oooh and I heard CFL (compact flouros) save ALOT over incandescent lights!Harlow said:You can purchase motion activated light switches that will turn themselves off if you leave a room & forget to. The cost is under $15.00 at your local hardware store.
Lower watt bulbs help too.
Lane said:It didn't get below 30 degrees outside, and if it was chilling in the apartment, I handend out sweaters.
Texas_Bubbly said:I am not a fan of the CFL lights. Have you read what it takes to clean one up if it breaks? No thanks. I just buy lower watt bulbs, and save the high beam lights where we need it. (closets, hall, kitchen ect.)
We have a row of halogen bulbs over the vanities in each bath, and I took out ever other light. You can hardly tell!
Get power strips that you can turn off, and plug in your TV, surround sound, computers whatever, so you can COMPLETELY turn off electricity to the component when not in use. The electronics in the house consume electricity 24 hours a day, regardless if it is turned on or off.
We have lots of fans. Celing fan in each room, and a small box fan in the MB.
Turn the AC up a few degrees, and dark curtains in rooms we aren't in all day. (bedrooms)
A damp sheet hanging in front of a sunny window helps cool the air. We lived in Mexico for a year, and I can't tell you how effective this really is. We would mop the floor in the middle of the day, and have damp sheets up. It would cool the house about 10 degrees. (it helps that the house was all concrete and tile, just hose it down!) (ghetto swamp cooler!)
Use liquid fabric softener and hang your clothes on a line outside. The dryer isn't running to heat the house, and if it's electric.. it isn't running!
But the biggest killer for me.... I took down my 125gallon salt water tank.
This is going to be the first month without the fishtank on the bill, but it will be hard to tell how much energy it acutally consumed since the price of electricity almost doubled in the past month. (anyone want a big aquarium? LOL)
We were paying .10 a KWH, now it's .17 KWH. My husband is the credit manager for an electric company, and he is seeing bills almost double. Imagine the impact on a small business or a family scraping money together at the end of a pay period. Devastating.
IanT said:Texas_Bubbly said:I am not a fan of the CFL lights. Have you read what it takes to clean one up if it breaks? No thanks. I just buy lower watt bulbs, and save the high beam lights where we need it. (closets, hall, kitchen ect.)
......
A damp sheet hanging in front of a sunny window helps cool the air. We lived in Mexico for a year, and I can't tell you how effective this really is. We would mop the floor in the middle of the day, and have damp sheets up. It would cool the house about 10 degrees. (it helps that the house was all concrete and tile, just hose it down!) (ghetto swamp cooler!)
what happens when you break a cfl??
what you did in Mexico reminds me of what I did in Costa
IanT said:lol true that, didnt know they weres dangerous!!...
have you seen this ???http://www.solatube.com/homeowner/
i feel like itd be easy enough to build one??
Barb said:i am constantly after him to turn off the light in rooms like the bathroom, pantry when he is done, he will leave the patio door open if the ac is on, would run the tv all night if i let him even though he is asleep on the couch. it's a good thing i luv the man but he needs a good knock up side the head sometimes.
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