It's been a while since I last discussed my progress to reduce energy use, and I'm happy to report that the news is still very good.

Over the past four consecutive months, my power usage has set a new record low for the month.  Below is a portion of a graph showing my power usage over the last six years.  The blue line is for 2010, and notice that it is clearly lower than the lines for the previous five years.


What does this mean?  This means money in my pocket.  On average, during these four months, I used 71% as much power as I did over the previous five years.  The table below shows how this translates into monthly savings ranging from $18 to $34.



In just four months I saved $101 compared to the previous five years.  This wouldn't be very impressive if we had had an unusually cool summer and a mild winter, but this wasn't the case.  August averaged 2.0 degrees above normal, and November averaged 1.4 degrees below normal.  These temperature variances would typically cause someone to run the AC/Heat more than normal, making the power bill higher, but I realized a savings in spite of that fact.

How did I do it?  Not by sweating in August and freezing in November.  I haven't made any changes that lower my comfort level at home.  As I've stated in earlier posts, I've made several small changes that have added up to $101 in four months, or perhaps $300 over the course of a year.

• Replace all incandescent bulbs with CFLs.  (I might have spent $60 on bulbs, and they've already paid for themselves.  And I keep saving month after month.)
  
• Use a programmable thermostat.
• Adjust water heater temperature to only what is needed (around 125 degrees).
• Insulate around the inlet and outlet of the water heater to minimize heat loss.
• Use cold water detergent to wash clothes.  (Consumer Reports rates Tide for Cold Water as the #1 detergent.)
• Set the dishwasher to "Air Dry" instead of "Heat Dry"  (Unless you need to use the dishes right away, they'll dry eventually.  Let them dry for free.)
• Unplug most phantom power users when not in use.  (Why keep the computer plugged in when it's not being used? If the transformer is hot, then you're paying for it.)

That's all there is to it!  Every four months I cash in an extra $100.  I'm looking forward to this coming March when I can welcome another Franklin into my wallet.  Bienvenidos, Mr. Franklin!