here that I also plan on trying out -

Instant water heater - I plan on re-installing the plumbing in my trailer, and running a single 1" main line (spine line) and manifolds for each object that needs water service. We NEVER use hot water in the washer, so the washer will only receive a cold water line. I want to try a couple 2.5GPM instant (electric) water heaters (tankless) in the home, as follows:

Bathroom - Installed near the tub - tub only uses 2.2 GPM max, and I intend to install a water/water heat exchanger on the drain line of the tub to preheat the line running to the water heater, so some of the heat is recycled, making the job easier on the heater.

Kitchen - We do use hot water to wash dishes, even though we plan on installing a dish washer, which actually uses less water than hand washing, in many cases, and has it's own heater on board. However, I get greasy - cold water doesn't work well on grease. Instant water heater under the sink with the same type of water/water heat exchanger setup.

Eventually, the intent is to disable gas service entirely, run only on electricity, and have the ability to literally drag the trailer into a field, drop it, set it, and live in it without actually hooking up electrical or gas service.

Recycling heat from drain water is brilliant!

It all sounded good up until the very last step - for boondocking you may want to re-consider your plan...
you can fit much much more energy in a bottle of propane than you can in a battery.
My propane lasts for months, even with the fridge and furnace running on propane. The battery lasts less than a week, just drawing for lights, fan, and sometimes a 20" TV.

Re: The battery - It (they) can (will/should) be charged by the other issue I'm playing with - deceleration alternator. Since the car itself doesn't use hardly any electrical energy while operating, charge a battery pack for home on my drive. Granted, this isn't going to be enough to run everything all the time, however, at times, using the free fuel (WVO/Waste oil) generator I also intend to build. (Ah, plans...)

It's an interdependent plan.

Something that's not really true. If you look at some of the comparisons, you'll see that they've set them up to use as wasteful a method of hand-washing as possible, doing things like running multiple sinks of hot water to rinse the dishes, or leaving the hot water running continually.

My dish washing consists of only a few squirts of water from the tap.

There is no way an automated dishwasher could compete.

I have likewise removed the garbage disposal, and put in large single bowl SS sink.

All the sinks in the house have 1/2 gpm needle spray aerators, which are awesome.