How to Save Electricity in The Winter
By chinplus, eHow Member
Save Electricity in The WinterHow to Save Electricity in The WinterUser-Submitted Article
Saving electricity is important to all of us. Not only does it save us in our personal finances, but it helps the environment. Saving electricity is simple to do in the winter and I thought I would share with you the strategies I've used to save over $100 a month in electricity. This article is especially for any of you with electric heat in their homes or for anybody that wants to save on their electric bill.
.Difficulty: Easy
Instructions.Things You'll Need:
Common understanding of power
Space Heater(s)
Insulation foam
Clothing
1
The first step is understanding that electric heat is VERY expensive. A small electric space heater often uses between 1000 to 1500 watts of power. This is 1KWh, or 1.5KWh's on your electric bill. All one must do is multiply this figure by the amount of hours that they use the space heater & the current price of electricity on their electric bill (per KWH) and you can find how much that one heater costs you. Now, considering that most common bedrooms have a 15 amp breaker, and that many large scale home central heaters use TWO 60 AMP breakers and are often 15,000 watts per hour, it doesn't take a genius to understand that a simple space heater uses far less power.
2
Learn room isolation. Shut doors of ANY room not in use. Use simple space heaters in the rooms that you are in with the doors SHUT. A common bedroom can easily be heated on a "low" setting of a space heater often just using 800W. If the door is shut, it will take less than 10 minutes for a bedroom to be warm. The question one must ask themselves is why heat the entire house, when just a bedroom is needed to be heated at night?
3
Dress warmly. Why do we need the entire house sitting at 80F, when we could easily have it at 60F. Some nice wool socks & sweaters can easily handle 60F indoors. Even though this step may come as simple common knowledge for some, many people do not know that wool in particular is one of the most insulated & warm materials you can wear.
4
Use ambient heat from appliances. If you will be in your home office for many hours of the day, and you are cooking with a slow cooker for your evening meal. Bring your slow cooker into the office. They really do put off heat. Also, be sure to bake a lot, it warms up the kitchen and there is nothing like hot baked food in the winter.
5
Use a fireplace or better yet, an indoor stove. (have one installed) Some indoor stoves generate more heat than many common homes electric furnace. Often the savings of having a stove installed is cheaper than what you would pay in electricity for the winter.
6
Install a solar heater. These are large black panels where the sun heats the air within the "box" of the panel. A small fan blows air from your home, circulating it through the panel, and will push super hot air back into your home. All this costs is the power of a small fan! The only downside to this, is that it must be moderately sunny for these to work.
7
Be sure to seal up any windows or doors with simple foam padding. Do not allow drafts to enter your home.
8
If you have windows that are not visible to the street (or do not care) pull down black window shades will heat a room dramatically. This is the same concept of a solar heater, but they will be in your home already. Naturally, the sun heats up dull black materials the best.
9
Next of course is always be cautious of your lighting. Use the "cork screw" CFL bulbs whenever you can. They are far worth the money and will ALWAYS pay themselves off. They usually use only a fifth of the power of common lighting. (Sometimes a bit less!)
.
Read more: How to Save Electricity in The Winter | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5433172_save-electricity-winter.html#ixzz1AIPO0ArU
How to Save Electricity in The Winter
By chinplus, eHow Member
Save Electricity in The WinterHow to Save Electricity in The WinterUser-Submitted Article
Saving electricity is important to all of us. Not only does it save us in our personal finances, but it helps the environment. Saving electricity is simple to do in the winter and I thought I would share with you the strategies I've used to save over $100 a month in electricity. This article is especially for any of you with electric heat in their homes or for anybody that wants to save on their electric bill.
.Difficulty: Easy
Instructions.Things You'll Need:
Common understanding of power
Space Heater(s)
Insulation foam
Clothing
1
The first step is understanding that electric heat is VERY expensive. A small electric space heater often uses between 1000 to 1500 watts of power. This is 1KWh, or 1.5KWh's on your electric bill. All one must do is multiply this figure by the amount of hours that they use the space heater & the current price of electricity on their electric bill (per KWH) and you can find how much that one heater costs you. Now, considering that most common bedrooms have a 15 amp breaker, and that many large scale home central heaters use TWO 60 AMP breakers and are often 15,000 watts per hour, it doesn't take a genius to understand that a simple space heater uses far less power.
2
Learn room isolation. Shut doors of ANY room not in use. Use simple space heaters in the rooms that you are in with the doors SHUT. A common bedroom can easily be heated on a "low" setting of a space heater often just using 800W. If the door is shut, it will take less than 10 minutes for a bedroom to be warm. The question one must ask themselves is why heat the entire house, when just a bedroom is needed to be heated at night?
3
Dress warmly. Why do we need the entire house sitting at 80F, when we could easily have it at 60F. Some nice wool socks & sweaters can easily handle 60F indoors. Even though this step may come as simple common knowledge for some, many people do not know that wool in particular is one of the most insulated & warm materials you can wear.
4
Use ambient heat from appliances. If you will be in your home office for many hours of the day, and you are cooking with a slow cooker for your evening meal. Bring your slow cooker into the office. They really do put off heat. Also, be sure to bake a lot, it warms up the kitchen and there is nothing like hot baked food in the winter.
5
Use a fireplace or better yet, an indoor stove. (have one installed) Some indoor stoves generate more heat than many common homes electric furnace. Often the savings of having a stove installed is cheaper than what you would pay in electricity for the winter.
6
Install a solar heater. These are large black panels where the sun heats the air within the "box" of the panel. A small fan blows air from your home, circulating it through the panel, and will push super hot air back into your home. All this costs is the power of a small fan! The only downside to this, is that it must be moderately sunny for these to work.
7
Be sure to seal up any windows or doors with simple foam padding. Do not allow drafts to enter your home.
8
If you have windows that are not visible to the street (or do not care) pull down black window shades will heat a room dramatically. This is the same concept of a solar heater, but they will be in your home already. Naturally, the sun heats up dull black materials the best.
9
Next of course is always be cautious of your lighting. Use the "cork screw" CFL bulbs whenever you can. They are far worth the money and will ALWAYS pay themselves off. They usually use only a fifth of the power of common lighting. (Sometimes a bit less!)
.
Read more: How to Save Electricity in The Winter | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5433172_save-electricity-winter.html#ixzz1AIPO0ArU
