Sustainable Building Forum

Article: 5 Easy Ways to Lower Your Energy Bill (http://www.informedbuilding.com/Live-Efficient/Main14/5-Easy-Ways-to-Lower-Your-Energy-Bill/)

We replaced 5 lightbulbs yesterday with compact fluorescent light bulbs.  It may not be much, but it is a start.

Please,  everyone, be very careful about the compact flourescents.  They have Mercury in them, which will be released from the bulb if it is broken.  Mercury is a heavy metal that is harmful to your health.  SinceI have a child, I only use the flourescents in places where he can not get to them (i.e., closets, high ceilings, etc.) and I work slowly and carefully when handling them.

Wow, I didn't realize that.  Is there a safe way to dispose of them when they are burnt out?

I´m a big fan of washing your clothes in cold water. It saves a ton of energy, isn´t as harsh on your clothing, and colours bleed a lot less. In my opinion, unless you´re washing a bunch of whites and really trying to get them clean, you should always was in cold water.

I replaced my incandescent bulbs with CFL. So far my monthly electric bill has gone from $80/mo to $70/mo so I am saving ten dollars everyday. Also, I got rid of my tube monitor and got an Engergystar Viewsonic LCD monitor. Every little bit helps.

About the monitor, I'm even reducing the light gamma (brightness, contrast) all bits help. Maybe a portable with 75 Watt would also be cheaper than my tower system.

Agreed. With all the chemical advances in detergents anyways (I'll admit to not going totally green with all natural detergents), cold water vs. hot water doesn't make much of a difference for regular washing usage these days.

I think every bulb in my house except for the lamps are CF bulbs these days and that's only because the lamps haven't burnt out yet with their rare usage.

   Currently, I live in a college dormitory and it's amazing how much energy people waste. Most people have their lights and TVs on even when they're not there. So I do what I can by turning lights off in the common room whenever I notice them on without people in there.
   Also, I agree with the above post about washing with clothes in cold water - in fact, recently someting called "Cotton's" tour came to my campus, where they emphasized, among other things, washing clothes in cold water and they even gave us samples of detergent that was specific to cold-water washing.

Wow! Excellent tips! I didn't know this much especially for number 1,3 and 4. I have been using standard appliances and some low electric consume light bulb. But I haven't heard anything like this. Thanks a lot for the tips!