Who Knew?

Interestingly enough, there's quite a bit of information from the gummint (government), about how to improve the energy efficiency of your home or business. I'm going to focus on home, but I'm sure there's quite a bit of overlap with workplaces... especially if you work out of your home, right?! I'm reading that there are tax credits to be had for energy efficient improvements, but that they run out in 2010. I'll try to find and document that info for us as quickly as possible.

I'm also finding that utility companies have quite a bit of information on their sites. It seems that they're anxious to find ways to be able to manage peak hours, since they're getting hit so hard at certain periods of the day and year. I've read that some even offer free energy audits, although mine doesn't. The first thing you might want to do it check out your utilities provider and find out if they offer any services like that.

Thanks to those who have sent me suggestions. Each one of them are good ideas (even the one that was sent to me as a joke), so I'll track them all backwards to lay out the steps and costs necessary to pull them off. I got everything from recycling household trash to recycling pet waste. I have a dog... a very big dog, who has private time in our yard twice a day. If there's the possibility that I can turn that into something good... well, then... that'd be good.

While I'm working on that, as well as continuing to research the "to do" list, here are a few tidbits I found that you can chew on in the meantime. I found these first facts on www.reliant.com, which is my electricity provider.

"...more than 80 percent of homes built prior to 1980 lack adequate ceiling insulation. Any house without sufficient insulation can lose up to 40 percent of heated or cooled air. Adding insulation is one of the most effective ways to save on your electricity usage."

This and Radiant Barriers are high on my priority list to research.

"...the average household dedicates 10 percent of its electricity budget to lighting. The use of new lighting technologies an reduce the amount of electricity used for lighting in your home by an estimated 50 to 75 percent."

Apparently, even periodic cleaning of light bulbs can help them last longer and work more efficiently. More on that later.

Now, as I first mentioned, it's hard to know where to start, and hard to know if what you do is going to be effective. Here's a case in point. I was intending on having my first project (very small project) be to put gaskets in my wall switches and outlets to reduce airflow. I'd seen it mentioned in a few "to do" lists, and thought "surely I can't mess THIS up." Then, while researching Home Energy Saver, at http://hes.lbl.gov, I found the following:

"Myth: Installing foam gaskets in electrical outlets will significantly reduce air leakage.

Measurements have shown that less than 1% of a home's air leakage is due to outlets. However, a lot of little holes add up to one big hole. If you're doing a thorough air sealing job, or you're in a very big house with a lot of light switches, it wouldn't hurt to install gaskets--but you might want to save this measure for last, in case you run out of time or energy."

Sigh... not my first project after all.

Keep the ideas coming!