So far, you’re saving on your hot water bill and your light bill, what can we do next…

>> Remember, these are the easy of the simple of the things you can do. Passing these next seven days will put you well on your way to a greener, healthier home and way of life. But it’s by far only a start.

Total Cost: $10

We all have appliances. Lots and lots of appliances. Some big, some small, but they all use power and energy.

Today’s Simple Green step is quite simple to do, but will require your constant thought to make it happen.

We spoke before about running your dishwasher and clothes dryer only when full, which are two very highly used appliances in your home. Let’s talk about a couple others.

First, there’s your heat and air conditioning. When it’s cold it’s cold, and I’m not asking you not to run your heat all together. Or your A/C. But aren’t there perhaps times that you run your systems when you really don’t have to? Or maybe run them more than you need to?

Say for instance, you get up at 7am, get ready for work and leave the house at 7:45am. You come home at 6pm, eat dinner do all that good stuff, and are usually in bed by around 10-11pm. You have “used” your home for about 5-6 hours of the 24 hours in a day. Were you running the same constant temperature the entire time? A big way to save on your heating and cooling bills is to cut the thermostat down when you’re not in the house (at work, at play, where ever) and down when you go to bed at night. A big way you can do this easily is to buy a programmable thermostat to replace your current one, if it’s not programmable. See the Energy Star page about them. Go here to This Old House to learn how to simply install one. And you can buy one from Lowes here for only $29.

Programmable thermostats:

  • are more convenient and accurate than manual thermostats and improve your home’s comfort
  • contain no mercury
  • save energy and save money on utility bills — when used properly, about $150/year
  • are better for the environment, since using less energy helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy production

And what about your computer. Do you leave it running all the time, even when you’re not using it? Whether at work or at home, computers are an often used item but can be a big energy hog. Computers today are equipped with this neat little feature called “hibernate.” Yes, like a bear, your computer can curl up and keep it’s current state by storing everything on from your memory onto your hard drive so it doesn’t get lost. That way, your computer can shut off, then when you want it back on, it’s like you didn’t miss a beat!

Turn your computer off when you’re not going to use it. If you’ll be away from it longer than 30 minutes, it’s a waste of energy. And don’t forget your monitor. Even though most monitors go to “sleep” after a while, they are still using energy during that time.

And how about your TV. Did you know that your TV is still using lots of juice even after you turn it off? A great solution to your stereo, TV, and other electronics using power while you’re not even using them is to plug them all into a surge protector, and then hitting the kill switch on it! That way, all you have to do is flip one switch and your stuff has juice again, but it didn’t run up your power bill in the meantime.

And your dryer– do you run it when it’s completely full? Ok, this is one place where you really shouldn’t, because your dryer isn’t going to get them dry and you’ll end up running it a second time. And make sure your lint filter is clean every time. Give some room for warm air to help dry your clothes while they’re in there. Also, you don’t have to put everything in the dryer, why not hang it on a clothesline? They’ll have that fresh air scent without using a dryer sheet, and you’ll have used zero energy to get them dry.

Think about how often you use your appliances, and then how often you really need to use them, and scale back accordingly. Using the tips above will get you on your way to saving lots of energy and money on your power bill, as appliances make up a big chunk of everyone’s power bill. I think that goes without saying.

So day three’s over, let’s recap:

  • Careful on when you use heat and A/C
  • Get a programmable thermostat
  • Turn your computer and monitor to hibernate when not in use
  • Plug your electronics into a surge protector you can hit kill when not in use
  • Hang your clothes out to dry

You’ve spent around thirty bucks and will save WAY more money than that on your energy bill over the course of a year. Keep watching for Greener day 4!

Day One’s Cost: $29
Time: 30 minutes on thermostat
Level of Difficulty: Novice