Here is a picture of the glass coating:

 http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/02/spray-on-solar-glass-gets-a-bit-bigger/

The coatings are less than 1/10th the thickness of thin films, New Energy says, taking advantage of what it calls “the world’s smallest functional solar cells.” The company claims that by generating electricity from both natural and artificial light sources, its cells “outperform today’s commercial solar and thin-film technologies by as much as tenfold.”

This stuff has the power and distribution possibility to be in every home and help reduce the amount people spend on electricity.

InCharge Battery Station

The Greener Gadgets Design Competition is on in anticipation of Greener Gadgets Conference to be held in New York City on February 25. You can make your voice heard by voting for the gadget you find more eco-friendly.

Consider, for instance, the BuLogics Smart Grid Home Controller. It’s billed as the world’s first smart grid-compatible wireless controller. By installing the Z-Wave HAN in your home, you can automatically shut down appliances and electronics that are not being used during peak electricity demand times. This occurs when your local utility grid sends a demand change request and allows you to reduce your monthly power costs. You can also monitor how much you’re using and saving using a wireless computer or cell phone. It’s a great way to really get a handle on when and how much energy you use in order to save power as much as possible.

Another option is the InCharge Battery Station by Pensa. We all know that using rechargeable batteries is not only cost-effective, it’s more environmentally-friendly than disposable batteries. But it can be a pain to plug in the charger and hook up the batteries. With the InCharge Battery Station, simply drop the batteries into the base—it automatically sorts them and begins charging. The LED light indicates the relative charge in each individual battery, holding charged batteries until you need them so that you always have batteries at the ready.

And if you want to produce your own power to charge your electronic devices, check out the RollerGen. As you cycle, the RollerGen will automatically charge two devices—cell phone, mp3 player, and so on—simultaneously. In fact, a 2-mile ride can charge a smartphone!

Or how about the Turbine Light? It’s a renewable energy harvesting device that doubles as a renewable energy system. As the wind turns the turbine, energy is created, which can be used to power the lighting at night. The wind is generated by weather or by passing vehicles.

So don’t miss out on your opportunity to vote for the greenest gadget (deadline February 25)!

RollerGen bicycle powering device

Turbine Light

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

Wattvision YouTube video shows you how you can save energy by monitoring your power consumption

If you want a stupid simple way to see how much energy you use and what appliances are costing the most on your utility bills, then here’s a very user-friendly solution. Wattvision’s Sensor is a really easy system you can install yourself (no electrician required) to monitor the energy you use at home, at your school, or in your business. Once the system is installed, you’ll get a whole-house or whole-building energy-use report (with 15-second intervals) that can be read on a computer or your iPhone.

Many great features make this system incredibly practical. First, you can view how much energy you’ve saved (or used) over the history of your Wattvision system, down to the minute. So you can track trends by hour, day, week, or time of year. Additionally, with 15-second updates, as soon as you turn the system on you can test to see which appliances and electronics in your home are using the most energy. Unplug the fridge and watch the energy use diminish or plug in the kettle to see how much energy it takes to boil some water. With this system, you can pinpoint which energy-using devices need to be recycled or replaced so that you can begin to really make changes that count.

Wattvision saves you energy by showing you where you use the most

You can get started with your very own Wattvision Sensor by going to their site, telling them where you are (approximately) and what type of energy meter you have, and then ordering the right sensor for your home or building for $149 (with code wvbetablog; they’re regularly priced at $199). To see a Wattvision in action, check out their live demo.

Bring your power bills down in 2010 with energy-saving ideas - image via Flickr - Tanis Fox

In the spirit of the New Year, we thought it would be a good idea to make some suggestions as to how you might make 2010 greener than 2009. After all, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by Tiller Research LLC, more than 50% of all Americans are likely to get into the green spirit of things in the New Year, which is an increased interest in green compared to years past. In fact, 85% of all Americans are somewhat likely to reduce their household energy use this year, which is great news for the environment and those looking to save money on utility bills.

So here are some great resolutions you may want to try in your quest for saving power:

-          Make a big green impact on your energy consumption by choosing to take fewer flights this year. Since air travel has a significantly bigger footprint than driving or taking the train, this one energy-saving option can have a huge impact on your carbon footprint. Just one fewer cross-country flight can reduce your carbon emissions by 4 tons.

