Energy Conservation

DIY projects to save energy, money and greenhouse gas emissions through: insulating, weatherizing, window treatments, efficient appliances, efficient lighting, and many more innovative and cost effective schemes.

I've include all of the basic "change your light bulbs" type areas, but have also included many off the beaten path ideas that appear to be practical and effective, but not well known.

Full "how-to" information on 166 ideas -- this should keep you busy for a while!

Plus, stories the stories from people who have achieved large savings and how they accomplished this.

Blowing cellulose insulation in your attic as a DIY project

Directory for this Page:

Energy Conservation Sites
Insulating and Weatherizing
Insulating Window Treatments
Electric Mattress Pad for setback
Saving Energy While You Sleep
Heating your own personal space
The Power Hogs
Energy Efficient Appliances
Drying Clothes
Power Saving Ideas
Phantom Loads
Lighting and Daylighting
Hot water recirculation systems
Gray Water Heat Exchanger
Use less stuff
Landscaping for Energy Efficiency
Human Power
Other Conservation Related
"I Did It" Conservation and Renovation Stories

For more energy saving ideas, see our "1/2" Program

Questions?
Report Broken Links ...

Energy Conservation Sites
Home Energy Saver Audit/Calculator http://hes.lbl.gov/	A Do-It-Yourself home energy audit Fill in details on your home location, size, construction, etc. The calculator estimates your current energy use, makes recommendations on changes and estimates the cost saving and pollution benefits.
An Interactive Tool for Saving Energy at Home Interactive Home Energy Saving Tool	A cute new tool from Energy Star that identifies energy saving tips on a room by room basis. You can give to your kids, and let them nag you into making some energy saving changes to make the planet better for them.
Energy Savers from DOE EERE site http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/ Energy Tips from EERE (2.7MB pdf)	"Energy Savers" for home owners (insulation, appliances, lighting, ...) energy saving advice. The Energy Tips 36 page booklet is good.
Home Energy Briefs -- Rocky Mountain Institute Home Energy Briefs: http://www.rmi.org/pid217	These are good, practical guides on energy saving that (I believe) exhibit a high level of technical accuracy (a rarity), and can provide good guidance on which energy saving changes are most cost effective. The guides are very straightforward and readable. There are other places that offer more detailed information on every subject, but this is a really good place to start. Titles: Building Envelope Lighting Space Cooling Space Heating Water Heating Cleaning Appliances (washers, dryers, ...) Electronics Kitchen Appliances Whole System Design
Energy Star Home Energy Yardstick http://www.energystar.gov	A helpful and easy to use Energy Star calculator you can use to see how your homes energy efficiency compares to others in your area.
Energy Star Energy Star Ratings ...	Energy ratings and energy use for appliances. Energy advice and online audit for homes. Energy star appliances and homes. In my view, the Energy Star program could be more aggressive, but its certainly a good place to start. For example, they have no plans to require more efficient refrigerators until 2012 at the earliest -- let them know you would like to see a more aggressive approach.
Energy Star Rebates Finder and Federal Tax Credits Information Find rebates in your area: http://www.energystar.gov Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency: http://www.energystar.gov	Two helpful items from the Energy Star website: The first finds rebates on a large variety of energy saving projects. Enter your zip code, and Energy Star returns a list of available rebates in your area. This is hard to find on the EStar site, so keep the link. The 2nd is a detailed list of the federal government tax credits.
Natural Gas Appliance Calculator, Wisconsin Public Service http://www.wisconsinpublicservice.com/home/gas_calculator.aspx	Very handy calculator for estimating gas use as cost for the common gas appliances.
Saving Electricity, Michael Bluejay http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/	This is a good site on saving electricity. It provides in depth information on what uses electricity, how much it uses, ideas for saving, and good ways to estimate how much you will save for each idea.
HEED http://www.energy-design-tools.aud.ucla.edu/heed/	This is very easy to use, yet very capable simulation software for estimating the energy/thermal performance of a passive solar or conventional home. Weather files for over 500 worldwide locations. It can be used to evaluate the benefits of adding insulation or other energy conserving features. Its a free download.
EFI -- Energy Federation Incorporated http://www.efi.org/about.html	EFI supplies a wide variety of energy conservation products at what appear to be reasonable prices -- including this "Comfy Critter Draft Dodger". Lights, sealers, thermostats, ... Some nice kid products on the Educational page.
Eco Renovator The forum is here: http://ecorenovator.org/forum/ The blog/website is here: http://ecorenovator.org/	A personal site with many interesting articles on a wide range of conservation, efficiency, green house gas, and solar projects. And, a discussion forum. Quite a few DIY projects.
Insulating and Weatherizing Guides and Projects
Insulation Upgrade Cost Saving Calculator	Calculate how much money and greenhouse gas you would save with various insulation, window, or window treatment upgrades.
A Do-It-Yourself Guide To Energy Star Home Sealing Energy Star Home Sealing Guide... (2 MB pdf) Leaky ducts may lose lose 15% to 30% of your heated or cooled air ---- more on duct sealing NEW! Don't use duct tape for sealing -- example ...	This is a very well done guide to sealing up air leaks in your home. Lots of good how-to pictures. A couple small add-ons I would make: - Replacing older can lights so that you can insulate right over them is a fairly easy DIY job -- it has the advantages of both reducing heat loss to the attic and getting some heat gain from the can light to the room. - The method they give for determining if you have enough insulation is goofy. Instead, use the Insulation Upgrade Calculator or one of the online insulation guides to determine if your insulation is sufficient for your climate. - For insulating over existing insulation, I like blown in cellulose. Its easy, insulates very well, is resistant to air currents flowing through it (see study below), and is easy on the planet.
Insulate and Weatherize Bruce Harley	Very, very good book on techniques for improving home insulation, reducing air infiltration, and sealing ductwork. The most complete and technically correct reference I have found.
Home Remedies for Energy Nosebleeds, Bruce Harley, Fine Homebuilding, Issue 190 How to get articles from Fine Homebuilding ...	Fine Homebuilding Magazine, Nov 2007, Issue 190. A good article by Bruce Harley (author of the book just above) about finding and fixing particularly bad energy wasting defects in your house. These are the kinds of things that can raise your heat bill by 50% or more.
Insulation Guides -- Building a well insulated and Tight Shell for Your Home The DOE-EERE Insulation Guide Series: Insulation Overview (pdf 2MB) Insulating Ceilings/Attics (pdf 0.1MB) Wall Framing (pdf 0.8MB) Insulating Walls (pdf 0.8MB) Insulating Basements (pdf 0.2MB) Insulating Crawl Spaces (pdf 0.2MB) Insulating Slabs (pdf 0.2MB) Window Selection (pdf 0.5 MB) Air Sealing (pdf 0.2MB) Weather Barriers (pdf 0.2MB)	This is a good and up-to-date series of guides from DOE-EERE site for building an outer shell on your home that minimizes heat transfer. I guess my one bit of advice would be to go a bit further than they recommend for your climate, because experience shows that in a while (as fuel prices climb) they will be recommending higher levels. Other DOE-EERE publications here: www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/publications.html
Global Warming #GWPImpact of Various Insulating Materials www.buildinggreen.com/... Alex Wilson, Building Green	Some insulating materials have large global warming impacts because of the blowing agent used to make them. Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) and closed cell foam in place polyurethane (SPF) are particularly bad. Cellulose, polyisocyanurate board, expanded polystyrene and several others have very low global warming impacts. This article looks a the global warming payback for insulation used OVER an insulated 2 by 6 wall -- the payback runs into several decades for the XPS. Polyisocyanurate (Polyiso) board insulation is readily available, has a very high R value per inch, and low global warming impact -- seems like a good bet when rigid foam insulation is needed.

