Mast Humidifier - a beautiful and energy-saving alternative

This time of year can be incredibly dry for those people living in interior regions of the country. Without the warm, moist air of the ocean to humidify the air, it can get really dry, indoors and outdoors. And it’s not just those in winter regions, either. Desert areas like Nevada are also prone to these incredibly dry conditions.

And with really dry air comes all kinds of other problems not least of which is itchy, dry, irritated skin. Who wants that? To fix it, the best solution for most people is to plug in a power-hungry humidifier that adds a relatively big load to our electric bills.

So to save energy, why not try a non-electric humidifying solution? This beautiful Mast Humidifer is a great alternative to conventional plug-in humidifiers. It’s designed with a carved Japanese Cypress base that’s pretty to look at. It’s then fitted with thin pieces of wood that are creatively folded over upon themselves in loops.

This is even better than just putting a bucket of water out to evaporate and moisturize the air. Because of the larger surface area, the humidifier evaporates water about six times as fast as a glass of water would. And because of the type of wood, it emits a lovely, lemon scent. And it does all of this without the use of electricity. It’s a great energy saving option for us dry-skinned power savers. It’s available for purchase (in Japanese) at Masuza.

Installing a Water Heater Insulation Blanket Via Flickr - greenforall.org

The cold that many of us are facing these days has us turning inwards, sipping tea, wearing more layers, and huddling under blankets to stay warm. Hopefully you’ve already taken a look at your heating system to determine how efficient it is so that you’re saving on your monthly energy bills (be they electric, natural gas, pellets, wood, or heating oil).

But many of us also like to warm up by taking a nice long, hot bath or standing for a few extra minutes under the shower. And so here’s another place you can save energy during the cold months. Water heaters are responsible for a relatively large portion of our monthly utility bills, accounting for up to 25% of your average monthly bill! That’s a good chunk of energy, and provides a lot of room for improvement.

According to the US Department of Energy, adding an insulation blanket to your water heater can help to reduce your water-heating related energy costs by as much as 9%. An insulation blanket that you wrap around your water heater can save you around $15 every year in energy bills. These jackets (which are often pre-cut to fit water heaters), cost between $10 and $20 and are very easy to install, so they’re one of the simplest and cheapest things you can do to reduce your energy use. US DOE’s Energy Savers site has a guide to installing an insulation blanket to make it dead simple.

Another really, really simple (and free!) way to reduce your monthly water heating bill is to lower the temperature on your hot water tank from 140ºF to 120ºF or lower. Not only does this reduce the amount of energy you use to keep your water warm without sacrificing comfort, it cuts the mineral build-up in your hot water tank, lengthening its life and cutting your long-term costs, too.

Water Heater Insulation Blanket

Gas bills often spike during winter months (image via Flickr - Editor B)

Christmas Day is nearly upon us, and so we offer you this gift—easy, effective ideas for saving energy in your home, for year-round lower utility bills. Now that’s a gift that keeps on giving!

• Turn down hot water heater: This one is ultra-easy. Sure, you want the heat of a nice shower to warm you in the morning, but if you turn down the thermostat on your hot water tank to 120F rather than 140F, your appliance will have to work less to keep you water warm. This could drain 6% to 10% from your water heating bill monthly.
• Get a programmable thermostat: They can cost as little as $30 but could save you upwards of $180 in heating costs every year. They take the hassle out of turning down the heat when you leave the house or at night, ensuring that you’re not heating empty rooms. Just set it and forget it!
• Prepare A/C unit for winter: If you haven’t already, get your a/c ready to save you money throughout the winter First, if yours is a window a/c unit, be sure to remove it from the window and store it away so that you’re not losing heat. Regardless, you should also drain any pipes and hoses and store them away, while ensuring that the outdoor shutoff valve is closed.
• Clean furnace and replace filter: Like any other appliance, your furnace requires regular maintenance to stay in efficient-shape. But one of the simplest, least-expensive up-keep tasks is to regularly clean and/or replace your furnace’s filter so that air can move freely and efficiently through the system. If you have a disposable filter, check it monthly for dust and debris, replacing it as necessary. But you can save even more with a replaceable filter. Though you’ll have to put out some money to buy the investment, they trap between 48% and 78% more debris and can be used over and over again for years. These need regular (monthly) cleaning (vacuum it of dust and debris). Mark your calendar and don’t forget.
• Stop up drafts: You could be letting dollars (from heat loss) walk out your front door if you’ve got air leaks around windows, electrical outlets, and doors. Do something to stop the drafts around your doors by making your own draft snake (use fabric scraps or leftover yarn; lots of free and fun patterns are available online). Seal up leaks around windows and other outlets by getting a tube or two of caulking and some weatherstripping. Similarly, seal-up ducts for heating and cooling to cut $140 from utility bills. According to the US Department of Energy, these measures could reduce heat loss in your home between 5% and 30%.
• Wear more: Finally put that ugly Christmas sweater to use by layering to stay warm without cranking up your home’s thermostat.