-          Get a power monitor like the Black & Decker Power Monitor (for less than $100) to find out where you’re wasting the most energy in your home. You can then take action to put a stop to energy waste.

-          Tune up your heating and cooling systems with a programmable thermostat and other energy-saving techniques.

-          Drive less by taking public transit, carpooling with co-workers and friends, walking, running, or cycling, or working from home. You’ll reduce wear on your vehicle and save fuel money, too.

For many more power-saving tips and tricks to inspire your New Year’s resolutions, check out our other SavingPower Tips section!

A programmable thermostat can significantly reduce your cooling and heating bills - image via Flickr - Mick Wright

Use alternative modes of transportation for your daily commute - image via Flickr - Richard Drdul

Take fewer flights to shrink your carbon footprint in 2010 - image via Flickr - america.gov

Lucet LED Solar Window Lamp

Not yet something you can purchase at a boxing week sale, but this new solar-powered LED lamp has some great features that, if it ever hits the market, could make it much easier to light up your home with renewable energy. Designed as a concept lamp by industrial designer Rui Palma, the Lucet, as it is called is a lamp that runs on solar energy, collecting it as it sticks to your window. A great energy-saving device in the making.

Although this isn’t the first-ever solar lamp to stick to the window, it does have some great practical features. First, it uses AAA batteries, and while we’d like to see a way to get rid of batteries all together someday, for now, this makes it accessible to the average consumer. And since they’d have to be rechargeable batteries, they’ll at least have a longer life than conventional one-use batteries. As long as the consumer recycles them in the end, this is a pretty green solution.

Second, the lamp can be moved and positioned as needed. In fact, by combining several lamps together, the user could create some nifty designs to suit the room. Third, because it uses LED bulbs, it can provide light for much less energy consumption. Combined, you can control the amount of light provided depending on the illumination needed (more lamps equals a brighter indoor space). Unfortunately, the light may not be overly bright, but in time, as LED technology improves, this won’t likely pose much of a problem.

Great access to solar energy means great efficiency for indoor lighting. Plus, it looks kinda cool, too.

Lucet Lamps sticks to window

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)

Obama administration recently announced a new clean energy REDI program

The Obama administration announced a new program on December 14: The Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (REDI), which will offer $350 million in funds to accelerate the development of clean energy technologies. As both a domestic and global initiative, some of the funds ($85 million) will go into a joint coffer (supported by other countries such as Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, the UK, and France) to be used to develop and deploy clean energy tech around the world.

The program will operate in several industries, including advanced vehicles, bioenergy, building and industrial efficiencies, smart grid technologies, carbon capture, high-efficiency coal,  and of course, solar, wind, and marine energy. The official REDI website outlines the following programs that will receive this funding:

• The Solar and LED Energy Access Program will accelerate deployment of affordable solar home systems and LED lanterns to those without access to electricity.  This program will yield immediate economic and public health benefits by providing households with low-cost and quality-assured solar alternatives to expensive and polluting kerosene.
• The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment Program will harness the market and convening power of MEF countries to improve efficiency for appliances traded throughout the world.  A number of MEF countries have implemented, or are exploring, incentive programs for energy-efficient appliances. Coordinating incentives, standards and labeling systems can create unprecedented economies of scale for these appliances.

• The Clean Energy Information Platform will establish an online platform for MEF countries to exchange technical resources, policy experience and the infrastructure to coordinate various activities in deploying clean energy technologies, and share this information with the world.

• The Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program (S-REP), under the World Bank’s Strategic Climate Fund, will provide policy support and technical assistance to low-income countries developing national renewable energy strategies and underwrite additional capital costs associated with renewable energy investments.  Funding through Climate REDI will accelerate the launch of S-REP.

Further, it states that REDI will use the following tools to disseminate the new technologies:

1. Quality assurance to guard developing country consumers against sub-standard renewable energy products;
2. Minimum efficiency standards to remove the lowest efficiency appliances from the market;
3. Labeling to guide consumers to quality-assured and high-efficiency products;
4. Financing for scale up of early-stage low-carbon products, to bring down costs and remove barriers to deployment and to catalyze investment by the private sector;
5. Information sharing that enables all energy stakeholders to access state-of-the art information on technology and best practices.

