March 28, 2008

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I’m not saying I’m happy to get my latest power bill, but it certainly looks a lot better than the past couple of months! It’s about half of what it usually is because I’ve made a serious effort to cut it down. My house has two 2½ ton heat pumps, plus a “mini-split” wall unit that heats/cools the media room. I have set the thermostats to let it get as cold as 62 degrees Fahrenheit at night, and 68 during the day, and just leave the wall unit turned off. It gets colder than I like it, but I’m liking this much lower power bill much better!

I also unplugged the upright freezer since we hardly use it these days, and unplugged the mini-fridge in the master bedroom. Nearly all the light bulbs are compact fluorescent except for the recessed lights. I suppose I could turn off some of these computers (normally two are running plus a laptop and the PS3), but I don’t think they play that big of a part. I think the next thing will be to install a timer on the water heater. Maybe if I put up a clothesline instead of using the electric dryer we could get it down below 1500 kWh for a month… ?

MMmmm… reasonable power bill. That would be nice. :)

EDIT: Funny — saw the black Google page today for the Earth Hour thing. Looks like I’m already doing my part.