Saving Energy – Saving Money
Energy prices will rise in the long term, we all know that. It is only transitory relief, when the cost of a barrel of oil falls from $150 to $75, we all know that it will go back there. Apart from human greed pushing the price up, there are more than three billion people in Asia all wanting to increase their lifestyles to what they see the West parading in its films and TV shows. And that is not even including Africa an South America. No matter what oil is left undiscovered under the soil of the globe, it is not enough.
So, what can you do about it? Use less, is one obvious answer, but it is difficult to give up something you were born into or have become used to over a long period of time. It is just not that easy. We can expect to see equipment that will use less energy than they do now. That will help, but the technology is still being invented. They only alternative left is to be far more careful with the energy at our disposal. Turning lights out is the most simple form of this method of saving energy.
In the long term, the government will have to set standards for manufacturers, including, and actually, especially for house builders. Nearly 50% of household fuel budgets go on heating and cooling. Solar panels built into the roof would help a great deal, but they are still too dear for most people at the moment. These items have to be made affordable to homeowners and they have to be built into all new homes.
Solar panels can be utilized to run devices live, to put power back into the electricity grid, if their is no immediate local need for it or to charge batteries to run devices later, such as low power lights, a hybrid car or an electric scooter. This would represent a huge personal and national energy saving, but the sun’s energy can do more than that.
Solar heaters can be used to heat both air and water. This would chiefly eliminate the need for burning fossil fuels and natural gas. I say largely eliminate not eliminate, but it would be a massive saving again. Do not forget that almost 50% of the household fuel budget goes on heating and cooling and with ‘global warming’ or ‘global cooling’ or the very safe, sit on the fence ‘global climate change’, this percentage can only rise.
Geo-thermal power (getting heat out of the ground) is perhaps not an alternative for every area, but it is a source of power that has hardly been touched in most countries. Greenland and Australia are world leaders in this technology, I believe, and their climates seen to be as much at opposite ends of the scale as their locations are at opposite ends of the planet. There must be more that could be done with this technology.
In the meantime, we must do what we can. We have to re-educate ourselves to be more careful with energy and we have to teach our young from an early age to be careful with it as well. Use energy-efficient, fluorescent tubes wherever you can. If you need more light for reading or working, get a desk lamp. Turn things off when they are not in use. stand-by was a great idea, but it is not anymore.
Devices on stand-by are still burning electricity and not just a tiny bit to keep that red light on. Chargers for mobile phones et cetera draw power even when there is nothing plugged into them to charged. Pull them out of the socket when not in use. Integrate your heating and cooling systems. There is a great deal you can do to save energy and save money, if you really want to.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with heat air conditioning. If you are interested in Home Air Conditioning Systems, please click through to our site.
categories: energy,appliances,lighting,heating,cooling,electricity,gas,fuel,solar power,home and family,insulation,windows,doors,other
Energy Efficient Light Bulbs — A Clear Cut Means Of Saving Money.
You’ve heard it many times before, probably to the point of hating the phrase, but the truth is that you can save yourself a substantial chunk of change each month by switching out your incandescent and halogen bulbs for a more efficient substitute. If you are skeptical about the real world saving that you can achieve by using energy efficient lighting, this simple formula will allow you to figure it out very accurately.
To figure out the cost of running your present halogen or incandescent bulbs all you need is the wattage of the bulbs, the price you’re paying per kilowatt hour (found on your electric bill), and a calculator. To help you learn how to use this method in your own home, we’ll walk through an example below.
(Note: The abbreviation “Kwh” refers to Kilowatt hours.)
Watts times hours per day = watts per day.
Watts used each day divided by 1000 = Kwh used each day.
Kwh/day x 30 = Kwh/month.
Monthly Kwh x $ per Kwh = monthly cost.
If we take the example of an incandescent bulb at 100 watt strength, it’s easy to figure out what the cost per month will be. If you’re lighting a functional space, like a sewing room or basement workroom, you might have that bulb on for a daily average of 10 hours. (That figure may seem high, but it isn’t. I think you’ll notice that some bulbs are turned on a lot more than 10 hours each day, especially in rooms that don’t get much daylight.). We’re going to pretend that you shell out about $.12 per kilowatt hour on your electric bill, although you may be paying a higher or lower rate in your area. You can find the rate you are paying per kilowatt hour by looking at your electric bill.
