Renewable Energy and Solar Windows
Audience: American homeowners
Conserving Energy to Save Money According to an article and graph published in The New York Times, “About 56 percent of all the energy that is produced in the United States is wasted” (Revkin). With all that energy being wasted, Americans cannot afford to waste much more. There are a number of things a homeowner can do around and to their household to conserve energy and save money at the same time. They can turn off unneeded electricity and try other sources, such as renewable energy to conserve energy and save money. One way of conserving energy that will save a person money as a homeowner is learning how to effectively use electricity. By simply going around a home and shutting off the lights a person can decrease the cost of their electricity bill. The nationwide average for electricity is roughly $0.10 per kilowatt hour (Trent1). A compact fluorescent light bulb will use about 20 watts per bulb while an incandescent light bulb will use 50-60 watts per bulb. Leaving four 20 watt CFL bulbs on for two hours will cost about 1.6 cents. The incandescent 60 watt bulbs would cost 4.8 cents for those two hours. Some homeowners may think it is only a few cents but when you think about it over the course of a long period of time those cents add up. Owners must also remember that lights are not the only thing that suck up energy. An experiment done by Tips and Tricks HQ with a desktop computer states that, “by turning off one desktop computer before going to sleep at night you could save approximately 96 dollars every year.” All the utilities that a homeowner has plugged into outlets are in some way or another using electricity even when the item isn’t actually on. According the Department of Energy, this “phantom power” accounts for 75 percent of electricity usage for these devices (McMahon1). To help eliminate the waste of electricity with these appliances, either unplug them individually or plug them all into a centralized power strip
Conserving Energy to Save Money According to an article and graph published in The New York Times, “About 56 percent of all the energy that is produced in the United States is wasted” (Revkin). With all that energy being wasted, Americans cannot afford to waste much more. There are a number of things a homeowner can do around and to their household to conserve energy and save money at the same time. They can turn off unneeded electricity and try other sources, such as renewable energy to conserve energy and save money. One way of conserving energy that will save a person money as a homeowner is learning how to effectively use electricity. By simply going around a home and shutting off the lights a person can decrease the cost of their electricity bill. The nationwide average for electricity is roughly $0.10 per kilowatt hour (Trent1). A compact fluorescent light bulb will use about 20 watts per bulb while an incandescent light bulb will use 50-60 watts per bulb. Leaving four 20 watt CFL bulbs on for two hours will cost about 1.6 cents. The incandescent 60 watt bulbs would cost 4.8 cents for those two hours. Some homeowners may think it is only a few cents but when you think about it over the course of a long period of time those cents add up. Owners must also remember that lights are not the only thing that suck up energy. An experiment done by Tips and Tricks HQ with a desktop computer states that, “by turning off one desktop computer before going to sleep at night you could save approximately 96 dollars every year.” All the utilities that a homeowner has plugged into outlets are in some way or another using electricity even when the item isn’t actually on. According the Department of Energy, this “phantom power” accounts for 75 percent of electricity usage for these devices (McMahon1). To help eliminate the waste of electricity with these appliances, either unplug them individually or plug them all into a centralized power strip