CBS Evening News CRAG Part #3: Save Energy, Money and Greenhouse Gases

Save energy, save greenhouse gases, and save money!

On the CBS Evening News episode, we talk about a few things that normal people can do to save money on their energy bills and save greenhouse gases at the same time. Here they are, with a few more tips from the Maryland Carbon Reduction Action Group (CRAG) that you’ll love. From these simple practices, we hope to save 10% of our energy costs this year, which is about $300 per person. You can save even more- if you save 20% on energy costs for your household every year, you’ll save about $600 per person or $1,630 per household (minus $530 for the household just in the first year for things like insulation and new light bulbs). Your household will also save 14,770 pounds of greenhouse gases every year, which is about 23% of its greenhouse gas emissions :

1. Your thermostat. Your old thermostat sets a temperature. A new programmable thermostat sets a schedule for temperatures. If everyone is out of the house by 8 am and is gone until 5, you don’t need the air conditioner or heat cranked up during this time. An Energy star programmable thermostat costs about $75-125: According to EPA, can save you about $150 per year on heating and cooling costs (pays itself off in less than one year) resulting in about 1,500 pounds CO2e reduced per year. To learn more about Energy Star programmable thermostats, visit the EPA website.

2. You pay a lot for heating and cooling the outside if your house is not properly insulated and crack-sealed. Insulate and crack seal your home. Use recommended R values for insulation in your region: You will save about 3,000 lbs CO2e and 10% of your home’s energy costs per year, about $300. The cost of insulation will be paid back within a year or two at the most. Visit the EPA home insulation website for more information.

3. Dry your clothes on the line or on a drying rack. Reduce 5 loads clothes drying per week and you will save 1000 kWh, 1340 lbs CO2e and $100 per year! See the US Department of Energy website for more information about the electricity used by appliances.

4. Those twisty lights you keep seeing are called compact fluorescents (CFLs)- Replace the light bulbs in your house with CFLs- there are 23 lights in the average home. CFLs use 60-70 per cent less energy than regular incandescent bulbs. Replace 23 75-watt bulbs and reduce your home’s CO2e emissions by 2,300 lbs/yr and costs by $315 including the cost of the CFLs. They now make CFLs for candelabras too!

5. Insulate your hot water heater and pipes. At the CRAG meeting in the CBS episode, a lucky Cragger won pipe insulation as a door prize. If your pipes or hot water heater feel warm, they are losing energy and costing money. Hot water heater jacket needs to be at least 75mm thick. Cost for both- about $30. Save $33.80 and 463 lbs greenhouse gases per year.

6. Cool your hot water. Turn the temperature on your heater down (try 120 degrees F- if you don’t run out of hot water for showers or have dirty dishes, you’re OK). Save $35 and 550 pounds of greenhouse gases per year.

7. Wash clothes in cold. At the CRAG meeting, one of our members discussed how she tried this with her husband’s shirts but didn’t think they got clean enough. Another Cragger swears by it. Try it for yourself, and use a spot cleaner for stains. Save 373 kWh, $32, and 500 pounds of greenhouse gases per year.

8. Maintain your vehicle! Replace dirty and old air filters, use the correct motor oil, remove excessive weight from your car, observe speed limit, and maintain air in tires. Spend $30 in maintenance, save 184 gallons of gas, $552, and 3,600 lbs of greenhouse gases for your household’s 2 cars each year.

9. Reduce your vehicle trips. Cut out one 20-mile trip per week in your household. Condense/eliminate trips, use public transportation, walk or ride bicycle, carpool, telecommute, etc. Save 52 gallons of gas, $156, and 1,017 pounds greenhouse gas per year.

10. Turn off the coffee maker. Don’t leave the burner on for hours after you brew coffee. Save 365 kWh electricity, $31, and 500 pounds greenhouse gases per year. Who knew?

In our first post, we talked about CRAGs. In our second, we discussed how to calculate your carbon footprint. There’s a lot more resources at the CRAG website, at www.local-warming.blogspot.com, and on the web on how to save energy, save money, and save greenhouse gas emissions. Good luck! And let us know what works and what doesn’t work.