Bundle up with multiple layers so that you can turn your thermostat down (image via Flickr - Vato Bob)

Making your own draft stopper is an inexpensive way to save energy and make your home more comfortable (image via Flickr - BitchBuzz)

Changing your furnace's filter can help reduce heating bills (via Flickr - Collin Anderson)

Solar Cookers International

If you’re looking for a meaningful way for you to symbolically save power this holiday season, why not consider sponsoring a solar cooker through Solar Cookers International? In fact, sponsoring a solar cooker through this organization could make a very good gift. Making donations to nonprofit organizations in someone else’s name rather than purchasing something they neither need or want is a great way to support a good cause, reduce your consumption and waste, and help perpetuate a more sustainable future.

Of course, there are many great options for nonprofit gift giving but this is certainly a great one. Solar cookers come with many benefits for fighting climate change. Not only do they require no dirty energy, their use helps to protect forests and human health.

Traditionally, people in developing countries cook over open fires by burning things like wood and animal manure. The resulting air pollution leads to millions of respiratory problems and many deaths. It is estimated that as many as 2 million children die from health problems caused by the black carbon smoke emitted by cooking fires. And this black carbon is said to be the second more significant global warming pollutant in the world! Solar cookers create none of this air pollution and are therefore healthier for people to use. Of course, when forests are protected, they are able to help sequester carbon, too.

And instead of spending time to forage for firewood with the potential for depleting local forests, women who cook with solar cookers can do so without harming their community’s natural resources and have more time for other endeavors, such as entrepreneurial work or caring for their children.

The Solar Cooker International’s kit comes with the solar cooker and a pot along with tips and hints on how to use them. What’s even better is that a water indicator is included. This makes it possible for women to measure whether harmful microbes have been killed in the water so that they know whether it’s safe to drink.

So make a difference this holiday season—donate a $50 solar cooker to someone in a developing nation to change a life and offset emissions in the process. Of course, you could also purchase one for yourself or a family member or friend to get into the renewable-cooking movement yourself!

Electrical outlet Via Flickr - kalleboo

Americans waste an enormous amount of energy powering devices as they sit idle. Whether it’s the television or DVD player, cell phone chargers, appliances, or toys, this “phantom drain” on your energy bill could be adding significantly to your monthly electricity costs. In fact, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, vampire energy can account for as much as 5 to 10 percent of the average home’s electricity bill! Check out this fun graphic that illustrates where energy is most commonly wasted.

While unplugging unused electronics and appliances is perhaps the most simplistic way to avoid this kind of energy waste, it’s not the only method by far. Power strips are a more automated, convenient method of reducing your energy consumption, and they make great holiday gifts, too! Here are three great options for you to consider as you prepare to start shopping for those on your gift list:

Turn off unneeded energy-drains with the Belkin Conserve’s wall switch for the power strip. With eight always-on outlets and six that are controlled with the wall switch, you can customize which electronics and appliances get switched on and off with a flick of your finger.

