This week kept Vicki and Becky very busy preparing the Fall/Winter Newsletter and getting it ready to be mailed out. They are now all mailed out and we hope you will take a few minutes to read it through. There is a lot of information in it and we look forward to hearing your feedback.
So my Green Living Thursday post was postphoned until today. Better late than never! Today I want to talk about saving electricity. I found some surprising facts on The Daily Green. We all know the drill. Turn off the lights when you leave a room, unplug appliances you aren't using, turn down the thermostat and so on. But here are a couple of things you can do to cut your electric bill that I never though about.
For instance, get rid of your cordless phones or cut down to just one. Cordless phones are energy vampires. They sit in their cradles recharing so they are sucking up electricity 24/7. If you replace a cordless phone or two that you don't really need, you can save on your electric bill. An added benefit is that corded phones will work even during a power outage, whereas as cordless phone will not.
It may seem old fashioned, but a tradition corded phone uses only a trickle of electricty that comes throught the phone line. Compare this to a cordless phone which uses 2 to 3 watts of electricity in both active and standby modes. Approximately 60% of cordless phone energy use occurs during standby time.
If you still want the convenience of a cordless phone, then consider getting just one and putting corded phones in the rooms you aren't in as much. If you do purchase a cordless phone, make sure to look for the Energy Star. By following these tips you will soon see your energy savings adding up.
Another good tip I was unaware of is about ceiling fans. I have several in my home and during the summer they get a work out. But in the winter it never occured to me to turn them on. However, during the winter months when we are heating our homes, a ceiling fan can be switched to rotate clockwise instead of counterclockwise, which will circulate the warm air pooled near the ceiling, back into the living space, keeping you warmer and allowing you to lower your thermostat. I am going to be trying this tip in my home for sure.
My last tip is about computers. We all know that turning them off when not in use saves a lot of electricty. However, what I didn't know is that a lap top is much more energy efficient than a desktop. A laptop uses 15 to 25 watts of electricity as compared to a desktop which consumes a whopping 150 watts! I for one, was unaware of this huge difference in energy consumption. A laptop also only draws a fraction of a watt when in sleep mode. So if a new computer is on your wish list, check out the laptops. I have had one at my home for 5 years now and I love the portablility and flexibity of the laptop. It does everything my desktop does and takes up so much less room. Now I know I have been saving energy as well.
If you have any tips on how to save energy around the house, please email them Vicki at info@pcwd.org. We look forward to hearing your comments.
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