Jono took a tour of the swales during his recent visit for the holidays. Since we was involved in much of the work, I thought it would be interesting to share his perspective of the project. Note that the video gets cut off while he was describing the pond. Since he was off to Mexico and Peru for a few months, we would not have time for him to re-record it. So I decided to publish it anyway.
The description we may have missed was about why the pond was placed where it is. It is next to the spillway between the upper and lower swales. When the upper swale overflows into the spillway, excess water runs into the pond. When the pond is full, the water naturally continues down the spillway to the lower swale. The pond allows us to store about 1800 gallons of water that might otherwise be lost. Goldfish were added to the pond when it was first filled, and they have since multiplied. During the time the pond has been in place, many other creatures are shown up including a healthy frog population. Water brings life! Enjoy the video.
Last Wednesday I did an updated walk-thru. It was the end of February and many of our fruit trees are in full bloom already. There’s a 23F night coming up so it remains to be seen if the trees will be impacted.
I also show the compost pile I’ve been working on for about 18 months. It’s a combination of grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, and chicken manure. It’s quite a bit larger than the recommended 1 cubic meter. I try to turn it as much as possible by moving parts of it around.
Here’s the video:
Here’s a bonus video of the chickens working a smaller compost pile I started near their run:
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It’s been awhile since my last update. I thought it was time to do another video walk-through. Three and a half years into the swale project, things are really starting to take off.
We’re early in the 4th season of first phase of the swales, and 3rd season of the remaining phases. The pond has been up and running for about 18 months. Many more of the fruit trees have blossoms and fruit this year. We are hopeful that we’ll see more fruit this year. We just have to beat the squirrels to them. To deal with that, I think it’s time to do some target practice.
I didn’t get video of it, but the kiwi vines are covered in blossoms. They are so intertwined that I can’t tell if the male vine has any flowers, but my fingers are crossed.
Walk with me on this video tour of the swales.
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Today is Earth Day, so it seems like a good time to talk about alternative energy.
I’ve been fascinated with solar energy for a long time. Maybe it’s simple curiosity. Maybe it’s the engineer in me.
Or maybe it’s because the answer to one of our major problems is right there in front of us. You see I’m a strong believer that solar is THE answer to our long term energy needs.
I believe peak oil is real. I don’t know when it will really turn the corner to the point that we are forced to dramatically change our lifestyles. But I’m sure it’s going to happen. If not in my lifetime, certainly in my children’s.
A while ago, I heard a fact that caused the light bulb to go on in my head. Enough solar energy reaches the earth in 1 hour to supply all the earth’s energy needs for a year. We have a massive hydrogen fusion reactor perpetually supplying energy to us.
We simply need to learn how to harness it. The naysayers argue that it is inefficient. Sure it is. That’s why research is needed. If we had justified the space program strictly on economics, the United States never would have had a man walk on the moon. Instead, space exploration has led to many technological achievements that affect our everyday lives.
The government wastes money on a lot of things. Funding solar research would not be high on the list of money wasters. Cheap oil breeds laziness and discourages solar research. Sure we can wait until oil prices skyrocket and gas is $10/gallon. I think we should be doing solar research now before we’re trying to play catch-up.
A typical solar photovoltaic (PV) panel today is at best 15% efficient. Even at that, we were able to make it work financially on our property. I’ll go into much more detail in future posts about how we did that. If 15% efficient panels work, imagine what we could do with 30% or 40% efficiencies.
In the meantime, there other things you can do with solar besides generating electricity. If you don’t want to make the investment in solar panels, look into some of the other possibilities.
Water Heating
Water can be heated with solar energy very efficiently. We chose a solar pre-heater based on the concept of thermosiphon. The cold water supply lines to our natural gas water heater are diverted to the solar water heater where the water is heated before entering the traditional water heater. On a good day, the water enters the natural gas water heater at 130 degrees, requiring very little natural gas. There are many different designs so do your research.
