What are you doing for the planet on this Earth Day (April 22)? You could organize or attend an Earth Day event. You could pick up some trash in your neighborhood or clean a polluted stream. Or you could combine your love for electronics with some reverence for the Earth—while saving energy, money and resources.
The real beauty of energy efficiency is that it lasts much longer than one day. It can save you energy and money for years—and that makes it well worth the (small) effort.
1. Get a Dimmer Switch
Every time you dim the lights you save energy. Dimming incandescent and halogen bulbs by 25 percent, for example, saves about 20 percent in energy—and the bulbs last longer. Dim more and you’ll save even more. According to lighting control company Lutron Electronics, you can save $30 to $50 per year by dimming, the higher number if you dim energy-efficient CFL or LED lamps.
2. Buy LED Lamps
New-fangled light emitting diode lamps are 80 percent to 90 percent more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs and don’t contain mercury like CFLs. They are available at many large stores. Be sure to check the lumen ratings to make sure an LED is bright enough for your usage. (A typical 60-watt incandescent throws about 850 lumens.)
3. Use Occupancy and Vacancy Sensors
Replace a light switch with an occupancy sensor, and it will automatically shut off lights when it detects nobody in the room after a certain amount of time. According to Lutron, an occupancy/vacancy sensor turns lights on automatically when you walk into a room and turns them off when you leave a room, saving up to 10 percent in lighting energy.
4. Program a Thermostat
Get a smart or programmable thermostat—and program it to lower your heating or cooling when you’re not going to be in that area or room. Turning back a thermostat 1 degree can save you about 1 percent to 2 percent in heating and cooling bills. The savings add up.
5. Calibrate your HDTV
Proper calibration of a video display not only ensures a better picture, it can save you energy and money. Most video displays are shipped in a vivid mode with the brightness turned way up. You should at least turn this down or choose a “home” mode if available. THX research has demonstrated that viewing a properly calibrated set can save $40 to $50 per year.
6. Use Smart Strips or Power Conditioners
Smart surge suppressors automatically cut power to peripheral devices like printers and computer speakers when a computer powers down or goes into sleep mode. Smart surge suppressors are also available for home entertainment use. For home theaters, consider a power conditioner with individually or IP-controllable outlets, so individual components like amplifiers can be turned off completely, eliminating wasteful vampire loads.
7. Consider Lighting and Shading Control
Put your lights on a lighting control system, and you can set scenes where only the lights that are needed come on, and for how long. Add motorized shading control, and you can cool a room, for example, by shading it from the sun and preclude the need for extra air conditioning. Some systems now from companies like Lutron and Somfy combine lighting with shading and even thermostat control to save you energy automatically. Adjusting your shades based on the season can save you 10 percent to 30 percent on heating and cooling costs, says Lutron.
8. Get an Energy Monitor
Energy monitors provide up-to-the-minute reports on your electricity or other energy usage, and studies show that just by having this information, people save 5 percent to 15 percent on their energy costs. Energy monitors range from do-it-yourself systems like the PowerCost Monitor that reports on total household usage to circuit-level monitoring from companies like Powerhouse Dynamics, EcoDog and Eragy to commercial-grade systems like Agilewaves and Lucid Design.
9. Get an App
If you have an energy monitoring system, home control system or lighting or shading control, chances are you can get a smartphone or iPad app to help you operate your system remotely and save energy. HAI (Home Automation Inc.) recently showed an app for Android-based phones, and Lutron released an Android app for its HomeWorks QS and RadioRA 2 systems.
10. Recycle Old Electronics
There are now many ways to get rid of old, unwanted electronics without throwing them in the trash. Check the Consumer Electronic Association’s eCycling Leadership Initiative site for recycling locations and e-Stewards for information on responsible recycling that does not ship electronics to poor countries for dangerous disassembly. Some stores also accept old electronics, and there are buyback programs as well.