Insulation Fact Sheet (pdf) Fairbanks University Cooperative Extension Service	A very good table providing information on all the common (and not so common) types of insulation. R values, application suitability, pro/con, max service temperature, ... Very Useful, and, as far as I can see, unbiased (which is hard to find in insulation info on the Internet).
Insulating Your Old House, (A wall insulation how-to) Laren Corie, ESSN Newsletter, Aug 2005 http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn/ESSN-Aug2005.pdf	This is a good article by Laren Corie in the Aug 2005 issue of the ESSN Newsletter. It describes in detail how to insulate existing walls with cellulose insulation. The ESSN news letter, while not published anymore has some very good articles in its online archive -- all free downloads. http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html
Insulating Existing Walls with Blown In Insulation Gary	Some collected information on how-to blow insulation into your existing walls.
Insulating with Spray Cellulose, Michael Uniacke, Journal of Light Construction Journal of Light Construction ... www.advancedinsulationinc.com/...	Good article from the JLC giving the details on wet spray cellulose for walls. This technique has become quite popular with professional installers and offers many advantages over fiberglass batts. This normally has to be a professional installation because of the specialized equipment, but it can be a good way to go.
Guide To Installing Fiberglass Batt Insulation http://insulationinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/NAIMA-Tech-Tips-and-Critical-Details-FINAL.pdf	A good guide on installing fiberglass batt insulation with lots of information on how to handle all the issues of fitting the batts around objects and into odd places. One of the problems with fiberglass insulation is that if its not fitted carefully its effectiveness is significantly reduced. This guide will help you do a good job. Its also very important to seal all air infiltration paths before installing the insulation.
How to Insulate a Basement (or Crawlspace) Wall, Martin Holladay, GreenBuildingAdvisor.com blog Another GBA article from Marc Rosenbaum on basement wall insulation -- lots of good detail...	A good blog on the Green Building Advisor blog on the do's and don'ts of insulating a concrete basement wall. Includes choosing between inside and outside insulation, how to avoid moisture problems and quite a bit more.
Building and Using a Blower Door -- A DIY Blower Door you can Build for $30 All the details on our homemade blower door...	This is our homemade blower door that uses a furnace blower for the fan. The writeup gives all the details on building and using the blower door, and the methods you can use to compare your house tightness to others as well as estimate the heat loss and carbon emissions associated with infiltration. With a little scrounging, the blower door and instrumentation can be built for $30.
DIY Blower Door Plans -- North Dakota Sate University Extension Plans for blower door.... URL for NDSU Extension service -- many free plans...	This is a set of plans from the North Dakota State University extension for a DIY blower door. I ran into these plans after building the blower door just above -- not sure which is easier or cheaper or better.
Duct Losses Hurt Forced Air Heating System Performance Energy Star Guide on Duct Sealing...	Energy Star resource page on duct sealing. Fforced air duct systems often show a 30% loss in heating and cooling efficiency due to duct leaks and poor duct insulation is typical. Five bucks for a can of duct mastic and a half a days work could save you a lot on heating fuel and green house gas emissions. See the sealing guides in this section or the Harley book for how to do the sealing.
Buried and Ecapsulated HVAC Ducts, DOE Building America Summary of buried and ecapsulated duct study...	Heating or cooling ducts running through the attic can be large energy consumers compared to ducts run within the conditioned space. This study looks at a scheme for encapsulating the ducting in spray foam insulation and then covering the ducting with loose fill insulation. This brings the performance of ducts running through the attic to about the same level as ducts running through the conditioned space.
More on Duct Sealing AeroSEAL Duct Sealing System http://www.aeroseal.com/index.php	This is a process for sealing ducts that works for the inside. It will reach areas of the duct system that are built into walls or otherwise inaccessible. Here is a comment from the Greenbuilding Discussion Group ( http://www.buildinggreen.com/elists/gb_signup.cfm ): "I have sealed many duct systems by removing the grills/registers and using UL-181 duct mastic on all the joints I can reach. I then seal everything accessible at the furnace that is accessible. Most of the time I get to below 6% (California code for new ducts) without touching anything else. If I don't get below 6% then I go to the duct runs that are accessible. Only very large duct systems, and those with ducts buried I can't get below 6%, but I'm usually close. I know the person who developed Aroseal, you have to do some manual work anyway with larger holes (grills/registers ?) and you will only get as tight as the operator has time to sit around pumping more sealant into the ducts. It is a great process for inaccessible duct systems that can't be sealed otherwise."
Advanced Air Sealing, Oikos http://www.oikos.com/library/airsealing/index.html	This is quite a detailed and helpful guide on how to seal various joints and penetrations. Some of these techniques can only be used during construction, but some can be used on an existing house.
Home Energy Projects Home Energy Projects - An Energy Conservation Guide for Do-It-Yourselfers... From SouthFace.org -- lots of good informaiton here.	Home Energy Projects -- Good, detailed guide on DIY energy conservation projects. Written for Alabama, but many projects are good for anywhere. " An Energy Conservation Guide for Do-It-Yourselfers - 1.3mb pdf file. This book was created for the state of Alabama with information that applies throughout the southeast U.S. Home Energy Projects contains 86-pages and outlines 25 energy conservation projects, in order of priority, that can be performed by do-it-yourselfers. Contains how-to instructions"
All About Insulation DanChiras Mother Earth News Finding Mother Earth News articles...	Mother Earth News Article, Issue 194 Good rundown on the various types of insulation available and their insulating, health, and environmental characteristics.
Spray Foam -- What Do You Really Know?, Bob Yagid, Fine Homebuilding, June 2009 How to get articles from Fine Homebuilding ...	A Fine Homebuilding article explaining the two type of spray foam insulation.
Save Energy and Money Now Mother Earth News Finding Mother Earth News articles...	Mother Earth News Article, Issue 188 Article outlines a number of practical steps to reduce your homes energy consumption.
Are You Insulated Edward Harland Mother Earth News Finding Mother Earth News articles...	Mother Earth News Article, Issue 153 Pretty good article on insulating existing houses. Good for a starter, but get the Harley book before you tackle the actual project.
Air Sealing From Southface at: www.Southface.org Air Sealing Guide (139K pdf)	Good, detailed guide on sealing houses to reduce air infiltration. From the Southface website -- other good material on this site.
Operation Caulk -- Air Sealing Procedure for DC Habitat For Humanity Duplex Houses Operation Caulk (200K pdf)	A good and detailed guide on sealing to reduce air infiltration. While the guide is intended for new construction, some of the steps can be taken on an existing house. From: http://www.greenhome.org/index.htm
Attic Insulation Upgrade, Mike Guertin, Fine Homebuilding, January 2009 How to get articles from Fine Homebuilding ...	A good article from Fine Homebuilding on adding insulation to the attic. Lots of emphasis and detail on sealing before insulation, which is very important -- careful sealing of air leaks may save more energy than the insulation.
An Effective Pet Door Air Infiltration Solution Installing a pet door with an effective infiltration seal...	The blower door test we had recently showed a lot of infiltration through our pet door. In looking for a way to cut this down, we found this Freedom Pet Pass door, which has a much more effective air infiltration seal that has cut the pet door infiltration to near zero. It also stops the pet door from flapping during windy periods. All the details...
Airtight Attic Access, Mike Guertin, Fine Homebuilding, July 2002 issue 148 How to get articles from Fine Homebuilding ...	Fine Homebuilding article shows a design for a double door access into the attic. Attic access hatches can be a HUGE large heat loss -- they ae often poorly insulated and very leaky. This is a simple way to make sure yours is not.
Attic Venting, Attic Moisture and Ice Dams, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/grho/moaiprre/moaiprre_009.cfm	Good fact sheet on what to do about wet attics and ice dams.
How to Install Radiant Barrier Foil Insulation Three sites that offer radiant barrier installation instructions. AtticFoil.com InsulationStop.com www.EcoFoil.com	This is a detailed and well written set of instructions on how to install a radiant barrier. This same outfit sells a "heavyweight" aluminum foil material for about 12 cents a sf.
