Even Google is now turning green. Not with envy, of course, but with energy savings on the mind. I just found out about new little tool they created to help you calculate how much energy you are wasting and how much money you can save by changing your ways.
Here is the tool, if you want to give it a shot.
Doing my part to save energy
I am green myself – I think. I previously wrote a post about ways to conserve energy and save money. I eat a lot of healthy foods(organic). I don’t like chemicals. And apparently my host for this site is “Green.” I guess that just about makes me as green as they come. 
They also created nice list of energy saving tips. Here are a few of my faves from the list…
- Weatherstrip and caulk your windows and doors
- Consider installing a Geothermal Heat Pump to heat and cool your home, save up to 70% on your heating and cooling costs.
- Clean your furnace’s filter monthly
- Cover your hot water heater with an insulation blanket
- Reduce the temperature of your hot water heater to 120F or less (or until using little to no cold water in the bath/shower)
- Install a low flow shower head
- Wash clothes in cold water
- Consider air drying your clothes. saves energy, money and keeps your clothes lasting longer.
- Learn how to set power management on your computer
- Download the Google Desktop Power Management Gadget
- Turn down the brightness on your TV and computer monitor
- Don’t keep your refrigerator and freezer too cold. Set temperature between 36-38 degrees F and freezers at 0-5 degrees.
What about you – do you have any energy saving tips that Google might have missed?
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The tool was pretty simplistic, IMO. Not especially useful, at least for me.
Installing a geothermal heat pump on an existing structure is crazy insane expensive. I suppose it’ll save you money in the very long run, but the up front cost is extremely prohibitive. I’m surprised they didn’t have install solar panels on your roof. That’s generally cheaper than a geothermal heat pump…
The way we save energy (money) is by keeping it really cold in our house in the winter. We have a goal of not even turning our heat on until thanksgiving if we can stand it. And then we use the programmable thermostat to have it be around 53 degrees in the house when we’re sleeping or at work and around 58 when we are home (and awake). Most everyone I tell thinks we’re crazy. But burning gas costs money continuously. Buying a sweater and long underwear costs money once. We also didn’t once turn on the AC in our house this summer, though heat can be harder than cold, you can always put more clothes on when you’re cold…
Matt,
But it did give me a little bit better understanding of how much certain energy suckers cost…
I saved $1000 by using the tool!! No, not really
BTW, I agree about installing geothermal to an existing structure. But, if you have the option before you build, it seems like a no-brainer to me…
Best of luck making it to thanksgiving w/o heat – don’t you live in Wisconsin or something?
Thanks for the tips and link to google. They say 6 billion in savings as a country. Amazing. FYI I think programmable thermostats are the best. They can save around 10% of energy bills. Also, I found another site which gave some ways to save electricity http://www.howtoconserveelectricity.com, many which are free But always looking for more good advice, so any more tips/links appreciated. Thanks
Here is one that I have used. It’s pretty neat actually:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=home_energy_yardstick.showStep2
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