Refrigerators

Here’s how to keep both the temperature and your energy use down:

 ✓ Use your ice dispenser, if you have one. You won’t have to open your

door and let in the warm air, which then needs to be recooled, costing

extra energy.

 ✓ Turn the temperatures up on your existing freezer/refrigerator.

Experiment to see how it works. It makes a big difference in cost but not

much in terms of food quality.

 ✓ Clean your coils. At the bottom of your refrigerator are cooling coils that

need to be vacuumed at least twice a year. When crud builds up on the

coils, your compressor is much less efficient, which means your refrigera-

tor has to run longer. Does your refrigerator run all the time? Dirty coils

are probably why. You can get special dusters from your hardware store.

After cleaning the coils, not only do you save on energy, but your house

is also quieter. It’s amazing how many people never, ever clean their coils

(the same set who never change their HVAC filters).

 ✓ Get rid of that old freezer in your garage. Why is it there again?

Because you can get a price break when you buy an entire pig? Is it

worth filling your energy pig with a pig? Consider carbon footprint.

Electronics

Look around your house and you’ll find all sorts of electronic equipment

that’s drawing power even when it’s turned off. LEDs are illuminating, fans

are running. You don’t think this adds up? Turn off everything in your house

and go out and look at your electric meter. For most of you, it’s still spinning.

The best way to control phantom loads is to use power strips (the kind that

are common with computer systems). You can get them at any variety store

for less than ten bucks; make sure to get one with grounding prongs and

quality switches. When you’re not using the equipment, simply turn off the

power strip. This works especially well for entertainment centers. Big TVs

and stereos draw a lot of current even when they’re shut off. Your cable box

also draws a lot of current even when turned off. In this day and age, “off”

does not really mean “off.”

Many people flip their television on as soon as they get home. It makes an

empty house less lonely and enlivens the environment. If you need that exter-

nal stimuli, try a radio instead. It consumes much less power. Or maybe you

might talk to your kids. If they’re not more interesting than TV, it’s probably

your fault, not theirs.Vacuuming and laundry

Here are some tips on efficiently using the appliances that keep your carpet

and clothes clean and dry:

 ✓ Get an upright vacuum cleaner. Central vacuums waste tons of energy,

and they move far more air than an exhaust fan. (The good news is

they’re hard to leave on too long because they make so much noise.)

 ✓ Forget the dryer and use a clothesline instead. You can get nifty retrac-

tion mechanisms to make the clothesline disappear when not in use.

You don’t even have to air your dirty — uh, clean — laundry outside.

Just hang the clothesline in your garage and run a fan near an open

window while you’re at work (unless your garage is full of stinky old cars

or incontinent cats!). You can also hang certain items of clothing over

the shower rod in your bathroom. Open the window, or drying may take

forever.

 ✓ Always keep your dryer’s lint trap cleaned out. Every time you run the

dryer, check it. Yes, every time; it makes a big difference.

 ✓ Clean clogged dryer vents. A snaking, crimped dryer vent hose is as

bad as a clogged filter — maybe even worse. The vent hose may be

very difficult to check out, but it’s worth it — clogged vents are also a

fire hazard. I’ve seen dryer hoses filled with lint — no air movement at

all. No wonder the dryer was on for three hours at a time, and then the

clothes were still damp and hot.Swimming pools and hot tubs

Swimming pools lose a lot of heat from the wind. If you simply install some

low bushes on the windward side, your yard will be prettier, and you’ll use

less energy heating your pool. If you don’t heat your pool, it’ll stay warmer,

and your season will be longer. You can even get drought-resistant bushes

that you don’t have to water, ever.

Most people with swimming pools run the filters for much longer than they

need to. Two or three hours a day for a swimming pool usually works just

fine. Try it and see whether it changes things appreciably. Pool pumps take a

lot of power; the less you can use them, the better. If you’re on a TOU (time

of use) rate schedule, in which the price of power is higher during the after-

noon hours than the morning and evening hours (head to Chapter 6 for a

more detailed explanation), run your pool pumps at night.

Old hot tubs use so much energy it may be a sin. You can improve the situ-

ation with a good cover. Look in the phone book for suppliers; they’re all

over the place. Get a good cover; weather takes a toll, and the cheap ones

crack and crumble after a few years, plus they’re not as well insulated. Cheap

covers are not inexpensive; they’re just cheap.

If you have a redwood tub, get rid of it and buy a new energy-efficient model.

They’re very nice. The one I have came with preprogrammed filter cycles. I

turn them down to half-usage, and the water is just as clean as before I made

the change, plus I don’t have to change filters nearly as often. If your filters

are clogged, the pump is working too hard. Loading your pump (making it

work harder than it needs to) costs a lot more than cleaning the filters peri-

odically. Of course, I’ll admit that watching TV is more fun than cleaning a

filter.

 If you have an old fiberglass style hot tub with meager insulation, you can

make a nice do-it-yourself project by squirting expandable foam insulation

around the outside of the tub’s walls, beneath the outer cover. Have fun with

this stuff. Make sure to wear your grungiest clothes, preferably ones you don’t

mind throwing away when you’re done. Realistically, if you insulate an old tub

you can expect the heating costs to halve.Blinds

Blinds can be great insulators. The honeycomb variety work well in both hot

and cold weather. Close them at night or when you’re not home. They can

also be excellent absorbers or reflectors of sunlight, depending on what type

you get. In cold climates, you want blinds to absorb sunlight and warm up

the room. You can do the same if you open the blinds, but then you won’t be

insulating. There are a wide range of blind styles, and it’s impossible to get

into details here. Big box hardware stores all carry a number of brands and

have very good samples you can get your hands on. Prices vary from $20 per

window to more than $300 per window.

 On the other hand, if your main problem is heat in the summer, you want a

blind that will reflect sunlight as much as possible. If you simply put a blind

inside a window to keep sunlight out of the room, it’ll absorb a lot of heat,

but the heat will still be inside the room. You can put blinds over windows

on the outside, which works much better in hot weather because the sunlight

is stopped outside. Of course the blind gets really hot, but who cares? Go to

your big-box hardware store to see the various options. The best bet, from my

experience, is the solar screen variety because you can see through the mate-

rial (sunlight is attenuated 80 percent or more, so the view is darker), but you

can still see the view outside. (See Chapter 9 for more on blinds.)

If you have a big picture window that lets a lot of sunlight in on hot days, you

can hang a cheap, roll-up blind on the outside. Get one that’s solid so that it

completely cuts off all light. If you can, leave an air gap of 6 inches or more

between the window and the blind. Yes, the room will be dark and creepy,

but if you’re at work for the day, it won’t matter, and the room will feel a lot

better when you get home. Buy a cheap one because it probably won’t last

more than a season or two hanging outside in the direct sunlight. Take it

down and store it when autumn arrives.