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

Thermostat at 69 degrees Via Flickr - t-bet

It’s the beginning of November, and for many that means winter has arrived, and with it heating season. Keeping indoor temps at a comfortable level costs North Americans a great deal in terms of money and energy. In fact, the average American will spend nearly $2,000 every year for heating, whether that be with oil, gas, electricity, or wood stove. It all adds to our climate footprint as well, with heating being one of the biggest residential contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

But there are some very cost-effective (free!) things you can do to lower your heating bill and cut your carbon dioxide emissions. With just a few quick little environmentally-friendly seasonal changes to your heating system, you could help the country reduce its dependency on fossil fuels while saving energy, too.

Programmable Thermostat at 60 Degrees Via Flickr - Mr.Thomas

Lower your thermostat

Your thermostat is one of the most important tools you could use to lower your home’s energy impact. Learning how to maximize thermostat settings for efficiency is a great way to cut how much energy you use to heat your home.

Each season, you should readjust your thermostat settings. Now that it’s winter for many of us, it’s time to turn the setting down to 68°F or lower for those times when your home is occupied. It can go even lower when you’re asleep and when you’re not at home to further reduce your heating costs.

Make your job even easier by installing a programmable thermostat to do the work of adjusting for you. There are rebates for this simple upgrade for many states, and a programmable thermostat may just save you $150 every year on heating and cooling costs. Get more ideas from the Alliance to Save Energy.

Reverse Ceiling Fan in Winter Via Flickr - dane brian

Reverse your fan direction

Yes, it might seem counterproductive to run a fan in the middle of the winter, but a ceiling fan can actually help to reduce your heating costs. How? Well, if you reverse your fan’s rotation from counter-clockwise to clockwise, you’ll help to force warm air that’s trapped near the ceiling down to floor-level. This will ensure that your heated air is circulated more evenly, reducing the work your heating system has to do to keep you warm. It’s a low-free way to lower heating bills. Find out more at the Look Up Campaign.

Layer up

Yet another no-cost way to save on heating bills is the layering technique. What do we mean? Well, during the day, you can warm yourself up inexpensively by layering your clothing. As you get warmer, remove a layer or two. Likewise at night while you sleep—pile up the quilts to stay cozy at without raising the cost of heating. ENERGY STAR has even more ideas for how to heat and cool efficiently.

As Americans, we use a staggering amount of energy per capita. Although we make up only 5 percent of the population, we use 26 percent of the total energy consumed worldwide. A full 90 percent of that energy that we use in our homes goes to powering our appliances—dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, freezers, ovens, microwaves, and air conditioners, to name a few.

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) to save 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 to save 5-10 percent in heating costs.

Heating & Cooling

Of the $1,900 the average household pays yearly for energy bills, heating and cooling can account for half of that total bill. Much of this energy is wasted because of old, inefficient equipment, poor maintenance practices, and gaps in a home’s exterior envelop (insulation, windows, doors, and so on) which allows heat transfer to occur. Additional energy is wasted by heating and cooling our homes when they’re not even occupied.

As such a huge contributor to our carbon footprints and our monthly costs, addressing heating and cooling is very important. There are numerous actions you can take to improve your heating and cooling systems so that they function more efficiently and save you money, which will also make your home more comfortable and healthier to live in.

