Geek girls are probably some of the highest users of energy. I don’t known about other geeks, but I like to keep my energy bill low. There’s more money to spend on games that way.
Perhaps you’d like to contribute a little bit to saving energy for the sake of the planet as well as saving green on your phone bill. Any way you look at it, there’s usually at least one reason to be self conscious about how much energy you use.
Centralize and Unplug
Computers, printers, cell phones and Wii consoles, in my house, go into a single extension strip cord strip. It makes it easier to unplug them all at night and plug back in later. That saves over 30% on my electric bill when I’m able to unplug all of that hardware.
Want some bonus points? Use separate electric strips, one for your TV, computer and Playstation, the other for your printer, fax and other devices you don’t use every day. Keep the less used strip unplugged until you need it.
Cold Water Cleaning
Do you really need to run the hot water as often as you do? Heating your water counts for a big percentage of your electricity bill. You can cut back simply by learning to love lukewarm showers (it’s better for your skin!) and washing a few loads of laundry (at full loads) with cold water. Your whites and brights do not need to be washed in half as much hot water as mentioned. Every other load can be hot to brighten clothes.
By the way, do you linger at the computer, trying to finish that last dungeon as your ‘water warms’ in the shower? You may as well be tossing dimes out the window. Be ready to get into the shower when the water turns just warm enough to your touch. Save even more money by lowering the temperature on your hot water tank.
Energy Efficient Hardware
Saving energy by using energy efficient appliances and computer systems will green up your bottom line. For example, monitors that are on all day long use up a whole lot of energy, but you can save 25% or more using energy efficient monitors. Check out the Dell G2410 or the HP LE1901w. Look for Energy Star qualified products.
Other energy saving products, from the weird light bulbs to new faucets that uses less water, can help reduce your utility bills. Companies are consciously trying to provide new products with super efficiency.
So how much can you save? For every $100 you normally spend on your energy bill a month, you could save as much as $20 or more by trying these three steps alone.
