Energy Efficiency Explained

Book Review: Reducing Your Utility Bills: A Practical and Realistic Approach
by “Energy Saver Dave”

This book started as an e-course, but has been updated with
the latest tips and methods, developed and tested by “Energy
Saver Dave” himself, through years of research, trial and error.

This truly is “the most comprehensive e-book about saving money
on your utility bills” that you can buy.

The story began when Dave’s utility bills got so bad, he had to
be put on budget payments and his wife got a second job just to
pay them.  That’s when he got mad enough to take radical action.

As he laid awake at night worrying, he didn’t get any bolts
from out of the blue.  So, he decided to survey every inch of his
house.  He was surprised to discover holes, cracks and gaps he
never knew existed.  That’s when he realized he was throwing
money through all those cracks–too much money!

Tackling the gaps one by one

Dave worked his way through the entire house in a few months,
tackling each crack and gap one by one.  The results when he was finished?  A
savings of nearly 60 percent on his electric bill!

What surprised Dave is how simple each fix or improvement turned
out to be.  He realized that anybody could do what he had done
and cut their utility bills in half.

Bite-sized steps

Dave guides you, step-by-step through 15 lessons covering the
entire house.  The course is divided into three sections:

• Saving money on your gas bill
• Saving money on electricity
• Saving money on your water bill

Each lesson gives you the fixes to make and the theory behind
them. At the end of the lesson, you get specific instructions
for how to do the repairs, as well as the cost, estimated effort,
and approximate savings. The steps are simple, and often
illustrated with photos Dave took himself–for a visual learner
like me, these are invaluable.

And all the fixes and repairs Dave recommends are completely
legal, without bypassing building codes and regulations.

A note about the format: I used nearly an entire pack of paper to
print out the book, which may not the best way to conserve
resources.  You could print just a section at a time, as needed.
Plus, it’s formatted with a large font and double-spaced to make
it easy to read from the screen or on a portable device.

Click here to order your copy of Reducing Your Utility Bills
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Go here for a FREE six-part mini-course on energy efficient light bulbs

A lot of people I talk to have never seen an LED “replacement” bulb.  They have trouble imagining how a tiny semiconductor could replace a standard lightbulb.

This video shows one of the more recent designs.  Keep in mind that the “bulb” is actually a collection of several LEDs, along with the electronics to operate them, covered by a plastic bulb.

Interested in finding out more about LED replacement bulbs, and how they compare to CFLs?  Sign up for my FREE six-part mini-course, Six Startling Facts You Need to Know Before Changing Another Light Bulb.  Just click here to sign up, and your first free lesson will arrive at your inbox in minutes!

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s nomination for V.P. isn’t the only big news from the Last Frontier State. Juneau residents, who suffered a temporary 450 percent electric rate increase in May due to an avalanche that destroyed a hydro-electric transmission line, have shown us the future.

It was a “teachable moment” when Alaska Electric Light & Power announced that, until the line was repaired, the utility would use backup diesel generators to provide electricity, passing the high cost of fuel on to consumers.

Overnight, the price of electricity jumped from 11 cents per kilowatt-hour–about the national average–to around 53 cents/kWh. This would have increased residents’ utility bills from an average of about $90 to over $400 per month.

Sticker Shock
The shock drove electricity customers to conserve about 30 percent of the energy they normally would have used. Doing so would cause their monthly payments to drop down closer to $300, still far higher than Juneau residents normally experience.

And how did they do it?

Painfully, one kilowatt at a time, by consciously conserving energy at every turn. Lights in homes and businesses were kept dim or dark, electric appliances were left unplugged, thermostats were turned way down. Some public buildings were closed. Elevators and escalators were turned off. Even airport runway lights were darkened, except for the moments before takeoff and landing.

Over those six weeks, until the power line was restored on June 1, the citizens of Juneau “did without.”

Conservation isn’t Easy
But for all their conscious effort and not a little physical suffering, they only managed to save 30 percent of the energy they normally use to run the city and run their lives. And let’s face it: living in a dark, 50 degree home isn’t anybody’s idea of comfortable.

Looking at Juneau’s energy data soon after the avalanche, the city dropped from using almost 1,000 megawatt-hours per day to a low of 550 MWh per day. Once the cheap hydro-electric power rates were restored on June 1, residents gradually increased their energy use. By mid-July, their daily electric use was still below 2007’s, but within 100 MWh.

So what’s the answer–I mean, the long-term, realistic answer to the inevitable energy rate hikes we will all face in the near future?

That’s right: Energy Efficiency.

One of the first measures Juneau residents put into place during the crisis was installing energy efficient light bulbs–mostly CFLs. One reporter noted that these bulbs flew off the shelves within a few days of the avalanche.

By investing in CFLs, consumers stumbled upon the principle of relying on energy efficiency to reduce the energy we use over the long haul, versus energy conservation measures for short-term emergencies.

Have you tried a few CFLs, but want to know more before investing in a house full of them? I’m putting the finishing touches on my electronic book, The Energy Efficient Light Bulb Buyer’s Guide, which should be available for purchase within the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, check out my free 6-week course on Energy Efficient Light Bulbs.

Talk to you soon…

Holly Martin, author The Energy Efficient Light Bulb Buyer’s Guide