• A furnace upgrade from 0.50 to 0.96 AFUE will save you more than $215 every year on heating costs.
• Adjusting the shades on your windows can help to reduce heat transfer. Keep the shades raised during daylight hours in winter months to allow the sun’s heat into your home, and lower the shades during the day in summer months to keep solar heat out. This could cut your heating and cooling bills between $10 and $100 annually depending on your local climate, efficiency of your windows and shades, and direction your home faces.
• Save upwards of $33 every year on heating/cooling costs by weatherizing your doors and windows.
• Seal air leaks around your windows and doors, recessed lighting fixtures, ducts, plumbing and utility access points, water and furnace flues, electrical outlets and switches, and chimney flashing with caulking, weather stripping, and other weatherizing products. Energy savings will vary, but can be estimated with the Home Energy Saver Calculator.
• Upgrade your air conditioning unit from a SEER rating of 9.0 to 12.0 and cut cooling costs by $27 annually.
• Install an ENERGY STAR programmable thermostat to save $180 in heating and cooling costs every month. These devices regulate your home’s temperature for you on a pre-set schedule.
• Replace old heating and cooling equipment with ENERGY STAR models to reduce your heating/cooling costs by $200 annually.
• Increase the insulation in your basement to achieve savings upwards of $60 every year.
• Install a geothermal heat pump to heat and cool your home and save $600 in heating/cooling costs over the 20-year life of the system.
• Purchase an ENERGY STAR ceiling fan to reduce your energy costs by 50 percent and save more than $15/year on each cooling unit.
• Save up to 50 percent on energy bills by upgrading your old air conditioner with a new, more efficient model.
• If your heating ducts travel through uninsulated or unheated spaces like an attic or crawlspace, you could be losing energy. Improve your home’s efficiency by as much as 60 percent by insulating these ducts.
• Install low-e window films to existing windows to save approximately $21 every year.
• Incorporate passive solar designs—large insulated windows on south-facing walls, thermal mass materials for absorbing heat, etc—and you could lower your heating costs by more than 50 percent.
• Increase your air conditioner’s thermostat by 3F to save approximately $19 annually.
• Install additional insulation in your attic and save more than $100 on heating and cooling costs each year.

According to The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook, a $150 tune-up can save the average homeowner 12 percent in heating costs, and save on average $385 every year.

Hot Water

Heating our residential water supply requires a big chunk of our annual budgets. On average, Americans allocate between 15 and 25 percent of their energy bills to water heating, making it third to space heating/cooling and kitchen appliances. Finding ways to cut down on the energy you consume to heat your water will put money back into your pocket and reduce your climate impact, too.

• Use cold water for washing laundry to save up to $63 every year in energy costs.
• Install a solar pool water heater for between $2,000 and $4,000. You could receive a return on this investment (compared to a traditional fossil fuel heater) in as little as 1.5 years.
• Install a high-quality pool cover to reduce your pool heating costs by up to 90 percent, which will also cut your water loss to evaporation by 70 percent.
• Insulate your water heater to cut energy costs by $15 annually.
• Hot water used for showering adds to your monthly water heating bill, so using less water to shower will reduce that utility expense. A low-flow showerhead can cost between $8 and $50 and will save you around $200/year depending on your water and energy costs.
• Add an insulation wrap to your hot water tank for about $20. This investment will pay for itself in a couple of months, and will then continue to save you money for years to come.
• Install a tankless (also called on-demand) water heating to save between $160 and $200 annually.
• Taking a shorter shower will reduce the amount of hot water you consumer on a monthly basis. And since it takes energy to heat and store your hot water, a shower timer can reduce your family’s utility costs by $25 for every minute less each person takes to get clean.
• Water costs energy, and hand washing requires more water—using your dishwasher could cut your water use by 37 percent.
• When buying a new dishwasher, choose one that comes with a booster heater for warming the incoming water from 120F to 140F. This allows you to reduce your water heater’s temperature to 120F without compromising on your dishwasher’s cleaning ability, and could save 10 percent in dishwashing energy costs.
• Don’t use the “rinse hold” feature on your dishwasher as this uses 3 to 7 more gallons of hot water each cycle it runs.

Close to 90 percent of the energy used for washing laundry is for heating the water, so wash your laundry in cold water to reduce energy consumption for that load by 50 percent.

Lighting

Improving your residence is likely a never-ending project if you own your own home. From lighting to landscaping to the exterior of your home, there are many opportunities for improving your building’s energy efficiency. Some require a big investment of time and money, while others are quick and easy.

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So, whether you’re taking on a weekend landscaping project, installing new lighting, or upgrading bathroom fixtures, you have many eco-preferable choices that will cut your energy consumption and leave more money in your pocket for future projects! Next time you’re out looking for items to upgrade your home with, refer to this list of tips to get some quick ideas for combining beauty with functionality and efficiency.

