Cutting Your Energy Bills
People are always looking for ways to save money. What I plan to do in a series of blog posts is not to tell you not to buy that expensive cup of coffee every morning, but to show you some ways to save energy in your home. I will be focusing in on ideas that are low cost or are high benefit...and, hopefully some of the ideas will be both. Each house and each family is different, so an idea that works for your next door neighbor may not work for you. No matter what your lifestyle is, you can benefit by paying more attention, smart shopping, planning ahead, or making yourself more aware of your day-to-day use of the energy-consuming items in your home.
Most analysts agree that energy costs will continue to rise steadily as worldwide demand for energy increases and the supplies of fossil fuels tighten. You can benefit from both conserving energy and using energy efficiently. Conservation implies you are willing to get by with using a little less energy. Efficiency means enjoying the same level of comfort and convenience while using less energy. Conservation usually costs you nothing; efficiency typically involves costing you something. There is a place in your life for both approaches to saving energy, but my blog posts will focus in more with using energy more efficiently.
The breakdown of $100 of energy expenses for a family living in a mixed climate environment, which I feel Ozaukee County is, is---$33 for heating, $12 for air-conditioning, $14 for water heating, $8 for refrigerators, and $33 for other appliances and lights.
When we speak of energy there is good news and there is bad news. The bad news is that your energy consumption is probably high; the good news is that there is potential for you to have some real savings. The more you've been using, the more you can save.
~Barb