Passive Solar Home Design
A lot can be accomplished to make a house easier to heat and cool without energy inputs. One example is using shades or awnings over southern facing windows. During the summer when the sun is high, the awning casts a shadow on the window which in turn lowers its temperature. Think of how you feel cooler in the shade in the summer. By keeping the window in shade, there is less solar heat gain into the house. Then in the winter when the sun is lower, the awning doesn’t cast a shadow on the window, allowing more solar heat gain into the house when you want it.
Another interesting design I’ve seen is a solar chimney. This works well in a sunny environment that isn’t too hot or humid. A vertical shaft is designed into the home with windows that intentionally cause the chimney to get very hot. A vent at the top allows the hot air to escape, drawing cooler air into the house with open windows in lower areas. You might think it is counterintuitive to intentionally heat up the vertical shaft, but that heat is quickly vented out the top due to the chimney effect.
Passive Solar Lighting
The sun’s rays can be used to light the interior of a house without electricity. This can be done with simple manual techniques like opening blinds or shutters to allow light in. Shutters can also be useful in keeping heat out in the summer and allowing it in during the winter.
A more sophisticated tool is a solar light tube. A clear dome is installed on the roof and a reflective duct routed down to a diffuser in the ceiling. The effect is very bright, natural sunlight illuminating the interior. Of course, they don’t work at night but fancier models include LED lighting for night use.
Solar Cooking
Solar energy can be used for cooking and dehydrating food. For more information, see my earlier post about the solar oven I built. An Inexpensive Easy-to-Build Solar Oven
Here’s an interesting article from Mother Earth News on how to build a solar dehydrator: http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/tools/solar-food-dehydrator-plans-zm0z14jjzmar.aspx
What’s Next?
I was convinced years ago. We installed our solar water heater back in 2009, and started installing solar PV in 2010. I didn’t wait for it to get cheaper. I did it myself and it has paid off. In future posts, I’ll explain in a lot more detail how we did it. Follow my posts and maybe I can help you make an informed decision.
For now, you have to make your own decision. In can seem like a big investment. Do what works best for you.
Today I have to share a story because, well, some things happen that you just can’t make up.
I love my Jeep Liberty CRD. It’s a wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing. It can tow 5000 lbs, has 4-wheel drive, and I can run my homemade biodiesel in it if I want to. But I don’t like changing the oil. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again if I have to, but I’m happy to let someone else deal with the old oil. When I’ve changed the oil at home, no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to avoid getting the old oil on things. It is like black paint. The last time I changed it, it took me several days to get the stain of my hands.
The problem is that it’s hard to find a good shop to work on diesels. One time I took it to an oil change place. They told me sure they do diesels. Then about 500 miles later I started getting low oil pressure warnings. Turns out they had use regular oil even though I told them it had to have synthetic oil. The high-pressure diesel engine broke down the oil in no time. I won’t go back to that place again.
Another time I decided to try Walmart. I know – this couldn’t end well. It wasn’t that bad, after the cashier spent 30 minutes how to charge me. They will let you buy the oil and filter right there in the store, then do the change with the oil you just bought. Needless to say, I watched the whole process to make sure the tech used the oil I supplied. Still it took so long that I decided I needed to find a better place. And there is the fact that I don’t like setting foot inside Walmart.
Thankfully I don’t have to deal with this often, since the Liberty has a standard oil change interval between 6250-12500 miles. That’s another nice feature of diesels. But like it or not it was time to try again, and I didn’t feel like scrubbing my hands for 3 days.
This Really Happened
That brings me to the latest adventure. I found a nearby quick lube place that said they did diesels so I decided I would try it. I would buy their oil if they had it, but I had the oil and filter on hand so I took it with me.
I pulled up and a nice fella came out to greet me and ask what I needed. I asked him if they did diesel oil changes. He hesitated and asked me what type of oil it needed. I explained that I brought it with me in case they didn’t have it. I even had a brief conversation with him about how important the synthetic oil was because of the high-pressure diesel engine. He said sure they can do that. He said it was only $20 when you supply your own. I thought I had hit the jackpot – $20 and I don’t have to dispose of the oil or even come in contact with it for that matter. This was great.