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which use 65 to 80 percent less energy and last 8-10 times longer. CFLs are a bit more expensive up front, but by replacing the five most-used bulbs in your home with CFLs, you will save $60 yearly.
• Choose light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to cut lighting energy use in both outdoor and indoor fixtures by 75+ percent. These bulbs last 22+ years and because they use solid-state technology, they’re virtually indestructible.
• Obtain the ENERGY STAR Advanced Lighting Package (ALP) designation for lighting throughout your home and save $65/year or 75 percent in energy costs.
• Use ENERGY STAR qualified strings of light-emitting diode (LED) decorative lights for your holiday decorating. These strings cost more up-front, but will use 75 percent less energy than conventional strands and last 10 times longer (they’re unbreakable!).
• Install light timers or motion sensors in rooms like your bathrooms, closets, the garage, or even hallways to save on lighting energy costs by between 35 and 45 percent for those fixtures.
• Replace old windows with ENERGY STAR qualified, high-efficiency, double- or triple-pane windows to cut heating and cooling costs by $125 to $340 yearly.
• Replace household equipment with ENERGY STAR models to save $450 every year in energy costs.
• Add storm windows to your home to reduce heat loss during the winter by 25-50 percent.
• Buy a green-certified home to reduce your overall energy consumption from an average of 16,000 GJ to 6,400 GJ.
• Whiten your roof to reduce cooling costs and save approximately $26 yearly.
• Plant three trees in optimum shading locations around your home to save between $100 and $250 every year in heating and cooling costs.
• Install an ENERGY STAR skylight which will be 40 percent more efficient than a conventional model.
• Use daylighting features in your home to decrease lighting energy requirements between 30 and 80 percent.
• Choose a skylight with a low-e coating to improve its efficiency by up to 30 percent.
• If a home oriented to the southwest that receives a lot of afternoon sun were oriented 20 degrees to the east, cooling requirements could drop by as much as 30 percent.
• Phantom power loads from VCRs, RVs, small appliances, and other electronics can add $47 to your energy bill every year.

Installing efficient showerheads throughout your home can cut water heating costs by as much as $21 every year.

Whole Home

Whether you know it or not, you consume energy with nearly everything you do in an average day. From the shower you take in the morning to the food you eat for breakfast to the mail the comes to your box every day to the consumer goods you purchase. It all has an impact on your carbon footprint, and to your wallet.

You can make a big difference for the planet by becoming more aware of how little habits and actions contribute to your overall energy consumption and then choosing to adjust your daily life accordingly. In the end, you’ll be preventing carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, and as is true with most green actions, you’ll be saving money, too.

• Take books out from your local library rather than buying new books. You’ll pay $20 every year in taxes to support your library and could easily see a return on that investment by borrowing one or two books instead of buying brand new.
• Instead of buying take-out food for lunch, bag your own lunch in reusable containers and save between $5 and $6 daily.
• The average American receives 41 pounds of unsolicited mail every year—on paper that requires the removal of trees and the use of energy to produce. Disposing of this unwanted mail costs our country $320 million every year. Cut your aggravation and paper-related energy use by contacting the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to have your name added to the “do not mail” list.
• Buying and trashing thousands of diapers per child adds a significant energy burden to the environment. The average baby will go through $2,000-$3,000 worth of disposable diapers, whereas a three-year supply of cloth diapers will cost anywhere between $300 and $800.
• It takes 60-70 percent less energy to make recycled paper compared to paper made from virgin pulp, so purchase the highest possible post-consumer waste content paper possible.
• Installing a green roof can help you save energy and money in three ways: green roofs protect existing roof materials, protecting them from damage for many years longer than normal. They also cut down on heating and cooling costs in your home and can be a space where you grow your own fruits and vegetables.
• Make your own green cleaning products to cut down on cleaning costs. Eco-friendly cleaning products made at home will be non-toxic and easy to make.
• Compost your organic waste to save money every year in your garden. By making your own compost, you’ll save the cost of buying new soil amendments every spring, plus you’ll cut down on the energy it takes to haul away your waste.

You can make a big difference for the planet by becoming more aware of how little habits and actions contribute to your overall energy consumption and then choosing to adjust your daily life accordingly. In the end, you’ll be preventing carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, and as is true with most green actions, you’ll be saving money, too.