Blower Door Testing From the Southface.org website Blower Door Test Guide (50K pdf)	Good guide on how blower door testing and duct blast testing can be used to test for the level of air infiltration your house if experiencing.
DOE/ORNL Insulation Fact Sheet...	Advice on where to insulate, what to insulate with, and installation advice. Recommendations on insulation levels that are dependant on climate and construction type.
Crawl Space Insulation http://www.advancedenergy.org/portal/crawl_spaces/ Crawl Space Quick Reference...	Closed (unvented) crawl spaces can reduce heat loss, but have to be done correctly. This site has lots of detailed information on how to decide on whether to close your crawl space, and how to do it.
Retrofitting Insulation to Existing Homes Retrofit Insulation in Existing Wooden Walls (pdf) Retrofit Insulation in Wood Roofs (pdf) Retrofit Insulation in Concrete and Masonry Walls (pdf) Alaska Building Research Series HCM-01552,3, and 4	This series of three papers shows some techniques for retrofitting insulation to existing walls, roofs, and concrete/masonry walls. Good construction details. These are not the only ways to retrofit insulation to walls, and may not be appropriate for all climates -- but, may be perfect for some situations.
Mooney Wall	A way to retrofit a high R value, low thermal bridging, and high infiltration resistance wall. Mooney wall details ... Another example of using the Mooney wall ...
Comparison of Fiberglass and Cellulose Insulation in Identical Test Homes FG to Cellulose Compare (0.2MB pdf)	Heat Loss test for two small test homes, one insulated with fiberglass and the other with Cellulose insulation. Cellulose showed more resistance to infiltration and better R value than fiberglass.
Convection Losses in Loose Fill Fiberglass Insulation ORNL Report http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/page/23/id/895 More on this: http://www.foam-tech.com/theory/rvaluedrift.htm http://www.advanced-fiber.com/EDU%20New%20Research.pdf	ORNL test on loose fill Fiberglass attic insulation shows a loss in R value of as much as 50% for cold outside temperatures. This loss is due to convection currents within the FG insulation. Cellulose insulation was also tested, and does not show this loss.
Cheating -- The Insulation Industry's Dirty Secret www.homeenergy.org/...	An article from Home Energy magazine on cheating in the insulation industry. Sad but important reading for everyone. This is a good reason to 1) do it yourself, or 2) really understand what insulating is about, and make sure the contractor knows that you will check on his/her work.
Insulation Under Concrete Slabs www.blueridgecompany.com/ ... (pdf) (this link has gone away) Another test of slab insulation...	Good article on under slab insulation for radiant heated floors. Compares three types of insulation to no insulation. Rigid foam insulations do well, but the bubble pack style of insulation is worthless.
Attic Tent http://www.attictent.com/product.htm	Pull down attic stairways are notorious for air leaks. This $200 commercial product seals up the attic stairway in what looks like an effective way. It seems like a DIY version would also be possible. If you do a home made one, please let me know. Or, maybe you have an alternative way of sealing?
DIY version of "Attic Tent" Details ...	Here is an easy to build means to cut heat loss through the pull down attic stairway opening. Details ...
Preventing Stratification With High Ceilings Heat Harvester: www.sunpipe.co.uk	Homes or buildings with high ceilings can result in lots of hot air near the ceiling. The "Heat Harvester" (or a ceiling fan) can keep the air mixed up and save some heat. Note that high ceilings don't always result in stratification, so check to make sure you really need one of these here ...
Insulating Paint http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/...	Insulating paint is a scam. If you need proof of this, read this article from the Green Building Advisor site.
Insulating Window Treatments
Making Your Own Interior Storm Windows, From Paul Full Details ...	Paul provides a good detailed set of instructions on how to design, build, and install inside Acrylic storm windows.
Multi-Wall Polycarbonate Inside Storm Window Gary	These Multi-Wall polycarbonate inside storm window panels offer high R values, easy build, easy install, and are reasonable in price. Great for windows of irregular shape. Full How-To instructions provided.
Building Interior Window Insulation Panels, from Guy Marsden's sustainable living website www.arttec.net/Thermal-Windows/index.html You can use this calculator to see the payback period for these windows -- for me it turns out to be about 3/4s or one heating season!	Very nice set of plans for double pane interior storm window that can be made for about $1 per sqft. As usual, Guy offers a very detailed and clear set of instructions. These are somewhat similar to the ones I made from Mylar (just below), so you can compare the two and see which will work best for you.
Dual Pane Mylar Film Inside Storm Windows How-To Picture Plans ... Gary	Picture plans for making an dual pane inside storm window with an R value of 2. The Mylar is quite clear, and the thermal performance with two panes is about twice as good as a typical single pane storm window. Here is an example of a commercial kit to build a similar dual layer interior storm window -- there may be many others. About 5X the cost, but it looks like a good design. NEW Life of Mylar inside storm windows ...
Simple, Clear Acrylic Inside Storm Windows Gary	Very simple inside Acrylic storm windows. Absolutely clear and non-distorting. They return 50%+ on your tax free, inflation protected investment, and may qualify for rebates in your state. And, save 100+lbs of greenhouse gas emissions per year for a typical window! NEW -- Large window example...
Plans Inside Storm Window www.hammerzone.com Another inside storm window how-to: http://historichomeworks.com	Plans for a simple inside storm window made from poly film. Clear vinyl film might give a little more clear a view. Another film option would be the shrink film that a number of companies sell for inside storm windows. I understand that shrink film can be purchased in bulk at artist supply places, and that the price is much lower.
Simple,. Home-made, Low-cost and Effectiv Insulating Curtains www.kumeproject.com/	This is an easy build and inexpensive four layer shade that provides good thermal insulation for windows. It also addresses the condensation problem that can occur with humid rooms and cold outdoor temperatures with some thermal shades. The website gives very complete and clear instructions on how to build the shades. The shades are raised by rolling them up up to the top where they are held in place by a built in band -- takes only a few seconds The front layer of the shade can be as colorful as you like.
Bubble Wrap Window Insulation Gary New Installation Instruction Sheet (8/15/06) AND, The Card Board Shutter Based on the popularity of this Bubble Wrap window treatment, here is a Cardboard Shutter	A really cheap and quick way to insulate windows that you don't need a clear view out of. Added some small updates to instructions 11/13/05. Instruction sheet added 8/15/06 Reported life of bubble wrap added 2/27/07 Another cheap (but very effective) window insulator Card Board Shutter -->
The half insulating shutter -- light + insulation Details...	The idea is to put high Rvalue rigid insulation foam board over part of the window while leaving the top part uncovered to allow light in. It seems like this is a nice combination of light, view, and insulation? Full length insulating shutters can still be used over the panel at night.
Framed and un-framed thermal shutters made from Astrofoil...	This is quite a nice design for thermal shutters made from Astrofoil. These shutters have reflective surfaces and both sides and provide a high R value. The Astrofoil is stiff enough to fit into a window opening and support itself without a frame. All the details here...
Top-down, Bottom-up thermal shade insulates when part open Details... Note: the combination of double glazed low-e window + double Mylar inside storm window + insulating shades with side tracks gives an R8.3 total for this window!	A thermal shade that can be drawn from the bottom upward allows lighting and some views out a window while still providing good insulation for the part of the window that is covered. It should perform similar to the Half Shutter listed just above. Details...
FlipFlic -- KickStarter project to automate control of thermal shades	This innovative KickStarter project automates the opening or closing of slat type blinds based on time of day, room temperature, or light levels. It is simple to install, solar powered, and smartphone controlled. It looks like a simple way to save energy and eliminate the daily ritual of opening and closing the blinds a couple times each day.
