Friday, February 15, 2008

Energy Efficiency Thought of the Day

California has been pursuing energy efficiency for 20 years; its demand has barely increased over that time. South Carolina does very little. California spends the least on electricity per capita in the nation; South Carolina residents spend more than 45 other states. Still think a little energy efficiency can't obviate the need for another coal plant in South Carolina? (If so, maybe you don't like saving money).






(click on for larger image)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really folks, this is not hard to do. I live in a fairly typical home, and I was able to reduce my electricity use by 40%.

The key is to start out with the most effective things first. Seal your ducts! Not only do leaking ducts cause you do lose valuable air-conditioned air, but you will also pull in hot air from outside to make up for the lost air.

Next seal leaks around pipes, wires, etc. that penetrate from your air conditioned space into the attic or crawl space.

Next, I hung a radiant barrier in my attic to reduce the heat coming from the roof. What a huge difference! I was just re-enforced aluminum foil that I bought online. It comes in a large sheet (4' x 500'), and you staple it under the rafters.

After all that, you could addd a layer of insulation in the attic. But honestly, do that last...the other stuff helps much more.

Anonymous said...

One more thing - keep a log of your bills. It's nice to see the progress over the months (and from year-to-year).

I can look back and see that I'm saving almost $500/year, and I only spent about $500 total. Remember I save that money every year .

Also, a lot of those things reduce my gas bill too. I'm saving ~300/year on that as a bonus!