• Take books out from your local library rather than buying new books. You’ll pay $20 every year in taxes to support your library and could easily see a return on that investment by borrowing one or two books instead of buying brand new.
• Instead of buying take-out food for lunch, bag your own lunch in reusable containers and save between $5 and $6 daily.
• The average American receives 41 pounds of unsolicited mail every year—on paper that requires the removal of trees and the use of energy to produce. Disposing of this unwanted mail costs our country $320 million every year. Cut your aggravation and paper-related energy use by contacting the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to have your name added to the “do not mail” list.
• Buying and trashing thousands of diapers per child adds a significant energy burden to the environment. The average baby will go through $2,000-$3,000 worth of disposable diapers, whereas a three-year supply of cloth diapers will cost anywhere between $300 and $800.
• It takes 60-70 percent less energy to make recycled paper compared to paper made from virgin pulp, so purchase the highest possible post-consumer waste content paper possible.
• Installing a green roof can help you save energy and money in three ways: green roofs protect existing roof materials, protecting them from damage for many years longer than normal. They also cut down on heating and cooling costs in your home and can be a space where you grow your own fruits and vegetables.
• Make your own green cleaning products to cut down on cleaning costs. Eco-friendly cleaning products made at home will be non-toxic and easy to make.
• Compost your organic waste to save money every year in your garden. By making your own compost, you’ll save the cost of buying new soil amendments every spring, plus you’ll cut down on the energy it takes to haul away your waste.

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.

Heating our residential water supply requires a big chunk of our annual budgets. On average, Americans allocate between 15 and 25 percent of their energy bills to water heating, making it third to space heating/cooling and kitchen appliances. Finding ways to cut down on the energy you consume to heat your water will put money back into your pocket and reduce your climate impact, too.

• Use cold water for washing laundry to save up to $63 every year in energy costs.
• Install a solar pool water heater for between $2,000 and $4,000. You could receive a return on this investment (compared to a traditional fossil fuel heater) in as little as 1.5 years.
• Install a high-quality pool cover to reduce your pool heating costs by up to 90 percent, which will also cut your water loss to evaporation by 70 percent.
• Insulate your water heater to cut energy costs by $15 annually.
• Hot water used for showering adds to your monthly water heating bill, so using less water to shower will reduce that utility expense. A low-flow showerhead can cost between $8 and $50 and will save you around $200/year depending on your water and energy costs.
• Add an insulation wrap to your hot water tank for about $20. This investment will pay for itself in a couple of months, and will then continue to save you money for years to come.
• Install a tankless (also called on-demand) water heating to save between $160 and $200 annually.
• Taking a shorter shower will reduce the amount of hot water you consumer on a monthly basis. And since it takes energy to heat and store your hot water, a shower timer can reduce your family’s utility costs by $25 for every minute less each person takes to get clean.
• Water costs energy, and hand washing requires more water—using your dishwasher could cut your water use by 37 percent.
• When buying a new dishwasher, choose one that comes with a booster heater for warming the incoming water from 120F to 140F. This allows you to reduce your water heater’s temperature to 120F without compromising on your dishwasher’s cleaning ability, and could save 10 percent in dishwashing energy costs.
• Don’t use the “rinse hold” feature on your dishwasher as this uses 3 to 7 more gallons of hot water each cycle it runs.

Close to 90 percent of the energy used for washing laundry is for heating the water, so wash your laundry in cold water to reduce energy consumption for that load by 50 percent.

So, whether you’re taking on a weekend landscaping project, installing new lighting, or upgrading bathroom fixtures, you have many eco-preferable choices that will cut your energy consumption and leave more money in your pocket for future projects! Next time you’re out looking for items to upgrade your home with, refer to this list of tips to get some quick ideas for combining beauty with functionality and efficiency.