And this was where it got interesting. Another guy came out and said he had to pull it into the maintenance bay. I walked inside to wait. As I was entering the waiting room, I heard him get out of the Jeep and tell one of the other guys, “Make a note the engine is making a lot of noise. It doesn’t sound good.” I thought to myself, “Duh – it’s a diesel.”
I laughed off the comment and went inside to the waiting room. A few minutes later, the first guy walked in with this confused look on his face. Now remember – this is the guy I had the discussion with earlier about the diesel engine. He looked at me and actually said:
“Who told you this was a diesel?”
At first I was stunned. Briefly I thought about mind-bending movies like Inception or The Matrix. Maybe it was all a dream. Maybe I never built a biodiesel processor. No it couldn’t be a dream.
Then I remembered this guy my Dad knew when I was young. He drove up in his big Buick boat, but when he shut it off it kept running. He explained to my Dad that he had accidentally put diesel in his gas car, so it wouldn’t stop running when he turned off the ignition. I remember thinking at the time – “this is bad.”
I’m not sure why I said what came next. It just popped into my head. I looked at him and said, “The guy who sold it to me said it was. I’ve always put diesel fuel in it and it runs great!”
Now the guy really gave me a funny look.
I couldn’t keep a straight face and said “I’m messing with you. Yes, I’m sure it’s a diesel.”
On the bright side, at least this guy wasn’t about to perform brain surgery on me.
And, by the way, don’t put diesel in you as car. It won’t run great.
The Beast – 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
CRD = Common Rail Diesel
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It’s not hard to imagine using the sun’s rays to heat water or generate electricity with solar panels. But did you know you can cook with the sun? A solar oven is surprisingly easy and inexpensive to build. It is especially good at slow cooking things like what you would make in a crock pot. Sure you don’t have the fancy controls of a modern oven, but don’t let that stop you.
A solar oven is also a great tool to have in case of power outages, or even if you just want to reduce your power bill. It is a necessity for off-grid living. In many countries, cheap energy is not readily available like it is in the United States. In those places, solar ovens are an indispensable tool.
CooKit Solar Cooker – $39
There are many designs for solar ovens – some elaborate and some simple. You can buy one or you can build your own. The basic concept is to create an enclosure with reflective surfaces to concentrate the sun’s energy inward. I will describe the very simple one that I built. I used the design from Solar Cookers International. They sell the solar oven for $39, but they give away the plans. I made mine for less than $1. The picture above is the one they sell. The plans and instructions are in this link: instructions. They are very detailed so I won’t repeat everything here. All you need is a large piece of cardboard, aluminum foil, and white glue. This link has a template to use to cut out the cardboard. The instructions show where to cut and make folds. The inside surface is covered with aluminum foil. The foil is placed with the shining side facing out and the dull side toward the cardboard. It is attached to the cardboard with a mixture of white glue diluted 50:50 with water. Brush the mixture on the cardboard, covering the entire surface. Press the foil on to the wet cardboard. I learned quickly not to worry about how it looked – it won’t affect how it cooks. What matters is to cover all the surfaces with foil. I cut the foil into several pieces to make it easier to fit, rather than trying to make it all one piece. In the case of the solar oven, function wins out over form. Once the glue dries, check all the foil surfaces for any loose pieces. Add more glue mixture to hold those down. That’s the whole thing. Fold the cardboard following the directions and you have the finished solar oven. Below is a picture of the one I built. It isn’t as pretty as the one you can buy, but it works. I keep the 2 clamps with it because they are handy for positioning the front flap. Just set the angle of the flap by sliding it up and down the side flaps, and place the clamps on the underside of the flap to keep it from slipping.
My Solar Oven – $1
To use the solar oven, you’ll need a black pot with a lid. The pot is placed inside a large plastic, heat-resistant bag to keep the heat in. Oven cooking bags work well. A fun experiment is to heat water with the solar oven. On a bright sunny day you can boil water in it. Another good one when you’re starting out is baked beans. One thing you have to get used to is that cooking times will be longer than you are used to. You just have to get your food started a little earlier in the day. Here is a link with lots of great tips on cooking with a solar oven. With a little practice, you’ll get better at it. You will learn which foods you like to cook in the solar oven. Check out this link for some recipe ideas.