The Isolé® IDP-3050 Plug Load Control has a unique, ultra-convenient feature: a motion detector that will switch electronics on when it senses someone in the room. And of course, it shuts them down when movement stops, too. Price: $90.

With a claim that it can pay for itself in as few as six weeks, the SmartStrip is a veteran in the intelligent power strip world. It can “sense” the flow of electrical current, turning off peripherals when they’re not in use. It also protects against power surges.

Belkin Conserve Energy Saving Surge Protector with Remote Switch

Isolé® IDP-3050 Plug Load Control

SmartStrip

Electrical grid Via Flickr - Ian Muttoo

The smart grid, which is on its way to the US, promising huge energy savings for the country as a whole, and for individual consumers as well, has the potential to put control of energy use within the hands of the average person. In particular, the smart grid will help any energy user consume energy in low-demand periods, which will save them money and reduce the number of power plants required for the nation as a whole.

But in order to really take advantage of this new energy-efficiency technology, we’re going to need appliances that know how and when to consume energy, otherwise we won’t receive the full value of the grid at home. Today, there are several large manufacturers working on developing smart dishwashers, dryers, microwaves, and more that will save power and power plants.

Via Whirlpool

Whirlpool—a company that’s promised to make all of its appliances “smart” by 2015—finally seems to be putting some legs on its plans, announcing recently that they will be producing 1 million smart clothes dryers (one-quarter of its production) for sale by the end of 2011. For those with variable electricity pricing, Whirlpool believes this innovation could save the average consumer between $20 and $40 annually.

How does it work? The utility’s grid will automatically “tell” the dryer to power down during peak energy-use periods (immediately after normal work hours, for instance). Whirlpool estimates that if all million dryers were to go into standby mode during peak times, it could reduce energy demands equivalent to 6 coal power plants.

In a similar move, GE is in the process of putting plans for smart water heater production into place—technology that should reduce energy use by 50 percent compared to similar heat pumps. The good news is that these new, smarter appliances should not have price points much higher than a comparable ENERGY STAR product.

Air conditioners are the biggest energy hogs, claiming on average about 16 percent of residential electricity consumption. This is followed closely by heating appliances at 10 percent, refrigerators at 14 percent, and water heaters at 9 percent. Changes, both simple and complex, in how we use our appliances can have a significant impact on our energy consumption.

• Choose an ENERGY STAR washing machine the next time you need to replace your old one to save $145+ every year on utility bills. If your washer is 10+ years old, it’s time to replace.
• Look for the ENERGY STAR label on a new dehumidifier to save $20/year or $250 over the life of the unit.
• ENERGY STAR dishwashers cut energy costs by $30 over other models yearly.
• A front loading washing machine uses less energy for spinning than top-loaders and could save you up to $100 annually in electricity costs. Front-loaders also use less water and less detergent, saving you even more.
• Hang your laundry to dry instead of running the clothes dryer to save $135 in energy yearly.
• Choose a dryer with a temperature sensing control (rather than just a time-drying mechanism) tosave 10 percent on drying costs. A moisture-sensing dryer will save 15 percent.
• Empty the lint screen on your dryer to save 30 percent or more on drying energy.
• Choose a gas dryer for your laundry; gas dryers cost between 15 and 20 cents per load, whereas an electric dryer costs between 30 and 40 cents per load.
• Choose the “air-dry” rather than the “heat-dry” setting on your dishwasher to save 15 to 50 percent off the energy used for a load of dishes. Save even more by just propping your dishwasher open to avoid drying altogether.
• Use your microwave to re-heat or cook food to save on cooking energy costs by 50 to 65 percent.
• Do small baking jobs in your toaster oven rather than an electric oven to cut your energy from 2.0 kWh to 0.9 kWh and save 50 percent in energy costs.
• A crockpot uses less than half the energy than an electric oven, and just over half of the energy of an electric convention oven.
• Install four faucet aerators and two low-flow showerheads to save $255 every year.
• Get a power monitor like the Wattson or the Kill-a-Watt to find out exactly how much energy your appliances and electronics are using and to estimate potential savings if they were shut off or upgraded to more efficient models.
• In many cases, only 5 percent of the energy used by your cell phone charger goes to charging your phone; the rest is wasted to heat. Plug your cell phone charger into a power strip and ensure it gets switched off when not in use to cut your cell phone energy consumption.
• A Smart Strip is a power strip that monitors power consumption and can sense when computers and other devices are on or off. When your devices are off, it shuts off the power to eliminate phantom power draws and will pay for itself in energy savings in as little as six weeks.
• Replacing a 20-year old refrigerator with an ENERGY STAR model could reduce that appliance’s energy costs by 60 percent.
• A refrigerator or freezer that was manufactured before 1993 could be costing you $140 every year in electricity. Fridges and freezers produced between 1993 and 2001 could be adding $60 to your early electric bill.
• The Rocky Mountain Institute estimates that on average, our appliances use 6,955 kWh of energy every year, which costs an average of $538 in energy. Many of these appliances use energy even when not operating.
• Use the energy-saving features on your appliances to save nearly $45 every year on electricity bills.
• Unplug your extra fridge to reap electricity savings valued at around $25 every year.
• Replace your old pool pump with a more efficient, and properly -sized model to reduce energy consumption by about $100.
• Run your pump for less than 3 hours per day (which will still maintain healthy water quality) to cut this energy consumption by up to 60 percent.

