Environmental Checkup

While the current administration continues to fight serious efforts to combat terrorism or global warming by reducing our energy consumption, we can still take still can take small steps at home to cut energy use. Wasting energy is an expensive habit, so one of the nice benefits of cutting down is you save money over the long term. Here are a few things I did this summer:

(1) Replace Ordinary Light Bulbs with the New Fluorescents
The new light bulbs may look strange but they use just a fraction of the energy of ordinary light bulbs. We tried out just a few of the new bulbs at first but have now replaced most of the bulbs in the house. I've heard all of the complains about the new sorts of bulbs. We found that it just takes some experimentation to figure out the ones you like.

I recommend going with the "soft white" bulbs as these produce light just like regular bulbs. The "natural" or "daylight" bulbs produce daylight type light which some like but may clash with the light produced by other bulbs in your home. "Cool" light appears most like traditional fluourescent bulbs and we didn't care for it.

Some of the fluorescent bulbs don't produce quite as much light as their regular equivalents so you may want a slightly stronger bulb on occasion. If you replace a 60-watt bulb with a fluorescent which is supposed to be equivalent to a 75-watt bulb, however, you'll still use far less energy (and the wattage on the fluorescent is much lower so don't worry about the wattage being too high for the socket). Nevertheless, we found that using the fluorescent bulbs rated to be equivalent to regular bulbs worked find in virtually every case.

Yep, they are more expensive than regular bulbs though we found good prices at Home Depot on packets of them. Moreover, you'll save money over the long term and you won't have to change the bulbs nearly as often because they really last.

(2) Replace Old Windows
This one took a bit of hard swallowing because replacing windows is expensive. Our home is relatively old and the panes upstairs were original to the house complete with lead weights as frames and just one pane separating the inside and outside of the house. Unfortunately, single-pane windows don't insulate very well.

We replaced our upstairs windows with modern double-paned windows. The newfangled windows have a vacuum separating the two panes, which provides much better insulation and thus saves money on heat and air conditioning. They also keep out a bit more noise than the old windows. It will take time to recoup the money on this one, but it should pay for itself over time as well.

(3) Check Your Doors for Drafts
The doors on our house were old. Besides letting in quite a bit of air (and the occasional bug) at the bottom, they weren't quite square on their frames anymore. Making sure that the doors are properly sealed on all sides is a pretty simple and relatively inexpensive way to prevent drafts which are the equivalent to have large holes in the side of your home and can really jack up your heating and cooling expenses. We're also hoping for fewer visits from members of the insect community.