I'm a pretty serious hybrid owning hypermiler but according to this website:

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeact...boncalculator/

I use much more energy than average, mostly due to high electric bills.

After seeing "An Inconvenient Truth" I've decide get more serious about reducing my energy footprint while at the same time saving money on electricity and gas.

I'm replacing a leaky sliding glass door Monday which should help a lot. You could just feel cold air leaking in the house in the winter.

I've installed a window air unit in the master bedroom and shut the central air unit OFF. The basement stays fairly cool but the rest of the house is over 85 degrees. It has been around 100 outside for months this summer. The window unit is really "cool" and it only cost $98. Come winter I'm going to get a space heater for the bedroom and let the rest of the house get down to perhaps 55 degrees.

What are you doing to save energy and money? What else can I do (within reason)?

 

I've replaced all of the incandescent lightbulbs in my house with Compact Fluorescent light bulbs. I also take cold showers (it's actually refreshing in the summer lol), wash my clothes in cold water, and unplug everything that isn't being used. Also when I do have the A/C on, I keep it on 76 degrees.

-Mike

 

Hmm. Not too bad. 10,080 is my output according to that site, smaller than average. I wonder how much of that is absorbed by the green of my home?

 

They need to update that to get the 2007 Camry on there !!! I chose my last car, the 2004 HCH I traded in for the TCH and I got 8,400 for my footprint. Will be higher with the TCH but not much.

As far as conservation and environmental issues, here are the things I do:

1. I drive a Segway HT for 7.2 miles every weekday. I park my TCH at my kids school and ride the Segway the rest of the way. With gas at $3/gallon, the electricity for the Segway costs me the equivalent of achieving 620 miles per gallon when I'm gliding on it. I pay $3 a month extra to my utility company to "buy" $3 worth of "clean power" which is solar or wind. So charging the Segway has a zero pollution footprint - cool!

2. I recycle like a MADMAN. I put my blue recycle bin out about every three weeks full, and I only put my green garbage can out about once every six or seven weeks. We have a recycle program at my work, and I have become the "recycle Police" and I go through the trash cans moving plastic bottles and cans from the regular trash to the recycle bins when people make mistakes or do not care.

3. In my home, I use CF light bulbs exclusively. I have Low-E windows all around. I have sunscreens on the outside of the windows to shade them. I have faux-wood blinds in every window to further block and absorb incoming window heat. My electricity bills for the 28 months I have lived in this all-electric home have averaged $66 month. I have window tint on the largest East-facing sliding glass door, as well as a security door with sunscreen in it. I use a device on my fridge which monitors the compressor requirements and puts the electricity usage at the smallest possible footprint to keep the food cold at the least electricity cost. I installed two SOLAR ATTIC FANS at a cost of $1020 to remove hot air from my attic and reduce the effort my 12-seer heatpump has to exert to keep the house cool. I painted my garage door with Low-E paint and then installed radiant barrier shield on the inside of my garage door, which faces West in the afternoon heat, and that reduced my garage temp by about 20 degrees in the summer afternoons. I use ceiling fans when I am in a room to improve the cooling effect on my body. My kids know to turn off things when they leave a room. My computer sleeps after 5 minutes and is turned off when I'm not using it. I have front loading/energy star washer and dryer set with which I wash all my clothes except the whites in cold water. I have a Spin-X spin dryer which removes almost all the water from the clothes before I transfer them to the dryer, meaning I never have to run my dryer on "HOT" and can dry my clothes in 35 minutes on "Medium" heat. I am constantly looking for more ways to conserve in every area.

If 1/4 of America was HALF as diligent as I am, we would be in a much better place. I want to do my share and more, so I encourage everyone I know to conserve and put their money into ways to do that at every chance they get.

 

I'm at 9500 so I feel OK about that, but would like to be off the grid completely. I have hundreds if not close to a thousand trees on my property, so I think my CO2 offsets OK, but I'm always looking do do something else to be less of an impact.

 

Yikes! Mine is either 29,500 or 39,300 depending on if you round my $150 electric bill down to 100-150 or up to 150-200. And that doesn't even count the Boat, Jet Skis, Truck or Vette!!! The only possible way to get down to average would be to get room mates or get married!!

Who wants to get married?

 

Do you ever leave your bedroom? Sounds like you could use a smaller house.

 

Not for very long...The fridge is naturally in the kitchen so I must venture out to eat or drink.

I'd love to have a smaller, more efficient house. Maybe a burm or undergroud house. Somewhere windy would be great so it could use windpower.

My house is smack on a lake which is nice (former "dream" house) but now that I've been here a few years my new "dream" house would make better use of energy for sure.

 

I guess you will have to start hypermiling the boat and jet skis. I bet you could make some huge improvements with the strategic use of some oars. What kind of fuel economy do you get in your boat? Is it miles per gallon or gallons per mile.

I have a relative that has a few Wave Runners and lots of boats at his lake house. I always have lots of fun visiting.

 

My boat has a 310hp inboard that perhaps gets 5-10 mpg.

I am getting into the "Aquaskipper" human powered hydrofoil and wind surfing but the boat rocks! Much fun has been had in, on, and behind the boat. I'm starting to be green enough that all that gas burning while having fun is starting to bother me....