A solar oven can also help to reduce you power bill, not just because you aren’t using the conventional oven. On a hot summer day, cooking outside with a solar oven will avoid heating up your kitchen and adding more load to your air conditioner. Now that’s really cool.
If you aren’t sure a solar oven is for you, that is a perfect reason to build one of these. It costs so little to try it out. The solar oven is each to build, inexpensive, and fun to cook with. Give it a try and you’ll see for yourself just how easy it is to save some money and add a little energy independence to your bag of tricks.
Without water, plants don’t grow. Without water, people don’t survive. I quickly learned what was possible without regular rainfall in an area. The importance placed on water catchment is a theme throughout all permaculture but here it was a necessity. What I’ve learned since then and am now experiencing first hand is that here, the water comes all at once. Being prepared for that is of the utmost importance if you want to produce anything the rest of the year. The first farm I went to dealt with flooding on and around the property. The low country of the Carolinas is vastly different from the hills of northern California.
This will only serve as a brief introduction to the place where I now live as attempting to fit everything in one post could not do it justice. Here are the highlights!
My first impressions are still so clear to me. It was a beautiful day and Blair was the only person on the property. I pulled up to the yurt, saw the garden and Blair standing there with a big smile on his face. Most people I’d met along the way give a simple handshake when meeting someone. Not this guy. I got a full hug and warm welcome to his property. The next few days were spent alone with him getting to know the property and getting to know him. He is by far the most traveled farm owner I’ve met so far and definitely the most eccentric. Katie was the only other resident who lived in a renovated bus just on the other side of the ravine. The bus is the original of three buses used in an organization Blair founded called Commonvision. For many years they were used to transport people and supplies to various places such as inner city schools to teach children about permaculture and perform West African drumming. Since then the other buses have gone on to continue while the original stayed with Blair on his property.
The first part of my stay lasted almost a month before leaving by train to the other side of the country again. While there I learned about gravity fed water systems, forest gardening, annual crop cycles for highest yields, designing and planting a zone 1 garden, and much more. Along with that I had the privilege of taking part in West African style drumming and culture. My background includes ancestors from these areas and I have never been out of this country which made it even more fascinating to learn about. I started to learn about holistic medicine and herbal remedies which I have since acquired a much greater desire to learn and teach others. Yoga and meditation are encouraged and incorporated into daily activities. Before my travels I may not have shown much interest in these things the way I do now.
We also helped others in the surrounding area design to start their gardens as well. Two offsite gardens were visited regularly to help put in drip lines, dig holes, mix compost, and weed in preparation for planting and transplanting. Many people in that area already grow much of their own food and raise some of their own animals. For those who can’t, or don’t have enough time, they have to find another way to make it happen. It’s easier when a larger portion of the community is already self-sufficient because finding someone to help doesn’t require looking far at all.
Another major difference between this town and most places back east was that even smaller grocery stores carried organic options. The co-op in Ukiah and the Mariposa market in Willits each got their produce mainly from local growers. It’s a nice change to see a community supporting itself, bringing down transportation costs, and choosing healthier alternatives at the same time. It didn’t take long to realize this was where I wanted to be.
After two weeks of work-trade I was offered a long-term position as the second tenant farmer on the property behind Katie, a girl just a few years older than me who was also living on the property in a renovated bus. I was currently staying in the room just next to the kitchen but upon my return at the end of July I would have the cabin above the barn not far from the yurt where Blair lives.
The vision for the property is to create a space for holistic medicine and a healing retreat. Infrastructure is being put into place now to make that possible by the end of the coming year. New buildings are being built, a new pond has been dug, and the kitchen is more than double the size it was before. All of these things will contribute to a beautiful place for people of all backgrounds to come and enjoy the peaceful, clean mountain environment and find a healing space inside and out.
