Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Saving on Our Electric Bill

Rod and I went to a Community Schools class last Saturday on Renewable Energies, Solar and Wind Power and Remote Living.  It was a great class - learned alot and came up with more things to read about.  It was put on by a guy who lives with his wife and 2 children on a remote island just across the channel from us.  He talked about how they live - what they use to generate electricity, how they get their water, how they get their fuel and groceries.

I was impressed by his knowledge of how much power each appliance used in his house, but I guess if you are generating your own power, you keep a close eye on those kinds of things.  The less power you use, the less power you have to make and possibly the smaller system you need.  He had some great tips on saving on electricity.  Our electric bill has been higher than we would like, but with winter and extra heaters and lighting needed, we pretty much accept it.  But we don't have to - we should be able to cut it down by paying more attention to the electricity we use.  I think we just take it for granted that we can use as much as we want, because it is there.  So...we have taken a few of his suggestions and we will see how much our next electric bill changes.

1.  Change your bulbs to compact flourescent.  These use so much less electricity.  We had changed a few over last summer, but Rod really doesn't like them - they aren't bright enough he says.  So we bought a few more - these ones are daylight style - and put them in - he loves them, I don't like them so much, but we will see how it goes.  I think the light is very bright/harsh with a blue-ish tint.  I much prefer the softer light.  I guess some will be the ones he likes and some will be the ones I like!

2.  Turn off your computer equipment when you aren't using it.  Put everything on a power strip and turn off the switch.  We actually already had our modem and router plugged into a power strip, so we have begun to switch it off before bed.  Then we just switch it on when we want to use the internet - usually just in the evenings.  Both our computers are laptops, so they do not stay on and I now unplug mine at night.

3.  Find your phantom loads.  These are appliances that use electricity even when they are turned off - such as your TV, VCR, etc.  Again, we already had the tv and vcr/dvd player plugged into a power strip, so we just have to turn it off now.  How easy was that?!?  There are devices that you can get to measure the power used by these appliances when they are off.  One is called a Kill A Watt - you can buy them online, or you may be able to borrow one from the electric company.  I need to call AEL&P and see if I can borrow one.

4.  Not from the class, but this will save on electricity...  Using our woodstove for heat instead of the forced air furnace.  We set the thermostat for the furnace down to about 60 degrees.  We build a fire in the evening - that keeps everything nice and toasty.  It is still warm when we get up in the morning, cools off a bit while we are at work and we just build a fire when we get home again.  Has been working great for the past few days.  Over the weekend, we kept the fire going all day and the furnace did not come on at all.  That is saving on oil and electricity!!

5.  Next, we will look at our energy use and make a plan of more steps we can take to reduce our costs.  One thing we will be looking into is replacing our electric 50-gallon hot water heater with an on-demand hot water heater, probably an oil one as we have that kind of a tank already.  Anyone have any info/suggestions on this one?  Until then, one of the suggestions from class was to use a timer so that the electric one doesn't run all day and night for just a few hours of need.

So, I will update you when we get our electric bill mid-March...

<i>Untitled Comment</i>

4:22 AM, Wednesday, February 27, 2008 .. Posted by morningsunshine

on the florescent light bulbs - they contain mercury. if one should break in your house do NOT clean it up with a vacuum. in fact you are supposed to call a hazmat team for recommendations. the amount of mercury in one fl lightbulb is enough to contaminate like a 16 acre pond. you also cannot throw them away in the reg trash when you are done with them. just thought you should know

Hi morningsunshine~ Thanks for the comments - I do know that they contain mercury. We have a monthly haz mat drop off day that we would have to take these to. So far I haven't had to dispose of one. Our next step is to use our kerosene lamps regularly as we have a source for free fuel!
~ Michelle

Edited by mdonohue on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 10:28 AM

Untitled Comment

5:01 AM, Wednesday, February 27, 2008 .. Posted by haflinger

Good morning ! Good topic I was so mad @ the electric compay this month they didn't read the meter they went by last year amount @ this time.. What makes me mad is we now have have an out door wood furnace our water is heated by that along with our hot tub . I use tea lights at night in all my windows. And the list goes on..
We are going to start looking into a wind mill for souce of electric and what you don't use you can sell back to the electric company...
They claim that Maine has the highest electric rates in New England. Sorry I went on about this it made me mad..
Thanks for sharing..
Blessings Sister Brenda

Untitled Comment

6:33 AM, Wednesday, February 27, 2008 .. Posted by gabbie427

Great topic and post dear! I am enjoying hearign all you have learned. We still need to get a few more strips so we can do this, but most of it we are already doing.

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

Untitled Comment

10:17 PM, Saturday, March 1, 2008 .. Posted by schatzisdaughter

What great ideas....I have been hearing alot about increase in gas prices etc....we all need to do the things you have just posted about.

Thanks for sharing this wealth of information.

Blessings,

Connie