Insulating Shutter Condensation Calculator, Dave Window Condensation Calculator ...	Loose fitting insulating window treatments can lead to condensation buildup on the window. The problem depends on room humidity, outside temperature, and the window and insulating window treatment R values. Dave has worked out a very nice Window Condensation Calculator to determine if you are likely to have a problem. Note that tight fitting insulating treatments that don't allow much air circulation between window and treatment won't have this problem. Thank you Dave!
3M type shrink fit window films...	This window film is widely available at hardware stores. You put double back tape (included) on the window frame, then apply the film onto the tape, then use a hair dryer to shrink it tight. In addition to adding about R1, it can be helpful in stopping drafts. But, it is normally applied in such a way that you can't open the window. Removing it will destroy it. There is a very slight distortion of the view out the film. Cost is about 30 cents/sqft. Life claimed is one year, but I think it will go at least 2 if you leave it in place.
Insulating Window Quilt -- from the Econigics site http://www.econogics.com/busys/wnquilt.htm	A simple DIY scheme for making highly effective insulating window quilts.
Thermal Cover-Ups: Part II Mother Earth News Finding Mother Earth News articles...	Mother Earth News Article, Issue 85 Jan/Feb 1984 Good description of internal shutters made from foam board. Be sure to consider the flammability of the materials that you use for this project.
$15 Rollup Insulating Window Shade ... Doug Kalmer	This is a homemade thermal shade design that Doug Kalmer uses in his passive solar home. The $15 rollup window shade made from Reflectix insulation. How to make it... See all of Doug's solar projects ...
An Efficient and Simple Thermal Shade System...	Mike uses a fleece curtain behind a regular curtain to increase the insulating value with two layers. Details here...
Ray's Insulating Roman Shades Full Details ...	These insulating shades use two outer layers of insulating fabric with a layer of reflective aluminum spaced between. They are reported to result in significant reduction in heating fuel used, and they look good too. (Thanks very much to Ray for providing the details)
High R Value Inside Bi-Fold Shutters Details ...	Inside shutters that look good and have a very high R value.
Warm Window Insulating Shade System www.warmcompany.com/ Very nice how-to guide to making their shades: www.warmcompany.com/images/creative/window/sidedraw.pdf	Warm Window offers thermal shade material along with a number of products that are helpful in making the shades. The guide on making the shades appears to be very complete and clear. The guide claims an incremental R value of about +R6 for adding a Warm Window shade -- even if this is exaggerated, it is very good indeed. Magnetic strips make for good edge seals. (Thanks to Angela for suggesting Warm Window. She reports that the shades are easy to make, and work very well)
Insulating Roman Shade www.instructables.com/...	Nice set of plans from Instructables for an insulating Roman Shade.
Insulating a Sliding Glass Door Gary	This describes an easy way to cut the heat loss through a sliding glass door in half while still maintaining the sliding door function. The payback period in cold climates is about one half of a heating season.
Guides to Selecting New or Replacement Windows	If you are selecting windows for a new house, or upgrading windows, take a look at this section.
Thermal Shutters and Shades William Shurcliff See Table of Contents and Some Sections	Thermal Shutters and Shades -- Over 100 Schemes for Reducing Heat Loss Through Window. Published in 1980, but still the best book on the subject. Out of print, but available on BookFinders.com or Amazon.com used books (or the like).
Seals: Some Experimental Results, Thermal Shutters and Shades, William Shurcliff, Details ... (pdf)	This is an excerpt from the very good book Thermal Shutters and Shades, by Dr. William Shurcliff He did some tests to determine how critical it is for insulating shutters to fit the window precisely. He covers various combinations of edge gaps and face gaps between the shutter and the window. The somewhat surprising result is that you can be a little bit sloppy without effecting the performance of the insulating panel. (thanks to Dr. Shurcliff for making this available)
Keeping the pipes from freezing when away Full Details ...	Several methods to keep the pipes from freezing in your home or vacation home when you are away without burning fuel. Includes plug in window solar collector/insulator panels, and a plumbing drain system, and others... Full details...
The Green Shutter -- for summer sun control http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/03/08/green-shutter/ From Inhabitat	A pretty neat design for a operable shutter with plants for sun control.
Air Infiltration Testing of Existing Double-Hung Window in an Existing Urban Historic, Commercial, Mid-Rise Building, Logan Cravens http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/150881 I've always been a bit of a skeptic about the benefits of sealing windows -- I go through the motions of caulking and sealing, but unless the windows are really leaky how do you know you've accomplished anything? This paper makes me more of a believer that sealing can be well worth the time and effort.	Fascinating paper describing in field work done to test for infiltration on existing windows in a Portland historic building. The test shows the test apparatus, and the results for the baseline windows and the improvement for sealing (dramatic). Its interesting that with some fairly simple sealing that very good leakage rates were attained (equivalent to new windows).

Window Shading
Window Shading Scheme -- from the Econogics site http://www.econogics.com/busys/shadecl.htm	This is a pretty nice way to provide shading of windows on the outside (where it is most effective). The shade cloth is held in place with magnets and can easily be removed.
Saving Energy While You Sleep
Electric Mattress Pad Gary	Electric mattress pads consume little energy, and can allow substantial bedroom temperature setbacks. Much more efficient than traditional electric blankets. This has a payback of well under one year for us! Full Story
Sleep Genie -- A sleep Compartment with AC http://www.sunfrost.com/sleep_genie.html From Sunfrost You might combine the Sleep Genie with the built in bed concept shown to the right (from Mother Earth News)...	An interesting concept to provide a comfortable, air-conditioned environment in a limited space for sleeping comfort. It saves the energy cost of needlessly air-conditioning a large space when your are only occupying a small space.
Heating Your Own Personal Space Some times it just makes sense to heat your own immediate personal space -- this can save a lot of energy and result in increased comfort.
Kotatsu -- A Japanese personal heater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu Making a Kotatsu...	The Kotatsu is a low table with a heat source mounted to the bottom surface of the table and aimed down. You sit with legs under the table, and with a blanket or futon covering your lower body. It is said to keep your entire body comfortable even when the room temperature is low. (Thanks to Nick Pine for suggesting this) I guess that having a small space heater under your desk is a less refined variation on this.
Heated Clothes One maker of heated clothing...	These are one version of battery powered, heated vests. The vest is made with very rine, flexible heating wires through it. The heat from the vest keeps your core temperature up, which convinces your god that it can maintain good circulation to your extremities, and this makes you feel warm all over even when the room is to cool for comfort. If you have had direct experience (good or bad) with this or other heated clothing please let me know...
I Cut 87% Off of My Electric Heat Bill Reducing heat use by 87% with personal space heating... Video showing a live test of personal space heating...	This is a set of techniques that concentrate on keeping just your personal space warm while letting the room temperature drop much lower. For example, at the computer, a dog heating pad is used to heat the feet, a light bulb and reflector placed close is used as a radiant heater, and a heated keyboard and heated mouse are used. A total of about 80 watts is used to keep the person at the computer very comfortable.
The ideas in the section just above for sleeping also fall into this category. Do you have any good techniques you use to keep your personal space comfortable? Please let me know...
The Power Hogs For most people, these will be things that use the most power -- controlling them will cut most peoples electricity use by half -- maybe more.
The Power Hogs The list to the right shows where most of your electricity goes. Most people can cut their household electricity use in half at a very low cost, and with a very fast payback ... Cutting electricity use of a typical US home in half saves: 6000 KWH a year $600 a year in electric bills 6 tons of CO2 emissions	Refrigerators -- Old ones (and even not so old) can use over 1200 KWH a year. A new energy star 20 cubic feet can use as little as 400 KWH per year. A saving of 800 KWH per year -- maybe more. This is what we saved ...
	Computers -- A PC plus peripherals can use over 1000 KWH a year. It is very easy and cheap to cut this by 80%. This is what we saved ...
