Money Saving Tips: Five Ways to Save on Energy Costs

Here's a piece from Money magazine that gives five ways to save on energy costs. Their list:

1. Crock pot, then microwave, then oven. Using kitchen appliances that are sized to the task at hand will help you cut down on your energy costs. You could save 30 to 40 percent.

2. Unplug. All those gadgets we keep plugged in day in, day out use energy even when you're not actively using them.

3. Be moderate with the thermostat. Don't turn the thermostat to lower temperature thinking the house will become cooler more quickly. Thermostats run at the same level until they reach the temperature setting you indicate. And you could run up a pretty hefty bill if you turn the thermostat down low and forget to return it to the usual setting.

4. Try the cold cycle. You can save a load of energy if you use warm or cool water instead of hot water in your washing machine. 80 to 85 percent of the energy used to wash clothes comes from just heating the water alone.

5. Be wary of efficiency labels. The benefits of the Energy-Star label are under fire after an investigation by SmartMoney magazine. For their part, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Dept. of Energy deny these findings.

My thoughts:

1. We use the microwave and oven evenly, and only use the crock pot once in awhile. May need to look at this as a way to save money.

2. We really need to do this. We have a few friends who have checked the energy usage of unused but plugged-in items and it was pretty high.

3. We have a programmable thermostat. The best use of it is that we can set it very low (in winter) or very high (in summer) when we go on vacation. Then we can make it return to normal a few hours before we get home.

4. We wash mostly in cold already.

5. Like everything else, be sure to check out the specifics before you buy.

Comments

[Ben]

These are all good ideas. They did leave out pressure cooker which usually reduces cooking times for slow cook items to 1/10 to 1/4 the usual cooking times. Also - What about riding your bike to work? My pump price for gas has more than doubled in the past 2-3 years. I wanna save some of that! Of course I do enjoy riding my bike. If riding to and from work in one day is too much, drive in, then ride home leaving your car at the office. The next day you can ride in and drive home. I have to do this simply because I need my car at work.