Energy Hog Update (part III)

Back in August I started "Project Energy Hog" after being appalled at my Electric Bill. I started out with a goal of saving $100 a month. As you may remember, my first step was to buy a new energy-efficient washing mashine, which after three weeks - in combination with the PSNH rate reduction had already helped me accomplish my goal. So I set a new goal to get under $200. My next step was to purchase a meter to see where I was losing the electricity - first target: the basement refrigerator. I have already reported the apalling results of that test, so I won't get into it here, but I unplugged the beastly device and waited anxiously for the Month's results.

In the meantime, I took a few other steps. Out of curiousity, I tested both of my computers running for a full day, and was startled at how much they were using. I discovered that somehow my energy settings had gotten turned off, so both the machines and the displays were pretty much running constantly. For the computer that my wife and I use, this wasn't a big deal, because it gets a lot of use anyway, but for the kids computer, sometimes it would go several days without being used. So I set up the energy settings to turn the monitors off after 5 minutes of inactivity and the computers themselves to go into sleep mode after 30. The monitor settings worked great, but for some reason neither computer wants to go into sleep mode and i haven'd had the time or the energy to debug it. However, I did just start shutting down the kids computer whenever I noticed it not being used. This led to a funny conversation I had with my wife:

her: "Honey, something is wrong with the downstairs computer - it keeps shutting itself off. Every time I go in there to use it, I have to boot it up again"

me: "um, no. That's me that keeps shutting it off"

her: "well, it's annoying"

me: "too bad."

Ok, maybe I made some of that up, but the point is that I am dedicated to this project - even if it means annoying my loved ones. :) I have also turned into the light police - walking around turning off lights that nobody is using or yelling at the kids for leaving them on. It has been a long-standing akerberg kid tradition to leave as many lights on as possible, and apparently my children have inherited that trait.

Anyway, I just got the results: One month of not using the basement refrigerator, attempting to use the computers more wisely, and turning off a few lights, and my latest bill is $186.96. My household usage was just over 1,000 KW - 1/3 less than the 1500 I was using just two months ago. My Hot water continues to decline - only 349 KWh this month. WooHoo! I have already reached my goal! Having achieved it so easily leads me to believe that I can do better. I have already knocked off the "easy" stuff, so I expect the new goal will be a little harder to achieve - especially in light of the colder weather meaning the furnace gets used more and the Hot Tub heater will get turned on more. Still, I am going to try to save an additional 10% next month.

Next Step: Timing showers. Certain people in my family think that long luxurious showers are their birthright. I always threaten to time them, but I never actually do.