Plug-in Meter

If you’ve ever hung around with management types, you’ve probably heard Peter Drucker’s famous saying: “what gets measured gets managed.”  If Drucker were alive today, he’d probably have a home energy monitoring system.

I can testify to the truth of Drucker’s statement from personal experience.  When cars didn’t provide any kind of feedback about gas mileage, I didn’t really think about how the way I drove affected how much gas I had to buy.  But when I got a car with a monitor that showed the MPG I had averaged over the last 30 minutes (in 5 minute increments, no less), that had a big impact on how I drove.  No more jack rabbit starts, and no more driving 80 on the interstate.  I couldn’t ignore it anymore, and I changed my behavior.

I’m sure the same would happen if I got a home energy monitoring system.  I wouldn’t be able to ignore the many thoughtless things I do around the house, like leaving lights on or lowering the AC, if my house had a power consumption display like the one in my car.  Seeing the consequences of what I do at home would almost certainly change my behavior.

Research bears this out.  Studies, mostly done by power companies, show that providing real-time energy usage information can result in real savings.   For these trials, the power companies installed special prototype power meters that could report on energy usage as frequently as every 20 seconds.   What they learned is that this approach is effective: tests of these approaches have shown savings of as much as 20% simply because people see what’s going on and change their behavior.

There’s even a story of how one gadget freak, obsessively checking his home energy usage using his smart phone, discovered that his teenage daughter was throwing a big party while he was traveling overseas.  The dad saw that his home power usage had jumped suddenly even though the house was empty — or so he thought.

But here in Atlanta there’s no easy way to monitor your power usage.  The Georgia Power Company offers what it calls a “Smart Energy Report,” but that averages your usage across an entire month, which is much too slow.  It may help you decide you need better insulation, but it won’t really change your day-to-day behavior.  Google and Microsoft each had opened businesses aimed at home energy management, but both companies decided the market wasn’t ready and shuttered their ventures.

That brings us to DIY solutions.  A few examples are listed below.  They range from the small and easy to the large and expensive (as in requiring an electrician to install), but if you want home energy management at all, you’ll have to do it yourself for now.

Easy:  one-outlet power monitors are widely available, not very expensive, and easy to use.  For example, the Kill-A-Watt meter (love that name!) simply plugs into an individual electrical outlet and monitors appliances and other things plugged into that outlet.  If you want to see how much that old freezer in the basement is costing you, this will do it.  Kill-A-Watt meters come in a variety of flavors (basic, wireless, simple  display, elaborate display, etc.) and are available through Amazon, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and many other retailers.  Prices begin at about $20 and go up from there depending on the features.

Midrange:  there are whole-house power monitors that you can hook up to your electrical panel (we’d recommend hiring an electrician) and which work a little like a Kill-A-Watt meter for your entire house.  Probably the best known of these is TED: The Energy Detective, which hooks up to your breaker panel and provides real-time data such as kilowatts per hour, projected power bill based on usage, monitoring of specific appliances, etc.  Black and Decker has now come out with a power monitor for the entire house as well, which I consider to be a good sign for the future.  Price range: from around $150 to several hundred dollars and up.

High-End:  at the cutting edge are so-called “smart home” systems that monitor power usage, provide remote control of individual outlets, and can automatically run your appliances at off-peak hours for cheaper rates.  If you had solar panels (and if you could sell it back to the power company), these systems would manage that, too.   To see what that kind of future looks like, check out Agilewaves.  Smart home systems are complex, highly customized, and pricewise the sky’s the limit.

Of course, someday we’ll all be connected to a smart grid that will manage all of this for us automatically.  But until that day (which your children’s children might or might not see), you’re more or less on your own.

by Rob Aaron

LED’s come in every configuration imaginable, use 15% of the electricity of incandescent lights, and last a life time.  For those of us who want to save even more electricity we can now get solar powered LED lights.  Our neighbor, Betty Hanacek, got a couple of strings and reports that even on the north side of her house there is enough solar energy to light her front yard display from dusk until bed time.

Another green reminder is to recycle cardboard boxes and wrapping paper.  Better yet, reuse the wrapping paper next year and save some trees.

Have a Happy Holiday!

Greening Neighborhoods encourages everyone to exchange traditional incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent lamps or LED’s because of the savings in the amount of electricity they use.  The one drawback in using fluorescent lamps is that the phosphorus lamp coating contains traces of mercury.  The amount of mercury is small, about 1/100 of that contained in the old mercury thermometers we used to have.  Still, indoor air quality is threatened if the lamps break and proper cleanup procedures aren’t followed.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends the following:

Before Cleanup

• Have people and pets leave the room.
• Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment.
• Shut off the central forced air heating/air-conditioning system, if you have one.
• Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb (Don’t vacuum):
• stiff paper or cardboard;
• sticky tape;
• damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes (for hard surfaces); and
• a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag.