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which use 65 to 80 percent less energy and last 8-10 times longer. CFLs are a bit more expensive up front, but by replacing the five most-used bulbs in your home with CFLs, you will save $60 yearly.
• Choose light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to cut lighting energy use in both outdoor and indoor fixtures by 75+ percent. These bulbs last 22+ years and because they use solid-state technology, they’re virtually indestructible.
• Obtain the ENERGY STAR Advanced Lighting Package (ALP) designation for lighting throughout your home and save $65/year or 75 percent in energy costs.
• Use ENERGY STAR qualified strings of light-emitting diode (LED) decorative lights for your holiday decorating. These strings cost more up-front, but will use 75 percent less energy than conventional strands and last 10 times longer (they’re unbreakable!).
• Install light timers or motion sensors in rooms like your bathrooms, closets, the garage, or even hallways to save on lighting energy costs by between 35 and 45 percent for those fixtures.
• Replace old windows with ENERGY STAR qualified, high-efficiency, double- or triple-pane windows to cut heating and cooling costs by $125 to $340 yearly.
• Replace household equipment with ENERGY STAR models to save $450 every year in energy costs.
• Add storm windows to your home to reduce heat loss during the winter by 25-50 percent.
• Buy a green-certified home to reduce your overall energy consumption from an average of 16,000 GJ to 6,400 GJ.
• Whiten your roof to reduce cooling costs and save approximately $26 yearly.
• Plant three trees in optimum shading locations around your home to save between $100 and $250 every year in heating and cooling costs.
• Install an ENERGY STAR skylight which will be 40 percent more efficient than a conventional model.
• Use daylighting features in your home to decrease lighting energy requirements between 30 and 80 percent.
• Choose a skylight with a low-e coating to improve its efficiency by up to 30 percent.
• If a home oriented to the southwest that receives a lot of afternoon sun were oriented 20 degrees to the east, cooling requirements could drop by as much as 30 percent.
• Phantom power loads from VCRs, RVs, small appliances, and other electronics can add $47 to your energy bill every year.

Installing efficient showerheads throughout your home can cut water heating costs by as much as $21 every year.

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.

As such a huge contributor to our carbon footprints and our monthly costs, addressing heating and cooling is very important. There are numerous actions you can take to improve your heating and cooling systems so that they function more efficiently and save you money, which will also make your home more comfortable and healthier to live in.

• A furnace upgrade from 0.50 to 0.96 AFUE will save you more than $215 every year on heating costs.
• Adjusting the shades on your windows can help to reduce heat transfer. Keep the shades raised during daylight hours in winter months to allow the sun’s heat into your home, and lower the shades during the day in summer months to keep solar heat out. This could cut your heating and cooling bills between $10 and $100 annually depending on your local climate, efficiency of your windows and shades, and direction your home faces.
• Save upwards of $33 every year on heating/cooling costs by weatherizing your doors and windows.
• Seal air leaks around your windows and doors, recessed lighting fixtures, ducts, plumbing and utility access points, water and furnace flues, electrical outlets and switches, and chimney flashing with caulking, weather stripping, and other weatherizing products. Energy savings will vary, but can be estimated with the Home Energy Saver Calculator.
• Upgrade your air conditioning unit from a SEER rating of 9.0 to 12.0 and cut cooling costs by $27 annually.
• Install an ENERGY STAR programmable thermostat to save $180 in heating and cooling costsevery month. These devices regulate your home’s temperature for you on a pre-set schedule.
• Replace old heating and cooling equipment with ENERGY STAR models to reduce your heating/cooling costs by $200 annually.
• Increase the insulation in your basement to achieve savings upwards of $60 every year.
• Install a geothermal heat pump to heat and cool your home and save $600 in heating/cooling costs over the 20-year life of the system.
• Purchase an ENERGY STAR ceiling fan to reduce your energy costs by 50 percent and save more than $15/year on each cooling unit.
• Save up to 50 percent on energy bills by upgrading your old air conditioner with a new, more efficient model.
• If your heating ducts travel through uninsulated or unheated spaces like an attic or crawlspace, you could be losing energy. Improve your home’s efficiency by as much as 60 percent by insulating these ducts.
• Install low-e window films to existing windows to save approximately $21 every year.
• Incorporate passive solar designs—large insulated windows on south-facing walls, thermal mass materials for absorbing heat, etc—and you could lower your heating costs by more than 50 percent.
• Increase your air conditioner’s thermostat by 3F to save approximately $19 annually.
• Install additional insulation in your attic and save more than $100 on heating and cooling costs each year.