	Lighting -- Changing to LEDs or compact fluorescents can save over 1000 KWH per year. This is what we saved ...
	TIVO -- and TIVO like digital TV recorders. These devices are always on and consume around 50 watts 24/7, or about 500 KWH per year. There is a new energy star program coming out on these -- I'd hold off and wait for Energy Star models.
	TV's -- Some TV's can use as much as 450 watts! At 8 hours of TV a day, this is 1300 KWH a year! Use one of the lower power technologies (LCD or DLP). Look for OLED TV's -- coming soon -- much lower power. Article on this with power usage for many models ... Selecting our new energy efficient TV...
	Washing and Drying -- A load of cloths washed and rinsed in hot water, and then dried in an electric dryer uses about 10 KWH! -- this is 3600 KWH a year at one load per day. Most of this energy goes for heating water, and for drying. Use cold wash/cold rinse and a solar dryer (cloths line) to cut this to near drastically. Front loading washing machines also help.
	Dumb Habits -- Just turning things (lights, TV's, ...) off when you are not using them can save several hundred KWH per year. This is what we saved ... Get the kids involved ...
	Swimming Pools and Hot Tubs - If you have a swimming pool or hot tub, it will very likely be the top consummer of electricity for your house. Just the pool pump can consume thousands of KWH a year. See the Solar Pool Heating page for ideas on how to make your pool or tub more efficient...
	Phantom Loads -- Many electronic gadgets (TV's, entertainment centers, microwaves, chargers, ...) use power even when switched off. Electric coffee pots in "keep warm" mode use quite a bit of power just keeping the coffee up to temperature -- switch to a thermos type container to keep your coffee hot. Here is how to kill these power vampires ... This can save you several hundred KWH per year. Other (less well known) phantom loads ...
More Power Hogs -- some less common power hogs	Radon Fans -- Radon mitigation fans run 24/7 and can use up to 130 watts -- this could amount to 1100 KWH per year. This artcle advocates trying a passive system first, and only going to a fan system if Radon test levels come back high. Passive systems can easily be converted to active systems. If an active system is needed, I would always try a small fan first -- some are as low as 40 watts.
	Hot Water Recirculation Pumps -- These systems circulate hot water so that you always get instant hot water even at taps very distant from the hot water heater. The problem is that if you choose the wrong kind of installation they can be horrible energy hogs --this is our experience ... Would you believe $3200 worth of wasted propane over 8 years?
	Battery Powered Tool Chargers -- Battery powered tools come with a charger that most people just leave plugged in all the time -- if you own several of the tools, these idle chargers can add up to a significant phantom loads ...
"Half" Project Electricity Saving Ideas	These are the energy saving projects that we used in cutting our electricity use in half. You might be able to use some of the yourself.
Energy Efficient Appliances
Energy Star Energy Star Ratings ...	Energy ratings and energy use for appliances. Energy advice and online audit for homes. Energy star appliances and homes. In my view, the Energy Star program could be more aggressive, but its certainly a good place to start.
The Energy Smart Kitchen, Alex Wilson, Fine Homebuilding Magazine, Issue 191, Oct 2007 How to get articles from Fine Homebuilding ...	A good Fine Homebuilding Magazine article on how to choose energy efficient kitchen appliances, and which cooking technologies are most efficient.
Some Thoughts On Pilot Lights	Some thoughts on the energy used by pilots lights (surprisingly large), and how to reduce or eliminate this. And, a rather unusual strategy for heating your hot water with just the energy from a pilot light.
Gas Pilot Light energy use http://www.homeenergy.org	Article studying gas use by pilots on gas fireplaces. A gas fireplace pilot (and probably other gas pilots) use 7.3 therms of gas if left on all year, and almost 100 lbs of greenhouse gas.(1) Note that some sources report much higher gas use by pilots-- more like 5 therms per month (1) Turning off pilots on gas appliances that are not going to be in use for a while would be a good way to save some energy and reduce greenhouse has emissions. (1) Home Energy Magazine has corrected the 7.3 to 73 therms here... (Thanks to Ned for finding this)
Converting a chest freezer into a very efficient refridgerator Several approaches to converting chest freezers into efficient refrigerator: This article is from the Mt Best -- Australia solar house site: http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html A very interesting solar house with several unique features, and a bit more info on the chest fridge. The thermostat shown on this page is reported to allow you to use a chest freezer as a refrigerator with large energy saving: Beer Fridge Thermostat And, a digital one: http://www.micromatic.com	This refrigerator, which is a converted chest type freezer uses only about 0.1 KWH per day (about 1/10th of good conventional fridges!). See the article for details. Latest update includes a design for a low standby power thermostat. Apparently not all chest freezers are created equal, as some do not report quite as dramatic an energy saving as Tom reported in his paper -- so if you are getting a new chest freezer for this, pick an efficient one to start with. One person reported 0.3 KWH per day (108KWH/year) on a newer Kenmore freezer that was EPA rated at 279KWH per year. So, something like a quarter of a typical, similar size conventional (upright) refrigerator seems easily achievable. One person reported using added thermal mass in the fridge on his off grid system to allow the inverter to be turned off at night. Some comments on converting chest freezers to refrigerators....
SunFrost Refrigerators http://www.sunfrost.com/refrigerators_main.html	I don't normally plug commercial products, but the energy consumption of SunFrost is about 40% less than comparable new refrigerators from the GE's and others. So, why can't GE do this? EnergyStar Fridge Ratings
Make a Fridge? Description of the fridge making kit and instructions for making a fridge from it ... More Details (pdf) Another kit fridge -- DIY System Kits: www.rparts.com/index.php?cPath=84_14	This is just a thought. NovaKool (maybe others?) offers a kit for people who want to make their own fridges. It consists of a compressor, evaporator, condenser, controls, and pre-charged tubing -- all the guts of a fridge. It is intended for boat or RV owners who want a built in fridge. It uses the DanFoss compressor, which is reputed to be efficient. If you wanted to make a very efficient fridge, this kit would allow you allow you to build the box with as much insulation as you want, it could be top opening, and the compressor could be located in an optimal spot. On just a rough guess from their specs, you might get down to 0.1 KWH per day for a very well insulated 8 cubic foot fridge. Unfortunately the kit is not cheap, but this still might pay well for off-grid PV users. If anyone has tried this (or similar), please let me know how it turned out -- Gary Note -- see next entry for Ray's very nice example of using one of these kits.
Build DC Powered Refrigerator or Freezer! Full Construction Details...	This is a really nicely done homemade refrigerator that uses a refrigerator kit intended for custom refrigerators on boats. Ray started with a 13 cuft conventional fridge. The existing compressor/evaporator were removed, about 4 inches of rigid foam insulation were added to the outside, then, an efficient DC refrigeration unit (similar to the ones listed just above) is installed to provide the cooling. The condenser coil and compressor are located away from the fridge in the cool basement for more efficient operation. The fridge uses about 100 KWH per year -- about one quarter what an Energy Start fridge of the same size would use! This would make a very efficient off-grid refrigerator that could run directly from the battery bank. Ray has a lot of other interesting projects on his site ...
Hot Water, Cold Beer Doug	Doug's homemade heat pump that efficiently cools his beer kegs and heats domestic hot water. Its a heat pump that pumps heat out of the beer and into the domestic hot water tank. All the details ...
Cold Weather Passive Assist Refrigerator http://www.sunfrost.com/passive_refrig.html	A refrigerator design that takes advantage of cold outside air to reduce energy consumption.
Passive Refrigerator/Icebox http://fourmileisland.com/IceBox.htm Note: I am guessing there is a significant learning curve attached to getting one of these operating well.	This frig uses a well insulated 300 gallon water/ice container that is cooled by an outdoor finned tube baseboard unit to supply year round refrigeration with no energy use. No moving parts. Other interesting projects on the same site.