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Advice from a Commercial Beekeeper: Bee a Good Listener
Recently I had the opportunity to spend the day with a commercial beekeeper from Nicaragua and his team. He was assessing the truckload of bees they were about to work. As he walked by each hive he would pause, elbow it or hit is with his fist and move on. I asked “what are you doing?” He said, I can tell if the queen is present and the hive is healthy and balanced or not by the sound. He continued, stopped by a hive and said listen, he hit the hive. The echo sounded like there was not a lot of weight in the hive and the bee buzz pitch sounded unhappy. As he continued, he hit one and said, “This is a good queen.” He opened it and it was full of bees and the bees were not aggressive but calm. He said, “See, this hive has a good queen and the bees are balanced, productive and happy!”
A Large Scale Beekeeping Operation
Bee Balanced, Bee Happy, Bee Passionate & Bee Healthy
Clearly these bees are passionate about their activities. For humans, passion can result in fulfilling experiences, relationships, unexpected successes and even better health! With passion, the energy to solve a problem or overcoming challenges and setbacks is always available.
I Had Passion Once
I love team play – basketball is my favorite sport. A good team will often beat a group of more talented individuals. In sports or work, a balanced leader will mentor talent into working as a team that will energize, rally and transform an organization.
Motivated people, aligned with a common goal will work above and beyond to help their team succeed. It is tremendously exciting and fulfilling to work with smart, talented and motivated people. Once a leader has been part of building a high performance team from talented individuals there is no work experience more fulfilling.
I Lost My Passion
Passionate is a word frequently used in describing my leadership style. For more than 20 years I have been passionate about leveraging current or developing technologies to enhance business and individual success. My positive, encouraging and mentoring approach has resulted in many organizational and individual successes. Yet in the last few years I have lost my positive view, become a bit cynical. What happened to my passion?
I’ve Been Used!
I have learned that some businesses take advantage of passionate leaders. In general, businesses today have fixated on the bottom line, without attention to sustainability. Business has abandoned commitment to the employees. Employees have lost any passion for their work and any commitment for their employers. It has become an economic bottom line relationship. How much energy do you have for “I have to go to work?”
Once a person realizes upper management has used the passionate balanced leader for greed or power, there is nothing more discouraging to the leader or the staff. I wonder if bees feel this way when beekeepers take all their honey and feed them corn syrup or sugar water?
Cause & Effect
Leaders that have passion and can rally the team are in high demand. However, because of the negative effects of being used and abused, these managers are short timers. They quit, fail or lose their health!
I have repeatedly observed and personally experienced the full impact of this imbalance.
I Am Taking My Passion Back!
At my last job, I took my employer’s values seriously, “Be courageous and do the right thing.”
When I discovered unethical business practices I attempted to address them and I was fired.
By this point my blood pressure was in the stroke-heart attack waiting to happen range.
Meanwhile, last year I purchased a small property with a great shop building. Subsequently I bought a tractor and started to work the land. More recently I have begun to actively restart Uncle Dan’s Bees. Free from the confines of a job, I have the time to focus and reflect.
It has been four months since I was fired. Last week my doctor called with my current test results. She was very surprised. All my health numbers are fabulous!
What caused this major positive health change? I believe that actively spending time on my passions has helped me regain a balanced perspective and improved my health.
Conclusion
Following your passion and focusing on the tasks at hand will result in more happiness and better health!
Some readers may wonder what the connection is between work and bees. The connections will become clear with the coming articles, so stay tuned.
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About Uncle Dan
I started beekeeping as a hobby in 1989, my dream to be a beekeeper, raise organic herbs and vegetables and enjoy providing healthy tasty foods, good mead and spending time with family and friends. I hold degrees in chemistry and computer science, and have been recognized for innovation with a Bell Labs STAR award. I also had the honor of being selected by Rotary International as a cultural exchange ambassador to Italy 1989.
I woke up much earlier than normal this morning. Well actually I woke up about the same time, but the clock said it was earlier. It was 5:30 am and I was refreshed and ready to work outside. It was pouring down rain so that plan was squashed, thus I find myself sharing my opinion on the blog. We went through the bi-annual ritual last night of changing all the clocks in the house. What a pain. Do we really still need Daylight Saving Time? What is the point?