If you use a portable spa that’s used once a week, decrease the temperature three degrees when not in use tosave 5-10 percent in heating costs.

The UK’s Energy Saving Day organization has joined forces with BBC’s former head of comedy (Jon Plowman) to produce a relatively complete review of the most popular energy monitors (including ones like Home Joule, Kill-a-Watt and Wattson) on the market today, and it’s available via YouTube video for anyone to view (in two parts, first part above, second below).

In this somewhat light-hearted look at energy monitors, Plowman walks through a good number of devices available on the consumer market one by one. He talks through how each of them works—where they connect, what they measure, how the display functions, and more—and identifies for each one some of the pros and cons of choosing it. In particular, he talks about cost and granularity of detail, two important factors in any energy monitor purchase.

Regardless of which device you select for your home, you can be guaranteed that you’ll save power every month if you pay attention to the readings. That’s the understanding Energy Saving Day is operating under. They believe that households in the know about their energy use are households with the power to cut their energy consumption.

It’s no surprise, either. If you discover, all of the sudden, that your refrigerator is adding a big load to your energy consumption and do the math to find out how much you’d save with a more efficient model, you’re more likely to replace it with something more power-saving. Their website points out that an energy monitor can help homeowners reduce energy consumption by as much as 10 to 20 percent annually.

Air conditioner Via Flickr - jeffk

Americans spend an enormous amount of money on cooling their homes every year. To be precise, air conditioners consume more energy than any other appliance in the average American home, accounting for about 16 percent of residential electricity use annually. Finding ways to reduce your cooling energy consumption is therefore a great way to cut energy bills and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, too.

Go AC Green’s Cool-N-Save can purportedly cut your air conditioning bill down by 30 percent and has been featured on sites like Treehugger and shows like Living with Ed. It works by adding mist to the air. Here’s how they describe the process:

Hot air from the condenser unit’s fan raises the flap on the patented Cool-n-Save™ control valve allowing water to flow to the misters that surround the AC unit. When the ultra-fine mist is released into the air, it evaporates almost instantly creating what is known as a “Flash Evaporation,” which literally sucks heat out of the air as water absorbs the energy it needs to evaporate. The result of the immediate evaporation constitutes a substantial drop in ambient temperature without wetness—up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

The patented system is supposed to install without tools in five minutes to virtually any regular home air conditioning system. The system can be purchased for about $100, although you may have to also purchase the Cool-N-Save Water Expansion Kit if you have a larger condenser (in excess of 3.5 tons) for an additional $15. Filters are also available to ensure there’s no build-up from hard water.