Donna Summer didn’t have it quite right when she sang “Dim all the lights, sweet darling,” in her 1979 disco hit called “Dim All The Lights” (though installing dimmers can significantly cut your energy use, so says the National Geographic Green Guide). No, if you really want to save money on your electric bills, you’ve got to take a two-pronged approach, which our Lean Green Family has been doing and is living proof that this approach works.
First, train yourself (and your spouse and your kids and your pets–wait, my dog doesn’t have opposable thumbs so he can’t help in this regard) to turn off the lights and nearly every other electrical appliance in use when they leave the room and are done using it. Why? To save energy. I’m sure your mom told you the old saying, “The last one to leave, please turn out the lights?” Well, mom was on to something, and it’s a wise saying I believe we should pass on to our modern-day families.
Second, invest some time and money in removing all of the incandescent bulbs from your lamps and replacing them with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Sure, CFLs cost a bit more upfront but your pay off will come in the long run. Studies show that CFLs last 10 as long as traditional light bulbs, meaning a bulb you install in your living room today might not need to be replaced until 2012. At the same time, Energy Star says CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs.
OK, so this sounds like a “yadda yadda yadda” commercial for light bulbs and whatnot, but here’s where the real-life proof of changing bulbs and turning off lights comes into play: yesterday, we got our PECO electricity bill. And since making the concentrated effort to change our lights and turn them off, our electricity bill has gone down.
This month, our bill was $153.00.
The month before that, it was $213.00.
As far as kilowatt use goes, this month we used just over 900 kilowatts.
The month before that, we used just over 1,350 kilowatts.
Except for a spike in August, when it was really hot, our kilowatt use has been going down steadily since we moved in six months ago.
I’m sure it’s helping now that, with cooler weather, we have neither our central air nor our pool pump running, but the bottom line is this: we’re using less energy and saving money to boot.
So maybe this year your holiday gift to your family, though not very sexy, should be a series of CFLs and a concentrated effort to make sure that if you are the last person to leave the room, you really do turn off the lights.
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
Here in Australia we get our power bills every 3 months. I started doing the whole ‘switch everything off at the wall’ thing (much to my kids’ disgust) and I was really looking forward to getting the next bill.
But then at the start of July (winter) my central heating broke down. The only repairman who had the appropriate parts couldn’t come for 7 weeks. (Can you imagine the words I used when THAT news sank in?) So we had to borrow 2 electric heaters.
The bill I was looking forward to went up instead of down! Now I’m looking forward to the next one…
Amen! WE moved into our condo and I was to busy to be conscious of our electric usage, including lights. Our bill was $167.00, I was floored. We have since gone back to our old habits of turning things off and unplugging. I am happy to say our recent bill was only $53.00. Big difference for just a little thought.
I bought a few packs of LED christmas lights for my daughter’s apt. She’s been complaining about the electric bill, but they still want to decorate.
Daisy:
Do you know if they make energy-efficient Christmas lights?
Leah,
This is a great blog! I thought you might be interested in a post I recently wrote on CFL’s for our blog “Gov Gab” http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/entry/
you_light_up_my_life
Thanks for sharing your great information, I look forward to reading more!
Sommer
Thank you for sharing this. We have gotten serious about saving on the electric bill. Your example is encouraging.