A 100 watt bulb burning for 10 hours = 1000 watts.
Divided by 1000 = 1 Kwh per day.
1 Kwh a day x 30 days per month = 30 Kwh used per month.
30 Kwh times $.12 = total of $3.60 per month. Are you shocked at how expensive it is to keep just ONE bulb burning for the month?
To find out how much a compact fluorescent bulb would save, we go through the same process. To replace a 100 watt bulb you normally need a compact fluorescent that’s at least 23 watts, though you might wish to use a 25 or 27 watt bulb if you’re changing over from halogen.
23 watts x 10 hours/day = 230 watts/day.
230 watts divided by 1000 = .23 kilowatt hours per day.
30 days multiplied by 0.23 Kwh = total of 6.9 Kwh.
6.9 Kwh times $.12 = Total cost of $.83 monthly. That’s a saving of $2.77 (or 77%) in one month for one bulb.
If you replaced 10 bulbs in your home you’d save $27.70 in one month.
With method it is easy to determine the real savings you would achieve by taking out your halogen or incandescent bulbs and putting in a suitable equivalent in compact fluorescent lighting. You can switch to energy efficient lighting quite easily nowadays because such a variety of bulbs are available, including ones with bases to fit different kinds of light fixtures. You can even obtain compact fluorescent bulbs that are compatible with dimmer switches, and ones that are rugged enough for exterior use.
Yes, it’s a fact that they cost more. Given the much longer life these bulbs have and the reduction in energy used, you will still spend less money, and the saving will increase over time. If the initial cost is a problem, just plan to convert two or three bulbs per month and you can spread out the cost over time; the cost of the bulbs will be returned within the first two months by the savings on your electric bill.
One advantage of the compact fluorescent bulbs is that they normally have a useful guarantee, so retain your receipts! Put a note on the receipt and/or the package so you’ll know which fixture the bulbs went into, and then you’ll have no trouble if you need to replace them on warranty.
Using compact fluorescent bulbs can certainly save you a nice chunk of change, and you can visit the Energy Resources Journal for more ways to save energy to reduce your bills further.
Outside Solar-Powered Lights
Mankind desires light. We humans are reliant on light unlike some other species. Our whole world existed only in the day time for millions of years. We woke up with the sunlight and went to bed when the sun went down. Afterward, we learned to produce our own light, but we were not totally successful at it until we commenced using electricity to produce light.
This has worked well for almost a hundred years, but now we know that the main fuel used to produce our electricity, that is to say oil, is becoming too difficult to get hold of and more and more wars are being fought to guarantee the West’s supply of oil.
Not only that, but greater and greater risks are being taken by oil bosses, which has lead to more and more disasters like that of the deep sea rig off Louisiana in the USA.
Therefore, the time has arrived, some even say that it is long overdue, that we depend on a different source of power and less on oil. The simplest and least risky way to create electricity at the moment seems to be solar power. The technology has been with us for decades, but it was not viable for households to use it because it was too expensive, but that is no longer true.
The capability to use solar power to make electricity for our lighting and indeed all our requirements is there, already at hand. The only difficulty is that there are many oil baron billionaires who do not see this development as being in their interest. And they are right, in a way, it is not in their selfish interest to decrease our dependence on oil, but it is in the planet’s and its population’s interest. That is mankind’s predicament at this moment.
Solar panels can be utilized to produce electricity for immediate use either inside or outside the home and the surplus generated can either be stored in batteries or fed back into the electric grid for which you will be remunerated (and remunerated at a very high rate, in some countries).
If you are not ready to come off the grid just quite yet, you could still use solar panels to power some of your external lights. In fact, there is a broad choice of outdoor lighting that provides its own power.
These external lights use mini solar panels, which the manufacturer has built in to the casing of the light to create power from the sunlight during daylight hours and then stores it in internal batteries to be used later.
