gg"April I moved to a more efficient, better insulated apartment."

that seemed to be the main issue here!! I be YOU paid those utilities and the landload didnt give a hoot that it wasnt insulated. Exceot if they did they may not lose tenats so quickly to ht bills.

tj 24- true on the shower thing. Takes no mre than 10 minutes to fill the tub. Seems about the same water usage to me. If you prefer a 1/2 hour shower the tub thing makes MORE sense!!

We do all of these things except the trees. It takes time for trees to grow and still our bill is too high.

I still don't understand the logic of shower vs bath. I guess if you can do your business in less than 5 minutes maybe but if the shower can fill up the bath tub in the time it takes me to wash up then they are even right?

oops, that should be 62 degrees not 629.

All those suggestions sound very nice, but I can tell you they don't always add up to savings. Last winter I kept my themostat at 629 yes, you read that right, 62) degrees. I put plastic on both the inside and the outside of my windows and closed all of the storm windows. I turned my water heater down to where the water was warm, never hot, and I still had $300.00 gas bills for each month of Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb. In march it went down to 250.00. In April I moved to a more efficient, better insulated apartment. Now my bills are in the 30.00 a month range, and my former electric bill was averaging 55.00 in summer.

andrew jackson- that makes sense.
This is sorta what we decided to do upstairs on the side w/o air. Just the window unit at night vs $12,000 to add central air(tube style because of boiler) to one side of the house. We dont run it often enough anyway.

OK janesvillean....I was just pointing out a simple fact. If you would have read my post carefully, you would have seen that I wrote "only for the people who would not turn it down manually."

You always seem to want to have the last word, so, if it's that easy to make you happy....so be it.

Hannah, Central air units are more efficient than window units when cooling the entire house. When comfort level is on the edge of good or bad and the whole house doesn't need humidity control, I use a small one room unit in bedroom for sleeping. A one room conditioner costs around $100. Probably make that up in 1-2 years.

JohnDoe, if you want the job of setting the thermostat two or four times a day, go ahead. Most people would frequently forget, and there go the savings.
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The energy required to make the house comfortable before a certain time is small compared to the energy saved by the system automatically turning it down, and people should be allowed to save energy without feeling as though they are sacrificing comfort.
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hannah, you're right -- the improved efficiency of a new refrigerator is probably the second most promising area of energy savings. Not to mention that people should vacuum out their coils regularly, especially if they have pets.

Programmable thermostats are touted as being so great for energy savings, but that is true only for the people who would not turn it down manually when leaving or sleeping.

A programmable one actually costs some even more because they set it to come on early so it is already warm (or cool in the summer) BEFORE they get up in the morning or home from work.

I do turn up the heat if I have guests please dont think I freeze them out. When people do come in and it is warm I get comments on how it doesnt feel like a COLD windy old house.

"Use cold water when washing clothes"

This works well just be sure your soap is good enough to dissolve in the cold water. Some wont even if it is liquid stuff.

the shades(heavy curtains) thing works well to. They have different blinds now that have different r factors that are just as good as new windows and would cost less than new windows.


"Take showers instead of baths. They use less water."

sorry wont go there. I like my hot bath!


funny no mention of buying EFFICIENT appliances. If you didnt want to toss that old freezer you could get a new one and save on the bill. Many people use these to SAVE on the grocery bill.

Last January 2008 I see my total energy bill was $53, and February was $83. I pigged out in March at $98, and April was $77. I'd say most of it was that darned space heater! How do I do it? Super duper insulation, the entire South side is double walled glass, and lots of firewood gleaned lovingly from the surrounding community. To be honest, it's hard work that never seems to end getting the wood. You really have to want it, even when you don't want to do it.

". Get a room air conditioner"

I thought central air was more efficient than runnnig a window unit???

I have noticed with the air turned on it was more comfortable in the house and the unit didnt run constant and the other side of the home that doesnt have air was comfortable. At those temp we usually needed to get a window unit in a room on that side of the house.

janesvillean- I have one but do it manually. I think this saves me even more because our times we are up or sleeping or are chilled may vary. In the winter we set it at 58. I have found no matter what temp 65 vs 58 I want a blanket in the winter. SO in the winter when we are home in the eve I turn up to 63 and back down to 58 for bedtime and not back up again until we get home that eve.

I dont use the air until it is just miserable outside. This year I have only turned it on the week of fathers day and the temp was 78 just to get the humidity out. If it is sorta hot out at bed time we use just the ceiling fan.


We insulated last year with compact stuff that is "green" it is in the wall studs and in the attic. They air sealed all the holes in the attic and the sill plate in the basement and any holes there. I noticed a large reduction in the usage.

"Throw out your second refrigerator or freezer."

and the pig?

Install a programmable thermostat should be #1. For as low as $20 ($60 for a good one) you can begin immediately saving energy and money without lifting a finger. It's about the easiest win you can find.