According to The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook, a $150 tune-up can save the average homeowner 12 percent in heating costs, and save on average $385 every year.

e-Cycler online recycling swap service

If you’ve got room in your recycling bin, you may just be able to rent out a portion of it to one of your neighbors or a family member—or whoever! Likewise, if your bin is threatening to overflow onto the lawn next door, or you’re lacking recycling pick-up altogether, you may want to find someone willing to take your recyclables away for you. With e-Cycler, a new online service, whether you’ve got extra room or are collecting extra recyclables, you’ll be able to swap, collect and recycle trash, while perhaps making a bit of extra dough for yourself. Everyone wins!

Curbside recycling Via Flickr - g_kat26

Here’s how it works. Regardless of whether you’re giving or taking recyclables, you simply start by registering as a member of the e-Cycler community. You next state whether you’ve got extra room or extra trash and then look for appropriate connections in your area (look for ones closer to your home or on a regular travel route to avoid adding additional greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere to transport your goods, of course).

The receiver/collector of the recyclables can then decide how they want to handle extra funds they receive as a result of recycling the extra goods. They can either decide to keep 100 percent of the profits for themselves, or if they like, they can opt to share the profits by sharing 40 percent of the profits with the giver and keeping 60 percent for themselves. It’s up to the collector ultimately.

Recycling drop-off Via Flickr - AGeekMom

Of course, because e-Cycler also want to make a bit of money, they are charging a small fee to collectors for every connection they make. It’s definitely a great system for helping to send trash in the right direction while saving power (making goods from recycled materials uses less energy than manufacturing with virgin materials), and as long as the connections don’t require enormous amounts of driving, it should have a positive net effect.

Guiding Light Mailbox

If you’ve been in the market for a way to light-up your home’s address markings, then you may just want to take a look at this new Guiding Light Mailbox. While having a lighted home address might seem a little over-the-top for many of us, as the company points out on their website, having an illuminated address sign on the exterior of your home may just help in emergencies. Should be awaiting the arrival of an ambulance, fire or police crew, having a lighted sign on the exterior of your home may just help them get to you a little faster. And now you can do it without using extra energy.

Produced by Sharpe Products, Inc, the Guiding Light Mailbox has several power-saving and eco-friendly features. First and foremost, it comes with its own miniature solar cell that collects energy from the sun all day long. Then, instead of using electricity or battery power to light up a sign with your home’s address, your Guiding Light Mailbox will guide people to your home using only the sun’s power.

And you don’t have to worry about not having enough sunlight to power your sign either. With only 4 hours of solar exposure, your address sign will have enough energy to shine for 4 days! Amazingly, the light can apparently be seen from about one-half of the length of a football field away, so that’s relatively powerful, too.

Another great green feature of this mailbox is that it is made to last a long time. Although not recycled, the saddle for the mailbox is tested to withstand scorching sun and wind, so it should function for a long time to come.  It will be available for about $79.99 starting on October 1, 2009.

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.

LCD television via Flickr from - William Hook

ENERGY STAR has just finalized an update to the Specifications for Televisions in two versions (4.0 and 5.0) that will require new televisions meet new standards, including:

Challenging On Mode power consumption levels, take steps to ensure a TV is viewed in the mode in which it qualified for ENERGY STAR so consumer savings are realized, and curb energy associated with downloading program guide data.

The new 4.0 requirements will go into effect on May 1, 2010, whereas the 5.0 standards will take effect as of May 1, 2012. With nearly 275 million televisions in the US that consume over 50 billion kWh of electricity annually (nearly 4 percent of the average household energy bill), improvements in this area are much welcomed.

These changes will save the average consumer up to 65 percent because of improved efficiencies over current models on the market. Interesting to note:

After weighing carefully all input specific to the proposed 5.0 requirement, EPA has decided to proceed with a requirement that TVs greater than 50 inches in size meet the same On Mode requirements as a screen of 50 inches – 108 watts.

Old television via Flickr from - dailyinvention

Non-ENERGY STAR model televisions that are larger than 50 inches will, of course, be permitted to use more energy, but this gives the ENERGY STAR models a significant energy savings over other options that will become available.

Another great way to reduce your television-related energy consumption is to watch less TV! Shutting off the tube in favor of other recreational activities is a great way to save energy, reduce your electricity bill, and maybe enjoy the great outdoors!

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.