According to an article and graph published in The New York Times, “About 56 percent of all the energy that is produced in the United States is wasted” (Revkin).
With all that energy being wasted, Americans cannot afford to waste much more. There are a number of things a homeowner can do around and to their household to conserve energy and save money at the same time. They can turn off unneeded electricity and try other sources, such as renewable energy to conserve energy and save money.
One way of conserving energy that will save a person money as a homeowner is learning how to effectively use electricity. By simply going around a home and shutting off the lights a person can decrease the cost of their electricity bill. The nationwide average for electricity is roughly $0. 10 per kilowatt hour (Trent1).
A compact fluorescent light bulb will use about 20 watts per bulb while an incandescent light bulb will use 50-60 watts per bulb. Leaving four 20 watt CFL bulbs on for two hours will cost about 1. 6 cents. The incandescent 60 watt bulbs would cost 4. cents for those two hours.
Some homeowners may think it is only a few cents but when you think about it over the course of a long period of time those cents add up. Owners must also remember that lights are not the only thing that suck up energy. An experiment done by Tips and Tricks HQ with a desktop computer states that, “by turning off one desktop computer before going to sleep at night you could save approximately 96 dollars every year. ” All the utilities that a homeowner has plugged into outlets are in some way or another using electricity even when the item isn’t actually on.
The Essay on Alternative Energy Resources Electricity Wind Solar
The energy that is used today comes from fossil fuels, which is a nonrenewable limited resource that will eventually be used up. Alternative energy sources such as solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and wind energies can be used, to conserve the planets limited natural resources. Alternative energy is the use of another energy without the burning of fossil fuels and break up on atoms. Solar energy ...
According the Department of Energy, this “phantom power” accounts for 75 percent of electricity usage for these devices (McMahon1).
To help eliminate the waste of electricity with these appliances, either unplug them individually or plug them all into a centralized power strip and unplug the strip. When buying appliances and light bulbs try to buy the Energy star products to ensure that it is an energy efficient product that can save you money.
Another great way to save money and conserve energy in your home is by renewable energy. By using renewable energy a homeowner can help the nvironment as well as get their energy mostly free. For example people living in rural areas that have enough consistent wind and are allowed tall towers on their properties are perfect candidates for wind energy. Wind turbines can be used to create electricity for homes and buildings as long as there is enough wind in a homeowner’s area. The beginning investment for a wind turbine can be hard to look past because prices range from 3000-50,000 dollars for a system. The state and federal government provide incentives to getting wind energy to help people get over the big investment.
For example in Leroy, Illinois homeowner Jerry Lambert owns a 63 foot tall wind turbine that he got free of charge due to a federal grant. The article states that Lambert, “hopes the turbine will generate enough power to cut his monthly electric bills in half. ” Lambert also states that, “Down the road, we’re going to add solar panels with it to increase our output of energy. ” By combining both the elements of wind and the sun Lambert will be paying hardly anything on his utility bill (Lasko1).
solar energy systems are another renewable energy investment that can help cut costs on homes while conserving energy.
The Essay on Solar Energy: Powering Our Future
Today nearly half of the world’s energy is provided by petroleum. What began as a cheap and abundant way to provide energy, has become expensive, environmentally harmful, and finite. With population explosions and the demands of modern lifestyles, the world’s need for energy production has become far too much for fossil fuels to keep up with. Experts say that the Earth’s stores of petroleum will ...
Homeowners can choose from five different types of solar energy ranging from only solar windows all the way to a complete solar energy system. The five types of solar energy systems are solar windows, solar chimneys, solar walls, solar roofs, and solar rooms. A homeowner must meet the proper criteria of sunlight timing, amount of solar heat desired, and select the right type of glazing for solar windows to be installed. The timing of the sunlight must enter a house at specific, consistent time each day to be most effective.
Pertaining to the amount of solar heat that a homeowner desires, it is mostly up to the owner and if he or she cares about fluctuating temperatures. Another choice of the owner is what type of glazing to use on the solar windows. The glazing’s range from completely clear to fiberglass glazing and acrylics. According to Anderson and Wells, “For a 10-square-foot window, the savings is roughly equivalent to the heating energy obtained from 180 kwh of electric resistance heating ($7-$12 at most electric rates).
Besides solar windows, solar chimneys are the most common solar heating systems in the world. The cost of materials for solar chimney collectors can be as low as a few dollars per square foot. Usually the materials can be purchased and installed easily. If built by a contractor solar chimneys can cost 7 to 15 dollars per square foot, maintenance costs are low and as a homeowner it costs nothing to operate. By installing a solar chimney a homeowner can save almost a gallon of oil per year, therefore helping the environment and saving money.
Solar roofs, although not as popular and well known as solar walls and windows, “offer tremendous potential for reducing heating and cooling bills. ” In fact, a house in Atascadero, California is heated and cooled 100 percent by its solar roof. Solar roofs are similar to solar walls because they depend on waterbed-like bags of water to heat and cool houses. The bags of water are exposed to sunlight that is collected by the water and then gently distributed as heat into the house through the ceiling.
There are a number of options in distributing heat by use of a solar room. One option is through windows connecting the solar room to the actual house. The sun flows through the solar room and then passes into the house. Another option would be in conduction. This would require a homeowner to have an unglazed thermal storage wall next to the solar room to transfer and store heat. According to Anderson and Wells, “Many houses of this design have heating and cooling bills of less than 100 dollars per year. Besides cheaper bills, the government also offers tax credits and incentives to anyone with a renewable energy system (Anderson and Wells).
The Term Paper on Detailed Information On Solar Energy
The sun is the source of all life on earth. Thanks to the sun, there is light, warmth and food on the earth. Many kinds of energy on earth originate from and through solar radiation. Since the sun doesn’t have the same strength at all places and all times, the earth is warmed up unequally. This causes wind which can be converted into electricity by means of wind turbines. By evaporation we ...
The government will help pay for renewable energy projects and give homeowners incentives to have them installed on their properties. For example if a solar water heating property has been certified by the SRCC and at least half of the energy used to heat the water has been solar, a taxpayer can claim a 30 percent credit on expenditures. Another incentive the government offers is through the State Grant Program.
In this incentive the amount of money received differs due to family size and construction type. By redoing a home to be energy efficient a family or families can receive up to 4,500 dollars. In new construction cases a building or family can receive up to 11,000 dollars. It is a fact that these renewable energy systems and energy efficiency can help save money and are certainly not a waste. With 56 percent of all United States energy being wasted it is important to remember that homeowners can have an incredible effect on this statistic and the costs it causes in a number of ways.
If homeowners take a few simple seconds to turn off some lights, or on a much larger scale invest in renewable energy systems, owners in the U. S. will be able to conserve energy and enjoy saving money at the same time.