These lights also have a capacity to run the light on battery power from dusk until dawn. The solar unit determines whether to charge the batteries or give off light by the strength of the ambient light. This solar power set up is ideal for external security lighting and accent lighting in the garden. They are perfect for lighting up the fish pond or the drive too.
Solar powered external lighting has come a long way and it is well worth you finding out more, if you would like to reduce your dependency on electricity produced by oil from the grid.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with outdoor accent lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.
categories: lighting,security,solar power,alternative,energy,house,garden,family,crime,diy,hobbies,other,uncategorised
Just A Few Benefits Of Solar Energy Which You Should Know
Solar panel technology features several positive aspects to offer, not only to individuals but around the globe in general. These types of solar technology benefits are necessary for everybody to understand and especially inside the planet today in which we’re struggling with significant environmental crises such as climatic change, there’s never ever been a far more essential time for you to begin making the swap from electricity which causes pollution to solar technology which will not. These include the solar technology benefits that you want to explore and which are the most important. Of all of the marvelous solar power benefits that are offered, these particular are the best.
Needless to say one of the main solar energy benefits and even one that has an effect on the entire world is one that’s in relation to how eco-friendly it really is. Contrary to ordinary electrical power and fuel, solar power will not pollute and so you don’t have to stress about it carrying out injury to the natural environment the slightest bit.
Global warming is causing a rise in the normal heat of the world which will, in case it carries on, ensures that eventually the planet will come to an end. Solar Energy uses the sun as its source and for that reason there isn’t any pollution being caused and that is one of the most important issues as a consequence of how poor a situation the natural environment is in at the moment.
Yet another of the major solar technology benefits is that it is so cost effective. Your current electrical power expense is going to be slashed in two in the event you actually get one any more. Consequently not just will you be caring for the environment by relying upon solar technology instead but as well you may have additional money left in your wallet each month which can be one thing that you’re definitely going to appreciate. The actual solar technology benefits impact everyone.
Additionally pertaining to the top three solar technology positive aspects there is the fact that there is virtually no servicing demanded for solar energy systems. All you do is put them together and then because there are zero moving pieces in solar energy systems, you’re not gonna need to worry about repeating costs for different pieces and also for maintenance work.
Thus this means that you’re not going to have to worry about anything as soon as the actual system is set up which absolutely supplies peace of mind. Everyone should know the solar technology advantages and of exactly what solar power is able to do on their behalf and get started on planning the switch right away.
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Receive The Solar Power Facts Which Will Set You Straight With Solar Power
There are some remarkable benefits which tend to be provided by solar technology, that one would determine if they were to take some time to find out about solar panel technology facts. These solar power facts are really important to understand, in particular on the earth of today where we’re going through problems such as global warming and truly, the end of days. With regards to the solar power facts, it is at all times ideal to start at the beginning and find what solar energy really is. It is energy from the sun which is altered into thermal or electric energy.
When it comes down to the solar energy facts, the most crucial rewards made available by solar energy is that it is renewable. The main difference is the fact that if you are relying on solar energy rather than electricity, you could cut expenditures and in addition if you’re aware about the solar energy facts you would then understand that solar power is beneficial to our environment while electrical energy isn’t.
As a result solar energy can be easily available and we need not bother about it running out, as many of us do with sources like gasoline and coal. Sunshine is the greatest and most natural resource in the world.
If you would like to be familiar with the solar technology facts then you will need to find out that solar technology systems have become affordable and simple to build and virtually any charges which you do put out will a lot more than pay themselves off, within the short term. One of the most crucial solar technology facts is due to global warming and the poor condition the ecosystem is in these days.
If you eliminate electricity and on the other hand depend upon solar technology, you are not gonna be polluting or contributing to the greenhouse gas dilemma. Thus if you wish to do your own part for this ecosystem and guard it the simplest way that you may, then you may want to make the change to solar energy.
These are actually just simply a few of the most elementary solar technology facts, and the more that you discover about solar power and precisely what it is offering, the faster you will comprehend why you should make the modification to solar power too. In only a few basic steps you will be able to own a solar panel technology system established in your own home and should be able to start enjoying the use of solar technology. In the event you are considering finding out a lot more solar energy details you could invariably do research. There is always fresh and more sophisticated info on solar energy being released.
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