The history of DST is interesting. I grew up believing stories that it had something to do with helping farmers with longer days in the summer. But doesn’t that sound like a bunch of BS? That’s because it is. Anyone who’s ever worked on a farm knows you don’t go by the clock – you go by the sun. After all, the animals and plants don’t have alarm clocks!
Others say Benjamin Franklin first conceived of DST. Well Ben, not all of your ideas were good ones.
The real reason DST was started was to help save energy. Congress first enacted DST during World War I to extend the evening hours in the summer time and theoretically save energy. But does it actually work? No it doesn’t. A 2008 U.S. Department of Energy study concluded that the energy savings were very low – about 0.03%. You can read it here: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/ba/pba/pdfs/epact_sec_110_edst_report_to_congress_2008.pdf
To make things worse, not all of the United States observes Daylight Saving Time. Arizona and Hawaii don’t, along with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. How confusing is that?
While the benefits of DST are inconclusive, there is strong evidence that it has negative effects on our health by disrupting our sleep patterns. I concur with this theory, as do most people. Every spring, we “lose” an hour. Who took it? Well actually they just borrow it until we “get it back” in the fall. Every spring, I try to go to bed earlier to minimize the effects but it is easier said than done.
Changing all the clocks is a pain, especially the clocks in the cars. Dealing with the time change on computers used to be a big pain, but that has gotten a little easier. We go through all this trouble for no real benefit. Polls show the percentage of Americans who think we should continue the practice continues to drop. Why do we do this anymore? I for one think it’s time to stop it.
It was a very hot summer in Georgia, dominated by high temperatures in the 90’s. Running an air conditioner all the time can lead to some pretty high electric bills. As much as I dream of things like a passive solar home, it is difficult to get by without AC in Georgia. We are fortunate enough to have a solar array which dramatically reduces our electric bills. I heard stories of coworkers with electric bills over $500 in July, but ours was $88. The investment we made a few years back is paying off now. But long before we made the decision to install the solar panels, we formulated a plan.
You see I didn’t only view solar panels as a way to help the environment. I viewed them as part of my retirement plan. We might be experiencing a period of abundant energy at the present time, but I don’t believe that is going to last. I expect energy costs to rise dramatically in the next few years. I also expect to have to live on less income at some point when I retire from my day job. Reducing our utility bills is a way to prepare for whatever the future brings.
During the day, I work at a factory. When we evaluate an energy-related project, we look at the return on investment. We ask how long it will take for the savings to pay back the initial investment. Generally we consider anything that pays back in 5 years or less to be a good investment. The projects that pay back the fastest should be done first. Those are often the ones that are the easiest to do. That’s called going after the low hanging fruit. We should take the same approach at home. So when we decided we needed to reduce our utility bills, we went after the low hanging fruit first.
Light bulbs
Light bulbs are one of the easiest things to change to reduce electricity consumption. Incandescent bulbs are terribly inefficient, plus they give off a lot of waste heat which makes your air conditioner work even harder. We went through the compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL) phase. We read a lot of articles about the pros and cons. The bulbs have mercury in them and need special handling for disposal. Some argue that more mercury is put into the environment from burning coal, so reducing your usage keeps as much mercury out of the environment as is in the bulbs. It was not clear whether or not CFLs were the right way to go. At the time, LED bulbs were still very expensive. With a focus on overall energy reduction, we went ahead and replaced incandescent bulbs with CFLs. The reduction in usage was significant. If your budget doesn’t allow replacing everything, go after the ones you use the most. Outdoor lights are a good one because they are often on 50% of the time. Then roll the savings into buying more bulbs. Eventually you’ll get them all. That’s how we did it. I was a bit disappointed in the lifespan of the CFL bulbs. I’m happy to say that LEDs have since come way down in price and we have replaced all the CFLs with LEDs. Costco has been a good source of reasonably priced LED bulbs. They typically come with a 3-year warranty. Typically we don’t think about the warranty on something like a light bulb, but you should not overlook it when the bulb costs $7-10 or more. I have had a couple LED bulbs fail prematurely. Both times I called the toll-free number written on the bulb and was pleasantly surprised to find the company will ship a replacement bulb at no cost, with no documentation but what is stamped on the bulb, and with no need to send the bad one back. It was a very quick and painless process. One suggestion I would make is to write the date of purchase on the base of the bulb with a marker so you’ll know when you bought it.
