Company Spotlight: Enerchange

With so many companies looking for ways to go greener to better promote their business and also save money there are many ways for them to tackle this task. In Minnesota EnerChange is a nonprofit that helps customers with their energy conservation. They provide helpful information via their website, professional representatives and programs such as Excel and CenterPoint. These programs and information help provide a blueprint of success to reducing your energy needs.

Part 7: Adjust Your Thermostat and Upgrade to a Programmable Thermostat

This is part 7 on ways to take steps to make you home more energy efficient.  You can go to the previous entry Part 6 or go to the next entry Part 8 here.

There are many reasons to optimally adjust your thermostat and make sure you have a programmable thermostat. According the Energy Star a consumer can save over $180 a year just by upgrading to a digital thermostat and maintaining the settings on it. Doing this will allow you to better schedule a comfortable temperature throughout the day. Depending on who is home during what times of the day you can even raise the temperature easily a several degrees while no one is home and bring the temperature down before people return. Energy Star even has several recommended setting to set your house to depending on the time of the day. Even more information on programmable thermostats from Energy Savers. Here is a nice table, chart and tips on setting your thermostat.

Large Trucks to Face Tougher MPG Standards

Just a few weeks after Obama administration announced tougher standards on cars and trucks they now have announced increased MPG standards for larger trucks as well. This will cover larger vehicles like dump trucks, tractor trailers, fire engine, etc. The amount of the cuts varies by types of vehicles from 9% up to 23% so this is not insignificant. Though with some older semi trucks only get 4-8 MPG even a 23% increase will only mean a 2 MPG increase. While that will save significant amounts of fuel it would still be much more efficient to transport this all by train. Overall it is a good start and important for all vehicles that use fuels to increase their efficiency, especially those that are on the roads everyday for long hours.


From WBOC (AP)

"The White House projected savings of 530 million barrels of oil and $50 billion in fuel costs over the expected lives of the vehicles covered by the new standards, along with improved air quality and public health.”

Geothermal Home Heat Pumps and Energy Systems

In the USA the most popular of geothermal energy is the use of heat pumps. Geothermal is essentially extracting using air pumped through pipes in the earth. For heat pumps or heat exchange systems these can be as little as 6 feet under the earth’s surface. When used to generate electricity they are typically over 1,500 feet into the earth. The reason for heat pumps to so shallow is that the air temperature just a few feet below the surface typically stays in tight temperature range between 50F and 60 F or 10C and 16 C. This is very similar to why caves are always so cold. When used to generate electricity the deeper distance have a much hotter temperature.

Part 6: Unplug the Second Refrigerator

This is part 6 on ways to take steps to make you home more energy efficient.  You can go to the previous entry Part 5 or go to the next entry Part 7 here.

Freezers and Refrigerators are the two biggest users of electricity in people’s houses. They typically account for 1/6 of the total electricity bill. They are much improved with them using 60% less electricity than models 20 years older. A lot of people though then use their older fridge to store extra food. I know growing up my parents kept one in the basement to keep food that we couldn’t fit in our main fridge. Anything you can do to limit yourself to one refrigerator will do a lot for your monthly electricity bill. Also by limiting yourself to one fridge it may spur you to eat healthier by buying more fresh food as opposed to prepackaged products that are loaded up with salts and other preservatives. This alone could save you 20% of your electricity and possibly more depending on the efficiency of your fridge. Also while you are looking at your refrigerator also check the dials inside for how cold you are keeping both the fridge and freezer portion. If possible setting these both to a lower setting will also help you save more.

Part 5: Water Heater and Pipes

This is part 5 on ways to take steps to make you home more energy efficient.  You can go to the previous entry Part 4 or go to the next entry Part 6 here.

Hot water is important to most of us for our day to day lives. We use it for showers, washing dishes, etc, but we also waste a lot of electricity keeping this water hot. Even when you are not using the hot water heater it is keeping the tank warm. There are lots of things you can do to cut down your heating costs that are relatively easy.