Blog Post: Energy Efficiency Works

Many people think that if they install a solar electric system, that they won’t have to worry about conservation or electrical energy efficiency.  Not true!

First of all, if you address energy efficiency first, before installing a solar electric system, you can reduce the size and cost of the system that will need to be installed. Here are some really simple and inexpensive things that you can do to reduce the amount of electricity that you use each month, thereby reducing your bill.

Changing USAGE PATTERNS is a lowest cost fix. Simply turning lights off when leaving a room or turning on only the lights that you need, can save you money, and it costs nothing to implement. However, if you live with others (especially children), it can be a challenge to get everyone on the same page. You may find yourself constantly running around the house turning lights off in empty rooms or coming home and doing the same, all the time wondering how many hours those unattended lights have been burning.

COST SAVING FIXES will then have to come into play. These will include relatively inexpensive things like occupancy sensors or actual bulb replacement. Let’s talk about occupancy sensors first. An occupancy sensor costs about $20 and replaces the switch in the wall that operates the lights in a room. The occupancy sensor uses infrared or technology to sense or detect when a person is in the room. If the person leaves the room for more than 5-15 minutes (they are programmable), then it turns the lights off. When a person enters the room, it turns the lights on. Studies show that, especially in common area like kitchens and family rooms, an occupancy sensor can reduce the electrical lighting usage by up to 25%. Not bad when you consider that 40% of your bill comes from lighting. 

Another technology that can easily be applied is the use of either compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s) or light emitting diode bulbs (LED’s). Simply replacing incandescent bulbs that are in table lamps throughout your home can reduce your energy bill by 10 percent. A normal incandescent bulb creates light by burning an element inside the bulb, so a lot of the electricity is lost to heat. A compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) uses 75 percent less electricity than an incandescent bulb, and LED bulbs use even less.

Correcting wasted electricity used for lighting is one of the least expensive ways to reduce energy consumption.