Reducing household energy usage can result in substantial savings and earn you a tax credit
Here's the simple truth: Your home is an enormous energy hog. Now, thanks to some impressive energy monitors in a range of prices, you can easily learn which appliances are the biggest gluttons and put them on a diet.
"If there is one main thing you can do to save energy in your home, it's to kill the 'power vampires,' " says
Another device, the TED, aka The Energy Detective, will help you uncover other energy guzzlers. A measuring unit connects to your circuit breaker panel--call an electrician if you're not a do-it-yourself type--and transmits details about real-time power usage and costs to a display unit. While the TED gives you the overall picture by default, you can check individual appliances by unplugging each from the wall outlet, reading the numbers on the TED's LED screen, plugging the appliance back in and seeing the change in kilowatts and dollars and cents. Hutsko found that reheating a cup of tea in his microwave cost
At
A cheaper way to check individual appliances is with the P3 Kill A Watt EZ energy monitor
Finding leaks.If you want to reduce heating and cooling bills, you can find drafts with the Black & Decker Thermal Leak Detector
Once you've discovered the problems, you can monitor your ongoing usage on two free websites.
Earthaid.net is connected with over 200 electric, gas, and water utilities across the country. When you register on the site and select your utility, your historical account data are downloaded automatically, as is monthly information. "The site analyzes your usage and tells you how you're doing," says CEO
MyEmissionsExchange.com (called MyEex) can also help you reduce carbon emissions. Register on the site, enter a year's worth of utility data and continue to add more, monthly, as you get it. MyEex calculates your baseline carbon footprint--the emissions you generate from using energy at home. As you reduce your consumption, the site sells each carbon credit you earn and deposits the proceeds--minus a 20 percent commission--in a
The federal government is doing its part to help Americans become more energy-conscious. By entering your ZIP code into the
The government is also offering incentives to encourage energy-saving household upgrades. You can follow a link on the Energy Star website to see if you're eligible for a tax credit representing 30 percent of the cost of your upgrades, with an overall maximum of
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