Reducing My Utilities Bills

An interesting band name...

I stubble across it by accident.

http://www.goddamnelectricbill.com/

I like the name of course.

It is not hard rock it is electronic music and seems quite nice with the bits I heard off the site.

Aaron

It is still hard to take traditional CO2 offseting seriously

Check out ebay...

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&fcl=4&fnu=1&from=R10&satitle=carbon+credits&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=92688&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=3%26fsoo%3D1

This makes me laugh and sad and why I will continue to offset in a more direct way (helping others and giving out CFLs).

I love ebay and have bought items to save energy via ebay but, how can I trace that the offsets are "real". Even if they are real the impacts are far slower then installing CFLs. Other in this business are for profit and have even less visibility into what they are doing.

In addition to that if I chose to donate to one of these companies I would would only donate to groups that where not for profit therefore you could look into their finances and I would make sure they are not political.

Aaron

The inlaws house requires more CFLs (90 of 307)

The 12 more non-dimmable ones were easy, the 4 dimmable ones I will need or order off of ebay again.

This brings me up to 90 CFLs given away.

Aaron

Nope they did not post it...

Maybe they are just slow :)

No body posted my comments :( see this...

http://baranoff.typepad.com/cheaper_electric/2007/06/will-this-get-p.html

The republican and democrats would prefer to say what can't be done or what they want more of our money for then to give us a family friendly plan to cut energy utilization and make us energy independent.

In laws bought thier house (78 of my 307 CFLs)

My in laws bought their home (near us) and I am well on me way to making it energy efficient as our house warming gift. A gift that will keep on giving that is in addition to my wife cleaning the place and shampooing the carpets before they arrive plus generally helping them get settled in.

This will bring me up to 78 bulbs of my 307 CFLs to give away to offset my family's CO2 emissions.

(see http://baranoff.typepad.com/cheaper_electric/2007/05/my_version_of_c.html and http://baranoff.typepad.com/cheaper_electric/2007/05/welcoming_a_new.html and other posts)

That excludes the saving I help them with with wrapping the water heater and other items.

Aaron

Will this get posted...

I wrote this in response to the following article...

http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2007/05/nancy_pelosi_wants_energy_inde.html

I hope she does and the every other political person does. Maybe then and only then will they do something in a common sense fation without the political insanity in a way that American can afford without lawyers and other money wasters involved.

I want a commitment to energy independence and common sense in a way that is affordable.

For my part unlike most political idiots I am tring starting with my own home.

http://baranoff.typepad.com/cheaper_electric/

Give me more ideas and options and keep the government out of my wallet.

I have reduce my own CO levels far better then the folks in DC and helped those around me do so while helping them keep thier money, unlike most congress' moves and plans.

If you show Americans how then can save money from day one (I have done it) they will do far better then congress and in parallel reward businesses that do well in this area then we will make far more progress then any more taxes (for example incent the promotion of telecommuting not offshoring). Also make sure any plan does not encourage companies from moving work overseas to reduce thier domestic consumption.

Just an idea congress.

 

Eventually looking for even better bulbs

CFLs have been working great but, I think I can do even better with LED based bulbs.

I have recessed lights in my kitchen (the most used room in my home with the lights on much of the time - see earlier posts).

What I want is bulbs for the kitchen that are 75 Watt equivalent that put out good light. Does anyone make them is so what is the cost. Theoretically they should be about 8 watts (60% less then the CFLS)/

If the price was right I would eventually replace all the recessed bulbs in the house about 30 of them.

But, right now I can not find a bulb that would match the need regardless of price and the ones that are close are too expensive (~$50 per bulb) at that price I can afford to use many CFLs over a long time.

The benefits of switching to a LED based lighting are they should last more then 20+ years (in theory) and would bring the cost of lighting down to less the 2 percent of my electric and product even less heat which would have even more on air conditioning.

If you know of any good bulbs or alternatives let me know.

Aaron

Getting replacement bulbs from the vendor

The FEIT folks were very nice...

The said to return them the bulbs they will send me new ones plus some extras to cover postage and effort. The wanted the bulbs to determine why they died. This is good and I don't have to worry about disposal.

Their address for returning bulbs is...

FEIT

4901 Gregg Rd

Pico Rivera
CA 90660
Attn: R

But, you should contact them first via email or phone.

Aaron

Some dead CFLs

Since I switched entirely to CFLs I have now collected 4 dead ones. Remember I replaced over 4 dozen with this exact type. So is this normal attrition or something else, only time will tell.

Since they are warrantied I contacted FEIT via email to find out how to get replacements. I will let you know what they say. Then comes the question of what do they what me to do with the bulbs.

If anyone else has had experiences with the process let me know. I am also curious how other manufactures handle this as well.

At $0.50 per bulb it costs even if this was normal I still would be worth while due the energy savings although annoying. I was hoping these would last enough years that LEDs would be a cost effective upgrade when it came time.

Aaron

Scary energy facts

This is from the following article...

http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/library/energy/homelessness.cfm

Although the definition of “affordability” includes both rent and utilities, people do not usually think of the impact of utility bills on low-income households. Utilities impose a disproportionate burden on the poor. For single, elderly poor and disabled persons living on Social Security Income (SSI), the average energy burden was 19 percent of SSI. In selected States—Delaware, Illinois, and Vermont—it was nearly 25 percent.

For Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the energy burden was, on average, seven times greater than for families at median income. AFDC families paid an average of 26 percent of their income toward energy, while median income families spent an average of less than 4 percent of their income on energy.

Income Level	Percent of Income for Utilities
U.S. median SSI elderly SSI (DE, IL, VT) AFDC	4 percent 19 percent 25 percent 26 percent

1997 St. Paul municipal records on evictions due to condemnation. Energy Cents’ analysis revealed:

• 26 percent of evictions were due to electric and gas termination.
• 40 percent of evictions were due to water cutoffs.

My comments on the above (the one study was based on 2003 and the other on 1997)...

The numbers have gotten worse since rates have been steadly climbing. If the law suites start flying they will climb faster. I also, know that the middle class and small businesses are be squeezed as well.

Help people help themselves...

• Cutting their electric costs via lower pricing does not help reduce their utilization. It may incent some people to use more energy.
• Get their doors and windows weatherstripped and then upgrade the to less expensive lighting. The costs I believe are similar with a better long term impact.
• The savings should be better. Then give them an incentive to keep saving by reducing their cost per KWH in proportion to how much they can cut usage.

Aaron