High Energy Bills on the rise, and right now a lot of people are worried about high home energy bills, including the costs of air conditioning, heating, and electricity.
The good news is that there are a lot of easy, inexpensive ways you can do to bring your energy bills down immediately.
Every kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity produces about 1.7 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent. Take a look at the number of kilowatt hours. Double it (in most cases) and you're looking at pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. Want to think about pounds of carbon emissions and how to lose them?
What effective methods are available to reduce the energy we use.
Certain Appliances we use can make a huge difference. How we use those appliances can also make a big difference. Installing a different hot water heater will most likely have the biggest effect o our electric bill since it is the largest energy consuming device we have in our homes. Here are some facts about hot water heaters fa
- Money Wasted By The US Heating Hot Water With Tanks: $5,218,007,101, that is literally 25% of dollars spent. Nationwide more residential energy is consumed by domestic hot water than on anything but heating, and air conditioning.Switching to an instant
- Electricity is the WORST way to heat hot water while natural gas and propane gas are much more efficient, smarter choices. Based on national fuel price averages of $1.46/ccf and $0.09/kwh, the cost/100,000 BTU's is $1.46 for natural gas and $2.64 for electricity. Just under 60% of North American households have access to natural gas, and if you don't, propane gas is available to almost everyone and is still a better value than electricity. In addition electric water heaters have only a small fraction of the capacity of gas water heaters. So if you like expensive, short showers, with cold water at the end, use electric; otherwise gas would be a better choice.
- Modern gas fired tankless water heaters are the best alternative available to todays homeowners to reduce their residential energy consumption. A typical gas fired tankless water heater costs about 2-1/2 times as much as a standard tank water heater. However it will pay for itself in just a few years or less, and will last twice as long a tank.
Swithtching to a more efficient hot water tank may initially cost more than an electric one, however it will definately pay off very quickly.
Home heating is also an area that could use some change. Efficient, ductless, compact, direct vent systems are a great technology. Believe it or not Ductless systems also allow for a healthier air quality withing the environment of your home, whether it is Direct Vent, Hearth or Hydronic Air Handlers.... Hot water heating is also a great energy efficient technology.
There are also electric saving devices that can be installed directly to the Main Power Box of your house that will literally recycle the unused and wasted electricity back into your home. This can result in as much as a 30% reduction in Energy consumption. At a simple average of 15% reduction of energy use, This type of system in 500,000 homes across this county will annually reduce the need to generate 17 megawatts of electricity saving 42,250 tons of coal or 231,500 barrels of oil and reducing by 98,250 tons of carbon dioxide, 42,000 pounds of nitrous oxide and 221,500 pounds of sulfur dioxide of annual greenhouse emissions. These types of systems are very inexpensive and have one of the quickest Return on Investment which can be from 6 months to 2 years, depending on individual use, which can vary considerably. Some of these appliances also have the ability to offer Whole House Protection from power surges and spikes, which we are constantly under attack if you are on the grid. This can actually create another undetermined savings in your electronics and appliances by lengthening their life.
There are technologies that can also be used with the Washing Machine. Technology that allows us to wash without the use of Hot Water, without the use of Detergents, an added bonus because you not only save energy from using only cold water, but by not using detergents you do two things; detergents add tremendously to a huge problem in our water supply, so by not using them is an ecological conservation. It also allows your clothes to last longer and retain good coloring as well as stay fluffier without the residue. The new technologies also kill bacteria and viruses, so cleaning your clothes so much more efficiently than what we currently use.
Solar heating and Solar hot water tanks are one of the most efficient ways of adding to the energy efficiency of your home. Again this technology has a larger initial install cost, but will save in the long run as well as now in reducing our carbon emission exponentially. That latter part is the most important part right now. And there are a number of incentive grants and tax breaks for people switching to using these great conservation technologies.
Cindy Adams
8008893079 to leave a voice message.
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