During Cleanup

• Be thorough in collecting broken glass and visible powder.
• Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.

After Cleanup

• Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of properly. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.
• If practical, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the heating/air conditioning system shut off for several hours.

Getting Rid of Burned out Bulbs

Burned out lamps that are not broken should be taken to a recycling center.  Home Depot and Lowes have disposal bins for the old lamps.

Learn more about CFL’s and indoor air quality: http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflhg.html  and http://greeningneighborhoods.com/category/save-money/indoor-air-quality/

George

Incandescent Bulb               Compact Fluorescent (CFL)          Light Emitting Diode (LED

       

       

Incandescent lights have been the standard for more than a hundred years.  The amount of energy they consume and their level of brightness are measured in watts.
Efficiency

Bulb Type      Efficiency (lumens/watt)
Incandescent                    10
Halogen                            16-20
LED                                     35
CFL                                     55
large fluorescents           94
Sodium Street Light      150

We have come to associate the amount of energy a standard light bulb uses in watts with the bulb’s brightness.   Brightness is measured in lumens.  For every Watt of power demanded by an incandescent bulb, 10 lumens are produced.  The same Watt produces 35 lumens in a white LED bulb and 55 lumens in a compact fluorescent bulb.  Therefore, LED’s and compact fluorescent bulbs are more efficient.

The following table illustrates the differences between the three types of lights having equal brightness..

COMPARE	Incandescent 60 watt bulb	CFL 13 watt bulb	LED 8 watt bulb*
Life Span	1,000 hours	2,500 hours	30,000 hours
Bulb costs for 30,000 hrs	$25.50(30 bulbs @ $0.85 ea)	$60.00(12 bulbs @ $5.00 ea)	$34.00 (1 bulb)
Cost of Electricity for 30,000 hrs**	$206.46	$44.73	$25.81
Total Cost (bulb + electricity)	$231.96	$104.76	$59.81
Hazardous Material?	No	Yes (Mercury)	No
Cost to Run 12 hrs per day for 1 year	$30.14	$6.53	$3.77

*Current list price of a Red Bird A19 bulb.
**Based on $0.1147 per kwh

by Ruthie

Electric Meter

We should all have our June electric bills by now and it’s time to see how your electric use compares with your neighbors and with the rest of the folks in the country.

If you haven’t entered the number of kilowatt hours (kWh) you used in June click on the red Baseline Energy Tracker and enter your data.

Next week we will announce the households with the lowest power use.  Remember, your name will not be disclosed.

A single high-definition cable box and DVR combination uses an average of 446 kilowatts hours per year.  That’s more electricity than it takes to run a 21-cubic-foot energy efficient refrigerator.  And with more than 160 million cable boxes in use in the U.S., that adds up to $3 billion in electricity annually, more than the entire state of Maryland uses in a year.  And fully 66% of that power is wasted.  Having several cable boxes can cost a household upwards of $10/month in extra electrical fees.  And while the report focuses on cable boxes, one presumes that the same would be true for satellite dish systems.

Source: NRDC

The problem is that the tuners and hard drives in cable boxes and DVRs are always on, even when you’re not watching TV.  It’s largely because of the manufacturers’ design response to the way cable networks are designed in the U.S.  Totally unplugging a set-top box and then reconnecting it results in a long wait while the box starts up and “repopulates” its information about channels and schedules.

Interestingly, the New York Times reported that when the California Energy Commission asked Cisco Systems, one of the major manufacturers of set-top boxes and DVRs, why their systems use so much electricity, Cisco responded that no customers had asked them to use less power.

There are ways for cable companies and set-top box/DVR manufacturers to reduce the power consumption of their equipment.  Some cable boxes can be “put to sleep” where they consume 50% or less of their normal power (they almost never turn them all the way off).  This is common in Europe but not in the U.S.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program is tightening up the energy requirements for cable boxes and will limit power consumption of cable boxes with the Energy Star rating to 29 kWh/year by the year 2013.  But that will only apply to new cable boxes.

The NRDC report provides a lot more detail.  But if you subscribe to cable, you know that you have very little choice in cable boxes.  But you can contact your cable or satellite provider as well as the box manufacturer to insist they provide set-top boxes that use less power.  We can’t let them say “no one asked” again.

CFL Bulb

Why are CFL’s a Better Deal than Incandescent Bulbs?