A More Efficient Shower http://www.sunfrost.com/efficient_shower.html	A shower idea that reduces heat losses and air currents so that you can have a comfortable shower with less water that is less hot. Interesting story and prototype.
Another More Efficient Shower Retrofit	This is Mike's idea for improving shower efficiency. It has similar advantages to the entry just above, but is easier to retrofit and probably aesthetically more pleasing. Efficient shower details...
Drying Clothes
Conventional clothes dryers are a major energy user in homes. A Canada study shows that dryers typically use 930 KWH a year to do 416 dryer loads (2.23 KWH per load). Nearly all of this heat energy simply expelled outdoors (wasted). In addition, as the dryer vents air outside, fresh air is pulled into the house to replace the vented air. This fresh air has to be heated or cooled (depending on season) to room temperature -- this can easily add another 300 KWH plus per year. Its amazing to me that this very large energy sink does not get more attention. For many homes, the clothes dryer will be the largest consumer of energy in the house after water heating. Here are some ways to reduce energy use that goes into clothes drying. September 2014: It appears that EPA is going to finally have an Energy Star program for dryers. Expect to see a lot of work on dryer design in the next few years to earn the Energy Star label.
Ken's Solar Clothes Drying Rack Full detailed pictures and plans for Ken's solar clothes drying rack ...	When Ken could not find a good clothes drying rack at the local store, he set out to design and build his own. He came up with a great design, and provides detailed pictures and plans of the rack. He includes plans for both a deck mounted rack, and for a ground mounted design. One of the really neat features is that you can hang clothes on clothes hangers, and then hang the hangers right on the rack. All the materials for the rack are easy to come by and locally available.
A collection of cloths line ideas ...	Drying clothes with a gas or electric dryer is energy intensive. Here are some ideas on clotheslines and other solutions. Where, what kind, experiences, ...
Building A Cloths Drying Rack http://www.handymanwire.com/articles/rack.html	Plans for a simple wood cloths drying rack. Save about about 2.3 KWH per dryer load -- $90 and 1600 lbs of CO2 per year.
Solar Clothes Drying (the clothesline) http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/ ...	Plans for a clothes drying rack that can be raised or lowered.
Umbrella Rack Style Cloths Dry Hills Clothes Lines... http://www.acehardware.com/...	Several people have asked about these, and they seem to be hard to locate -- so here is one. Have no idea how good it is. Seems like one could build one?
Hogan Wood Clothes Drying Rack www.hoganwood.com	Here is nice commercial indoor drying rack that folds up against the wall when not in use. There is enough detail on the site to build one if you would rather do that.
Condensing Dryers A rundown on condensing dryers... Energy stats for a number of condenser dryers...	Condensing dryers do not vent the dryer exhaust outside. Instead, they run the exhaust through a heat exchanger that condenses out the moisture, and then circulates the now dry air back through the clothes. "How much energy does it consume? This will vary, depending on the size of the machine and the load. The condensing dryer saves an enormous amount of electrical energy by returning the already warm air to the drum, requiring only a few degrees bump in temperature, instead of heating room temperature air to the level needed to dry the clothes. Conventional dryers exhaust 200 cubic feet of air per minute from the residence, condensing dryers do not. This is 10,000 cubic feet per cycle that does not need to be heated or cooled to room temperature, an enormous saving in not only residential utility costs, but in the stress placed on the air intake systems of the building. " There are several types of condenser dryers, and some do a better job of saving energy than others. There are also differences in drying performance. So, make a careful selection.
Converting a Clothes Dryer to Use Solar Heated Attic Air All the details on Randy's solar dryer conversion...	Randy has worked out a way to convert a conventional d dryer so that rather than using an internal heater to make hot air do dry the clothes, he uses hot air produced by his unique solar attic collector. This cuts the cost and energy use and CO2 emissions to do a dryer load by a factor of five!
Venting the dryer inside the house to recover the dryer heat	A lot of heat is wasted by cloths dryers that take house air, add energy to it, blow it through the cloths, and then exhaust the heated air outside. I have seen schemes that range from just venting the dryer to the inside of the house with a nylon sock tied over the end for lint control (dry climates only), up to the pretty exotic dryer heat exchanger offered (in Europe) by Electrolux. If you have tried a scheme (or have an idea for a scheme) to extract dryer heat, I would like to hear about it (whether it worked or not) Gary. Update: This is the simple scheme we are now using to recover heat from our dryer -- yearly saving is 630 KWH. SAFETY NOTE: If you have a gas dryer, BE CAREFUL with what you do with the exhaust, since it has combustion products from the gas flame. Also, be very careful to check for moisture problems...
Clothes Dry Heat Recovery Using a Furnace Filter for Lint Removal...	This is George Plhak's scheme for venting the dryer inside. It uses a box with an easily replaced furnace filter for the lint filtering. The furnace filter offers a lot of filter area, is inexpensive, and easy to replace. Be sure to read the SAFETY NOTE just above. All the details...
An Experimental DIY Clothes Dryer Heat Recovery Heat Exchanger...	This is a prototype that I did for a heat exchanger that recovers heat from the dryer exhaust vent air stream. Its a cross flow heat exchanger made from twinwall polycarbonate glazing panels. There are 14 layers of twinwall glazing that carry the hot dryer vent air, while the room air passes through spaces between the twinwall panels. While I consider this experimental, it has performed well over a couple of seasons.
Power Saving Ideas Some simple ideas that can save lots of power
Timers and Motion Switches Details .. Got any other ideas? -- please send them in...	Some ways to use motion switches and timers to save electricity and to foil your kids attempt to drive you nuts by leaving stuff on all over. Details ... <-- Picture to left shows chargers on a timer -- 170 KWH and 300 lbs of CO2 saving a year
24 Hour Timers to Turn Stuff Off at Night (or whenever)	Use an inexpensive 24 hour timer to turn off things that you don't want to run at night. You can also plug a power strip into the timer, and turn off multiple items with one timer, or some timers have more than one outlet. Turning off 15 watts for 12 hrs a day, 365 days a year is worth 70 KWH -- about $7, and 140 lbs of CO2.
Power Saving On Personal Computers Our PC electricity savings ... Table of power consumption details, and procedure ... Gary A couple more ideas on reducing computer power on Ralph's Energy Efficiency Blog...	This details how we go about saving electricity for the two PC's we have in the house. This very simple procedure saves a staggering 1780 KWH per year -- worth $178 and 3600 lbs of CO2. I don't know of any other way to save this much electricity so easily. I think that one thing that people tend to overlook in managing PC power use is that all the peripherals (printers, scanners, ...) also use power -- in our case, more than the computer itself -- you have address this as well as the PC.
Three Ways to Save Power On Your PC Mini Power Minder for PC's... Smart Strip www.cyberguys.com Note: this one can also be used to control power to your whole entertainment center, or any related group of electrical gadgets.	PC peripherals continue to draw power after you turn your PC off. Use one of these devices to turn off the power to all the PC peripherals automatically when your PC is turned off. USB mini Power Minder. This device allows you to automatically turn off all of your PC peripherals (printer, scanner, ...) when you turn off the PC. $15 Available on Amazon etc. Our test of the Mini Power Minder ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smart Strip -- turns off everything plugged into the power strip when the item that is plugged into the "control" outlet (usually your PC) is turned off. Keeps peripherals from drawing power when the PC is off. See picture just below in the next item. Our test of the Smart Strip...
