Save on Energy Costs (And What Energy Costs the Average American)
Here's an article from MSNBC that suggests how we can save money by keeping summer energy bills in check. The piece offers several tips including the following:
- Clean or replace filters on air conditioners
- Turn down the temperature setting on your water heater to 120 degrees
- Use the energy-saving settings on refrigerators, dishwashers, and clothes washers and dryers
- Install a programmable thermostat so energy isn't wasted when you're not home
- Use cold water rather than hot to wash clothes
- Substitute compact fluorescent bulbs for incandescents
I've probably covered all of these ideas in one post or another, but it's good to be reminded of them -- especially as we enter the hot, summer season.
But what I found even more interesting in this piece was a breakdown of how much the average American spends annually on different forms of energy. The article has a graph that indicates the average American spends $2,173 on energy costs every year with the breakdown as follows:
- Heating -- 39.1% -- $849
- Appliances -- 25.4% -- $553
- Water heating -- 13.9% -- $302
- Cooling -- 12.5% -- $271
- Lighting -- 9.1% -- $198
There are some REALLY interesting discoveries here for me. I would have thought cooling was much higher (certainly above water heating -- who knew we paid so much just for that?) and I NEVER would have guessed that appliances were so high. Gives new meaning to "wash only full loads" and "keep your refrigerator coils clean," doesn't it?
For more on saving on energy costs, see these posts:
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