(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Hello, all! The New Year has been good, and I have decided to reduce the heat in my house by a large amount. I have gotten used to 60 degrees F while active, but have now cut it to 52 degrees.
At night I used to live with 53, but now have decided that 48 is well enough. I want to save money, and reduce my carbon footprint. Here is what I am doing.
I added insulation over the waterbed, another comforter to help keep in the heat. If I get too hot, I can put a foot out from under the covers. Insulating the waterbed allows me to keep it warmer without wasting energy into the atmosphere, so that is a good deal.
In addition to my vest, which keeps me warm enough at a temperature of 60 degrees, I have added thermal underwear that is helps at 52 degrees. My hands get cold, so I bought two pair of womens’ knit gloves, and will cut the fingers out of them tomorrow and seal the raw edges with seam sealer. Those will then cover my hands up to the second knuckle, and keep them warm. I need the use of my fingers to do day to day operations, so this is a good way to do it.
I bought the shrink wrap for the windows today, and will start installing it tomorrow. I believe that I can save quite a bit of heat by sealing the windowframes, and this material lets me look out to see how the birds are doing with the food that I give them. I replaced the screen window in the front storm door with the glass one tonight, and that will keep lots of cold air away.
I also got extra socks, and they will help keep my feet warm. Woolen ones are best, but inside cotton ones are just as warm, as long as you do not get them wet. Wet wool is OK, but wet cotton is deathly cold.
There is one part of the house that is just cold, and that was added before I moved here. It is a new bathroom, and the way that they put it in just reeks with cold air. I took a moving blanket and stapled it over the poorly insulated part, and can already see that at least ten degrees are the difference between the outside of it and the inside of it.
My goal is to reduce my electricity cost to under $50 per month, even when it is very cold. During the summer, I had a $28 one, and hope to come close to that now. I never ran the air conditioner during the summer, except for once every two weeks for a few minutes to keep it in condition. It is important to keep the fluids working, and a few minutes of operation does not cost very much, and keeps the repair technicians away.
I would be interested to know what each of you have been doing to reduce your energy consumption. Please let us all know.
Warmest (well, tonight, sort of cool ones) regards,
Doc
Crossposted at Dailykos.com
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saving energy and money?
Warmest regards,
Doc
Author
being comfortable whilst using less energy?
Warmest regards,
Doc
unless my granddaughter is here, I don’t turn the furnace on, and use space heaters. More sweaters, slippers, blankets, etc. I got used to that a couple years ago when my furnace broke down and I couldn’t afford to fix it right away. The way I look at it, my GGGGGGrandmother didn’t have a furnace, and she somehow lived to almost 90. But here, I couldn’t come close to $50 a month unless I shut off my electricity!
Lots of money is wasted keeping a hot water heater at a certain temperature because the boiler is often in a cold, isolated part of the house which is constantly losing heat. Instructions here. Follow carefully, especially with gas heaters.
like the energy monster! I hate the cold – and have taken steps such as space heaters, but my heating bill is always high. In the winter, since upstairs is warmer – I go to bed early. Conversely I get up early so what’s the point.
I don’t drive anymore and walk everywhere but it’s icy now so I cab it.
I feel like a weakling and a hog after reading your diary. But I want to be warm! Whaaaaaaaa.
In addition to turning down the thermostat an hour or two before turning in for the night, which seems to promote better sleep, I also keep it turned down whenever I’m away for even a few hours.
I reside within five minutes of work, so commuting costs are extremely low, and if road conditions are extremely bad, I can walk to work. I work four 10-hour days per week, which means one less day of commuting. I have carpooled in the past, when others lived nearby whose schedules coincided with mine.
I reside within an hour of a major city, and when practical, take the bus instead of driving. By taking an express bus, which makes very few stops, I’m able to make the trip for just about the same price as gas for my four-cylinder car (but without the wear and tear, increased risk of becoming involved in an accident, etc.). The express bus makes very few stops, and during peak commute times, is able to take the carpool lanes, an option unavailable to those who drive alone in their vehicle.
I’ve been able to notice and appreciate certain geographical features along the way that I would miss if I had to keep my eyes glued to the road, and have been able to do a significant amount of reading. If I have an interesting enough book, it seems like no time at all until I’ve reached my destination. Alas, it does seem like I oftentimes reach one of the more interesting parts of the book I’m reading when it’s time to disembark. I avoid talking on the cell phone on the bus, due to concerns about exposure to radiation, and the matter of annoying those nearby. For those who text, just about every else in the world except for me, that would certainly be an option as well.
Perhaps the most significant, and oftentimes overlooked step that I’ve taken, which was nearly five years ago was that of adopting a vegan lifestyle. Once I learned about the environmental costs of the animal product-based diet most of us consume, I could no longer continue as I had. The University of Chicago a few years ago released a study which indicated that switching to a vegan diet would save even more energy one could by trading in their SUV for a hybrid vehicle. The energy savings are considerable, however, there were many other environmental reasons as well, in addition to the more familiar humanitarian rationale for making such a change. On, and there’s the health angle as well. When time allows, I’m hoping to publish a series of articles regarding this topic.
To others who claim that they would like to stop consuming animal-based products, but simply can’t make such a change, I remind them that they could start gradually, introducing more plant-based foods into their diet. I have been amazed upon discovering that many foods that I was convinced I couldn’t do without, after maybe three weeks or so, I no longer missed. And I’ve discovered many others that have replaced what I used to eat, and don’t feel deprived in the least. Even friends who are carnivores are surprised to learn that the kinds of foods I eat are still very palatable. Even by reducing our consumption of animal-based foods, we can, at the same time, reduce our carbon footprint.
Want to learn more about saving energy, as well as the planet by dietary change? A few relevant articles can be found here, here, here, and here.
One additional note: Does the concept that an animal-based diet results, for each person in this country, in an additional one and a half tons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere seem difficult to grasp? The next time you burn a couple of logs in your fireplace, weigh them. You can merely use a bathroom scale, measuring your normal weight and your weight while holding the logs, and write down the difference. When the logs have been burnt, scrape out the ashes, place them in a light weight container and check the weight of the ashes, using the scale in the same manner as before. In the process of burning, the stored carbon in the log has been joined with oxygen to create CO2.
The carbon footprint is only part of the story, however, at least in terms of global warming. Maintaining livestock also results in the release of large quantities of methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, which have 23 and 296 times the adverse impact of carbon in the air, respectively.