Power Cost Monitor: TED Power Monitor: www.theenergydetective.com And, another one: www.inhabitat.com ,,,	Two Whole House Power Monitors: Power Cost Monitor: These easy to install power meters tell you how much electricity your house is using (and has used). The idea being that getting instant feedback when you turn on lights, appliances, ... will help you cut down on electricity use. TED: Note that while TED is more involved to install, it provides faster response, optional software logging, and it can measure individual circuits as well as the whole house. (Thanks to Tom for finding the TED info)
ECO Electric Tea Kettle http://www.ecokettle.com/ Available under the toastess Brand in the US: http://www.amazon.com	An electric tea kettle that boils exactly as much water as you need -- not two or three times as much. It would be nice if more manufacturers paid attention to the details like this -- it takes a lot of energy to boil water. (thanks to Vanya for suggesting this) If you avoid boiling 6 cups of water a day, this adds up to 1.2 KWH per day, or 430 KWH per year and 900 lbs of CO2 if your electricity comes from a coal powered plant Another idea on using a drip coffee maker to make heat water for tea efficiently ...
Selecting an Efficient TV	For families that watch TV, the TV can end up using more energy than the "big" energy users like refrigerators. This is a write-up on how we selected our new TV along with some resources that are helpful in finding and efficient one... NEW! Starting in 2011, new TVs will be required to have the Yellow Energy Guide labels -- this should be a big help in shopping for an energy efficient TV.
Phantom Loads
Phantom Loads radio interview on "Good Dirt Radio" Hear the interview ...	This is an interview with yours truly that gives an overview of what phantom loads are, and what you can do about them. See the material in the item below for more details. The interview was one of many good stories and interviews from the "Good Dirt Radio". Thanks to Good Dirt producer Gary Lewin for his good work on this.
Eliminating Phantom Electrical Loads Eliminate Phantom Load -- From the "Half" program... Using a Kill-A-Watt meter to find phantoms... Phantom Load suggestions from Marc ... The worst of the Phantom Loads ... (really gross offenders)	Many electrical gadgets (TV's, microwaves, chargers, ...) continue to use power even after you turn them off. This can be just a little or a surprisingly large amount. The sad truth is that over their lifetime, many electronic devices will consume more power during the times they are off than when on! This costs of billions of dollars a year and lots of green house gas. The four items listed to the left provide some ways to identify and eliminate these power sucking vampire loads. It is difficult to take phantom loads into account when you buy new electrical devices because the manufacturers don't provide this information. One thing that would help is for all electrical devices to include typical and phantom power use on the outside of their packaging -- write to your legislator and suggest this! Until we get this, I would suggest testing new gadgets with your Kill-A-Watt meter when you get them home, and return anything that uses too much power when off (or on) -- make sure the store and the manufacturer know why you are returning it.
Lighting and Daylighting
Lots more information on efficient lighting and day lighting in our Lighting Section...	The section on lighting provides more information on both day lighting and efficient lighting design and projects...
Efficient Lighting EERE on Types of Lighting http://www.eere.energy.gov This is our families estimated saving in energy and GHG's for going to CFL's: http://www.builditsolar.com (A 224% return on investment, and 1 TON of CO2 per year) Efficiency of various types of lights ... Instructables tutorial on using CFLs...	It is a just plain no-brainer to use fluorescents and compact fluorescents. They are far more efficient, last much much longer, and will save you a ton of money and greenhouse gas emissions. Most utility companies offer some form of rebate program for buying CFL's -- making it even more of a no-brainer! Some have expressed concerns about the small amount of Mercury contained in CF's and fluorescents. This does not appear to be much of a concern, but have a look at the EPA fact sheet in case you break one someday. EPA fact sheet: http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf Treehugger article: http://www.treehugger.com Another on Mercury: Net effect of Mercury in CFs
Giving LEDs a try in our house...	This is our experiment in going to LED floods for our six track lights in the kitchen. There is a lot to learn in switching the LEDs, but the end result can be very good. Details...
An Easy/Good DIY LED Can Light Retrofit All the details on replacing can lights with LEDs...	This is the latest step in trying LEDs. This LED is designed as a retrofit for regular can lights. It provides lots of warm light while using only 10.5 watts, and claims a 20 year life. The installation was easy, and offers the additional opportunity to seal and insulate the can at the same time the LED is installed. All the details on replacing can lights with LEDs...
The Best Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: PM Lab Test, Popular Mechanics Magazine The PM Lab Test ... (page is not available anymore, but results summarized to right)	Popular Mechanics magazine did a careful side by side comparison of a standard incandescent light bulb to seven compact fluorescents. They compared color temperature, color, brightness, face color, and reading. The result was that ALL 7 CFL's SCORED HIGHER THAN THE INCANDESCENT. This should satisfy anyone's doubts about the light quality of CFL's.
Daylighting	Using daylighting not only provides better and more pleasant lighting, it saves energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Some daylighting solutions...
LED Holiday Lights Almost all of the usual places that sell holiday lights now sell the LED lights. Prices still vary a lot. We got ours a Costco for about $10 per string.	LED holiday lights are safer (no heat), last a very long time, and look great. They also use much less energy and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The energy saving can be 90% or more. A typical 100 light LED string uses less than 4 watts! They have an expected lifetime of 20+ years. With the LED holiday light prices dropping, the payback period can be as small as a season or two (considering both lower operating cost and longer life).
Hot Water Recirculation Systems
Hot Water Recirculation systems	These systems get around the problem of having a long wait for hot water, but can be very very wasteful of energy. Details here ...
Installing an On-Demand hot water recirculation system http://www.arttec.net/SolarDHW/Dmand-Pump/	Guy Marsden describes the installation of his efficient hot water recirculation system. Nice detailed how-to. These systems use much less energy and water than systems that circulate 24/7, or systems that uses a timer or aquastat to control recirculation.
Gray Water Heat Exchanger
GFX Gray Water Heat Exchanger www.gfxtechnology.com/ DOE Inventions & Innovations report: DOE report on GFX (pdf) Another Brand: http://www.renewability.com/powerpipe.htm And another: http://www.retherm.com/ And another: http://www.ecodrain.ca/	A well designed gray water heat exchanger can recover a large fraction of the heat that would normally go down the drain in your shower, and some other hot water uses. In a normal shower, you spend a lot of energy heating water from 50F or so up to 100F. It flows out the shower nozzle, over your bod, and down the drain taking 95% or so of the energy you just spent heating it. The gray water heat exchanger uses the heat in the drain water to heat the incoming water.
DIY Grey Water Heat Exchanger for Showers...	This is a simple and effective grey water heat exchanger from Tyler that captures some of the heat from your shower drain water in order to preheat water on its way to the shower.
Drain Water Heat Recovery - Energy Savings Calculator, from CEATI Drain Water Heat Recovery Calculator... Report on the testing program the calculator is based on: http://www.cmhc.ca/odpub/pdf/65680.pdf	A calculator to estimate the energy savings for installing a gray water heat exchanger. While the calculator only lists Ca cities, you can pick one with about the same ground water temp as your area.
Landscaping For Energy Efficiency
Planning Tree Windbreaks in Missouri University of Missouri Extension: http://muextension.missouri.edu Purdue University Extension: www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-38.pdf	Planting trees for a windbreak to protect house of livestock (or you) from wind.
Landscaping for Energy Efficiency Energy-Saving Landscaping for Your Passive Solar Home, NC Solar Center (pdf) www.sustland.umn.edu/design/energysaving.html http://www.eere.energy.gov	Information on landscaping for energy efficiency. "Carefully positioned trees can save up to 25% of household's energy consumption".
Less Stuff
Waste less food -- big payoff! www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/sweden_says_eat.php	Growing food and getting it to your table accounts for about 20% of total GHG emissions. So, anything you can do to use less food and avoid wasting food has a direct and significant impact on GHG emissions all the way down the grow it, harvest it, transport it, prepare it, ... chain. This is another one of those win-win areas where cutting down on waste saves GHG's and dollars. "Swedish life-cycle studies that show tossing one serving of beef wastes enough energy to drive a low-energy light bulb 163 hours"
Human Power
Pedal Power Campus Center for Appropriate Technology www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/pedalpower/frames.html	Plans and concepts for a variety of human powered appliances, tools, TV's, ... Lots of good ways to get some exercise! Here is a sample: Pedal Washer
Bicycle Powered Generator http://www.mattshaver.com/bikegen/index.htm	Instructions on how to make a bicycle powered generator from a training stand. Also includes information on what kinds of electrical loads can be powered.