1. CFL’s use 25% the electricity to give the same brightness as an incandescent bulb.
2. CFL’s last up to ten times longer than incandescent bulbs.

CFL Bulbs Last Longer than Incandescent Bulbs

What about Brightness? Here’s the confusing part – the brightness of incandescent bulbs is measured in watts, which is really the amount of electricity the bulb uses. Brightness should be measured in lumens. But we are used to thinking watts when we think about brightness. Well, we have to get over it. Here’s a table that will help.

CO2 savings refers to the power plant pollutants that would have been created generating the electricity we didn’t use. Cost and CO2 savings are calculated over the 15,000-hour life of CFL bulbs. Data calculations developed by the Environmental Defense Fund.

The good thing is that most stores that sell CFL’s will indicate the equivalent brightness of an incandescent bulb to help with the conversion from watts to lumens.   Some stores will even indicate the savings of the CFL over a conventional bulb.

The Bottom Line The main thing to remember is that every time we change an incandescent light bulb for a CFL we will save us lots of money over the life of the bulb.

Dare to Compare Remember to log the amount of electricity you use.  Go to your Baseline Energy Tracker and Login.  If you don’t already have an account, just Sign up and then enter the amount of electricity you used in June on the Energy Tracker Spread sheet.  You can find the amount on your power bill.  At the end of the month Greening Neighborhoods will post energy use and you will be able to see  how much electricity you use compared to your neighbor.

At one time, lighting on motion sensors were for the outdoors.  However, they are now a tool to reduce the demand on indoor lighting.  It is not uncommon that we forget to turn a closet light off or leave the kitchen lights on because we may (or may not) be returning in just a few minutes.  With the motion sensor, we rely on the technology to cut the lights out.

Motion sensors are relatively cheap and do not need to be installed in every room of your house.  You can do one at a time.  Perhaps, a good place to try them out is in your bathroom or kitchen.  They can be found at Home Depot for $14.95 each (Heath Zenith Occupancy Motion Sensor Wall Switch)[1].  The Heath Zenith Occupancy Motion Sensor has three settings:  Off, On, and Auto.  This gives you the choice to leave the light on or let the device detect your presence… similar to the overhead light in our cars.

Some motion sensors have more options, such as dimming.  Other motion sensors come in sets so that the motion detection device can be installed in a different part of the room than the switch itself.Installation is relatively easy.  There are seven basic steps to take which are explained in more detail (and with video) at http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-install-a-motion-sensor-light-switch/index.html.

You may have noticed that your electric rates have increased.  We are helping pay for the planned  nuclear plant that the Southern Company (Georgia Power) is building.  My rates went up 10% over the past year.  (See “Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery” on your electric bill.)  So here’s a way to save that 10%.

Set your thermostat at 78 degrees.  For each degree you raise the temperature you will save around 7 percent of your cooling costs.  In occupied rooms use ceiling fans in conjunction with your air conditioner and you will feel cooler even though your air conditioner is set a few degrees higher.  Over the summer we will get used to having our thermostat set a little higher, and by the time the Dare to Compare Challenge is over we will see the savings.

If you haven’t done so, let us know you are joining the Dare to Compare Challenge.  E-mail us at daretocompare@greeiningneighborhoods.com and let us know how many bed rooms in your home.  (The challenge is based on the number of bedrooms you have.)  All results are coded so your identity won’t be known.

Then click on “Baseline Energy Tracker“.  It’s the red bar on the right side of the home page.  If you haven’t signed up for the Energy Tracker sign up.  If you’re already signed up just log in.  The spread sheet will show up and you can enter your energy usage from your power bill in KWh.  Do this for June, July and August, take energy saving steps along the way and see if you have the lowest energy use at the end of the challenge.

Good luck.

George
Greening Neighborhoods

1.   Make sure there is at least 16 inches of ceiling insulation and damp      proofing on your attic floor (Up to $200 per annum).

2.   Make sure there are no air leaks from external doors and windows (Up to $40pa)

3.   Block off fireplace when not in use (up to $50pa)

4.   Adjust water temperature at tap or hot water thermostat to 120      degrees Fahrenheit (up to $100pa)

5.   Insulate hot water tank and ensure at least first three feet of hot water pipe is insulated (up to $90pa)

6.   Replace five standard light bulbs with compact fluorescent or LED bulbs (up to $70pa)

7.   Turn off heaters and lights when not in use (up to $100pa)
8.   Take short showers not baths and install low flow aerators (up to $100pa)
9.   Do cold-water laundry loads (up to $100pa)
10. Turn appliances off at the wall, except the fridge (up to $100pa)