Look for the hidden users of electricity
Another way to reduce your electrical consumption is to find out what devices in your home are secretly consuming power. There is a very cool device called a Kill-A-Watt energy usage monitor that will measure power consumption of household devices. I got mine from Amazon for about $20. Here’s a link to the P3 Kill-A-Watt monitor on Amazon. I used the meter to measure everything I could get access to in our house. I found devices that consumed power even when turned off. Those get unplugged now. We used to have cable TV. I learned that the cable boxes used 35 watts when on and 34 watts when off! That was a major factor in our decision to finally get rid of cable TV completely. When I saw how much power my computer used, I learned how to set it to go to sleep on inactivity. On the other hand, the Kill-A-Watt meter proved that certain devices don’t use any power when turned off. It’s always better to base your decisions on facts rather than assumptions. Knowledge is power – and having the knowledge of how much electricity things are using can save you a lot of power!
Change the thermostat setting
Your thermostat setting can make a huge difference. I know people who set their thermostat at 70 degrees in the summer and wonder why their electric bills are so high. That is nothing short of extravagant. The human body is very good at regulating temperature. We experiment with our thermostat, setting it as high as we can stand it in the summer then backing off 1 degree. Depending on the humidity, for us the setting ended up between 78-80 degrees. Ceiling fans make a big difference too. A breeze will make you feel cooler, allowing you to set the thermostat a little higher. Just make sure to turn off fans when you aren’t in a room. They don’t cool the room, only the person. In fact they will warm the room slightly due to heat from the motor. In winter, we set our thermostat on 68 during the day and 62 at night. If it gets a little cool, I wear a sweat shirt. I highly recommend a programmable thermostat to automate the setting changes, especially if no one is home during the day. My wife works from home and her office is in a room on the outer edge of our house. She has a window AC unit and a space heater to keep only that one room comfortable. We set the thermostat back during the day so we’re not heating or cooling the entire house.
Insulation
Insulation can save you a bundle. Look for gaps in doors or windows and install weather stripping. This is especially important in colder climates. Increase the R-factor of insulation in your attic. When we moved in, our attic had about 8” of blown-in insulation. I added a 2nd layer of plastic wrapped batts to double the R-factor. I used the batts because they are fairly easy to move out of place temporarily if I need to do some work in the attic. Getting the heat that builds up during the day out of your attic helps too. I installed a couple of solar powered attic ventilators. One of them has auxiliary AC power so it can continue exhausting the heat after dark. That cools the attic much quicker than passive attic vents.
Windows
When we moved in, our house still had original single-pane windows. We could feel the heat loss in the winter by how cold the windows got. We invested in insulated windows. We shopped around and were surprised to find out how reasonably priced this can be. Here’s a good tip. Find a supply house where you can buy the windows yourself. Ask them for recommendations for installers. We found a great guy this way. Our total cost for labor and materials was about half of most of the other bids we got from contractors. We also installed wooden shutters on the inside of the windows. Heavy blinds or curtains can help too. Anything to block the direct sun will reduce the load on your air conditioning system.
Rebates and tax credits
Many of the items I’ve mentioned qualify for tax credits. Insulation, energy efficient windows, and solar attic fans may qualify for the federal energy tax credit. Your local utility might offer rebates for items like programmable thermostats and LED lighting. Check the internet for rebates in your area.
Your savings will snowball
If you can’t do it all at once, start with the easiest things first. Change the light bulbs you use the most. Turn off or eliminate energy-wasting devices. Once you’ve realized some savings, use it to change more light bulbs. Small changes can add up over time like a snowball. Eventually you will save enough to pay for insulation, new windows, or even solar panels.
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