PPPM (Pedal Powered Prime Mover) http://www.los-gatos.ca.us	This is an interesting website that provides information on pedal powered generators. Includes information on building, what can be powered, and the use of ultra-capacitors to smooth power output from the generator without using batteries.
The Pedal-A-Watt Stationary Bike Power Generator http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm	This is a commercial version of a pedal powered generator that uses your bike. Various accessories available to charge batteries etc. The Testimonials section is interesting.
Nice setup for hand washing the laundry www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUqACGizd30	Short YouTube video showing a nice simple and efficient setup for hand washing and drying clothes. Quick and easy.
The James Hand Washer At Lehmans site, search for "hand clothes washer" -- they have several... Berry Hill human powered washers...	Person powered washers, clothes drying hardware, and other interesting stuff.
Wonder Washer www.laundry-alternative.com/wonderwash.htm (this link may be broken Jan 20, 08) http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/07/qa_electricity.php	A simple, hand powered washer that people seem to like.
"Yukon Plunger" washing "machine" http://www.wisementrading.com/washing.htm	A even simpler arm powered washing "machine". It would be pretty easy to just make one yourself.
Fran's very simple DIY washer from a bucket How to build it...	Fran made a very effective washer using a 5 gallon bucket, a length of dowel, and an old plastic plate. Takes about 15 minutes and works well! All the details ...
http://homelessdave.com/hdwashingman.htm	Quite an interesting article and plans for a bicycle powered spin water extractor for cloths washing.
Cyclean -- Pedal Powered Washer/Dryer http://cyclean.biz/mainmenu.html (this link not working now) The Wayback Machine has this snapshot of the project...	Get exercise and do the wash at the same time. Plans to make one are promised -- its says.
Other Conservation Related Areas on Build-It-Solar There are lots of other areas on BIS that deal with conservation and energy efficiency -- here are a few...
The Water Section	Water conservation, grey water reuse, efficient toilets ...
Energy Conservation in Pool Heating	Energy conservation in pool heating. Pool covers, efficient pumps and circulation schemes, ...
Efficient lawn mowers and garden tractors	Electric lawn mowers and tractors. Gas mowers pollute way out of proportion to their size -- here is a way to get rid of yours.
Earth Notes: Saving Electricity How we got from 33kwh per day to 7kwh per day http://www.earth.org.uk/saving-electricity.html	Good conservation story on drastically reducing electricity use without pain. Points out the big saving that can occur from controlling computer power consumption. (Thanks to Damon for suggesting this)
Efficient Vehicles	For many of us, choosing a fuel efficient vehicle will save more energy than any other step we can take.
More here -- Build-It-Solar Central
"I Did It" stories A few energy saving success stories -- if you have one, please send it in.
Our own "1/2" Program Gary	This is my families program to see if we can reduce our total energy consumption and green house gas emissions by one half.
Guy Marsden -- Sustainable Living www.arttec.net/SustainableLiving/index.html	A very nice personal site with Guy's program for saving energy and a more sustainable lifestyle -- all very well explained. Several good DIY solar energy projects with very good detial.
My Half Project http://bryantbay2.blogspot.com/	This is a great blog by Dave, which I'm happy to say was in part inspired by our own Half Program. There are many very good posts on the blog covering a variety of energy saving techniques. The site is particularly strong on various techniques for monitoring energy use of all sorts and on keeping good records to actually see what is working.
The Phantoms I've Killed... Do the Math blog, Tom Murphy	Very good rundown by Physicist Tom Murphy describing how they cut electricity usage down by a factor of 10 compared to a typical home in their area. Tom not only says what he accomplished, but also describes the tools you can use to cut your electricity use. (Thanks to Dave for finding this)
Kootenai River Campground -- Energy Overhaul All the details on the energy overhaul...	The Green Campground Blog goes over the steps that they have taken at the Kootenai River Campground to reduce energy consumption. They did a nice, systematic approach involving more insulation, better doors, inside storm windows, solar water heating (using our $1K system), efficient lightings, and more efficient appliances. They have still more things on the list to do yet -- next up is efficient shower heads. The campground is located in western Montana.
Thriving On Low Carbon... Marc Rosenbaum	Very good blog by Marc Rosenbaum on all sorts of aspects of living a lower carbon lifestyle. Interesting and effective projects with good details on the implementation. Well worth following.
Energy and Solar Advice from Tom Gocze American Solartechnics...	Tom Gocze is a genuine expert on solar and renewable energy. He has been involved in the solar business as a tank manufacturer 30+ years, and has done applied renewable energy research in many areas. He also does a radio show and a newspaper column on energy. This link is to some of the columns he has done for the Bangor Daily News and Hot and Cold TV. The advice he gives is honest, technically correct, and pragmatic -- quite a relief given all the BS out there on renewable energy. The columns are well worth taking a few minutes to read.
Good News: Average Family Cuts Home Electric Usage in Half Full Story ...	This letter describes how Ed cut his families use of electricity in half over just 2 months. He used a number of techniques, including an energy audit, eliminating phantom loads, and just paying more attention to turning things off. Way to go Ed! Full Story ... "I actually stopped moaning about the rates for 5 minutes and did something to reduce my electric usage."
The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook, Godo Stoyke, 2007 Available from New Society Publishers...	This is a brand new and good book on how to start your own energy saving program that will cut your energy use and green house gas emissions by as much as 70% -- and save you $17,000 over 5 years. The author lists many potential projects in all areas of energy use, and provides cost, rate of return, energy saving and carbon saving for each. It is done very much like my Half program listed above -- highly recommended. Available at the usual book places $13.
Solar Electricity at Home..., Kevin Johnson How to get articles from Home Power ... www.HomePower.com	Home Power magazine article, issue 117. This is quite an amazing story. Kevin details how his family has 1) cut their transportation energy use to about 5 KWH per day by using an electric vehicle conversion, and 2) their home electricity use to about 5 KWH per day through conservation. All of this energy is supplied by all of this energy is supplied by a 2.9 KW grid tied PV system.
Iver's Energy Saving Projects http://www.msad54.org	This is a good rundown on a set of energy saving projects that Iver did. They are all fairly simple, but they really add up. Iver recently estimated that his energy saving per year come up to $3018 per year at today's energy prices!
"Lazy" approach to conservation still works http://cameronmiller.net/energy-savings/	Cameron describes his "lazy" approach to energy conservation. The approach may be lazy, but his gas bill is still down about 40%!
Audited by Power Company for Low Power Use www.csmonitor.com/2006/1130/p13s01-sten.html	When Ray Janke took some simple steps to reduce his electricity consumption, the power company audited him because they thought he might be bypassing the meter. Wouldn't that be a nice audit to go through :)
Full Energy Efficiency Farmhouse Renovation Mike Rogers Home Energy Magazine http://homeenergy.org	Article describes a well thought out renovation of a 1920's farmhouse for energy efficiency. The house posed several difficult to overcome problems in retrofitting insulation. Includes a fairly detailed description of a technique for installing exterior wall insulation.
800 to 80 kwh in four months http://www.rmfdevelopment.com/energysa.html#littlemoney	A great story on how one couple reduced their electric bill dramatically, along with quite a bit of detail on the methods used. Ryan has since moved to WA state, and is writing an account of overhauling his home into an energy efficient home.
The Land of Rising Conservation, NY Times http://www.nytimes.com	Good NY Times article explaining why per household energy consumption in Japan is less than half the US.
Saving Electricity Site -- Succes Stories http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/fanmail.html	There are some good stories on this page, with some good and specific suggestions. Its a good all around site on understanding how to save electricity.