Living Like Ed Ed Jr. (best ereader for pdf and epub txt) 📖

• Activated oxygen. This is extremely good at ridding the air of odors, bacteria, and mold.

By combining all of these technologies in our units, we are able to provide our customers with the healthiest, cleanest, most odor-free air possible for their homes, offices, automobiles, RVs, or even their pets’ environments.

—Richard Mayer

Rachelle also regularly turns on her curling iron, then gets on the computer, then forgets about the curling iron. It turns off automatically after about 20 minutes. So then she’ll turn it on again . . . and go back to the computer. She’ll do two 20-minute cycles before she finally gets around to doing her hair. If I turn it off, she gets outraged—even though it gets up to full heat in 2 minutes. It doesn’t get hotter at the 3-minute mark. It’s as hot as it’s ever going to get at 120 seconds. So all you need to do is put it on for 2 minutes—let’s say a slap-happy 3 minutes—before you do your hair. Not 20 minutes, turns itself off, 20 minutes, turns itself off. There’s energy to be saved there, certainly.

I’m picking on Rachelle, of course, but she’s like so many people who just haven’t focused on how their actions—simple little everyday actions—can make a real difference.

Fortunately, I’ve found some cool companies that are making it easier to save energy with no thinking required. GreenSwitch is a great example. I’ll let Gregory Hood from Energy Innovation Group explain how it works.

Ed’s Green Friend: GreenSwitch

The largest consumer of power in your home is your heating and air-conditioning system, which accounts for about 35 percent of the total energy used.

Household electronics items like TVs, stereos, phone chargers, and computers also draw power all the time; they’re designed to stay on while they’re plugged in, so you don’t have to wait for them to warm up when you’re ready to use them.

In fact, home-electronics products like these currently consume 10 to 15 percent of the energy used in a home—and the U.S. Department of Energy predicts this number may increase to 20 percent by 2010, due to new technologies.

People who know this and want to save energy and save money at the same time—often run around the house before they leave, turning off lights and computers and unplugging things. This can be quite a hassle, especially in a multi-level home, where people often just give up and ignore stuff on the top or lower level.

Now, there is a simple, low-cost solution for home energy management called GreenSwitch, which automates the process. With the flip of a single switch at the primary entrance/exit for your home, you can simultaneously turn off designated light switches and wall electrical outlets. Plus, GreenSwitch will set your heating and air-conditioning system to your desired temperature or turn off the system completely.

When you return home, you flip on the GreenSwitch and your wall outlets and heating/cooling system are reenergized. (You’ll still have to walk through your home and turn on lights as you need them, since this allows you to continue the energy savings.)

This technology is completely wireless, so it can be retrofitted easily to any home, apartment, or condo. You can even operate it via a remote control, if you happen to use more than one entrance to your home. We also offer a split receptacle, so some things plugged into a wall outlet can remain on, while others are turned off. This is great if you have your TV and video or DVD recording device plugged into the same electrical outlet, for example; this way, the recorder can stay on while the TV gets turned off.

Another terrific use for the GreenSwitch is to “clear” your home before you go to bed, so you can save energy all night long.

A GreenSwitch should deliver a 30 to 45 percent reduction in energy use. Since the average American home uses more than 12,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, a reduction in energy use of 40 percent would save 6,336 pounds of CO2 emissions, which are created in the production of electricity.

—Gregory Hood

Home Is Where the Savings Are

So far, we’ve come up with dozens of ways you can save energy—and save money—in your home.

Some are really simple, like closing your curtains at night, turning off the water while you’re brushing your teeth, turning off electronic devices when you aren’t using them, changing the settings on your refrigerator and freezer, and waiting to run the dishwasher or the clothes washer until you’ve got a full load.

Others require more of an up-front expense, like upgrading to Energy Star-qualified appliances and changing to double-pane windows. But you definitely will notice the difference as soon as you make these changes. And in a few years, you’ll recoup all that money you invested. Your home will be quieter, more comfortable, more energy efficient, and more environmentally sound.

But then, no matter how much you improve your home’s energy use and eco-friendliness, you will eventually need to leave it. When you do, you’ll need transportation—another opportunity to use, or save, energy. The next chapter looks at some of the ways you can save energy and make a difference when it comes to getting around.

Keeping your air filter clean can reduce an air conditioner’s energy consumption a lot—by as much as 5 to 15 percent.

As much as half of the energy used in your home goes toward heating and cooling it.

If you can reach a compromise in your home, a great way to save energy and save money is to dial back your normal settings 5 to 8 degrees, then put on a sweater in the winter or wear shorts in the summer. In some parts of the country, you can cut your energy bill 30 percent in the winter by going from 72 to 68 degrees.

In 2006 alone, the Energy Star program saved consumers $14 billion on their utility bills.

According to the Energy Star