We all know there are things we can do, personal changes we can make, to reduce our energy consumption. This is important to eco conscious people everywhere. But perhaps even more important though is the ability to recognize that energy savings technologies may ultimately be even more important than our personal habits and our desire to conserve. Technology keeps getting better and better. New computers, new cars, new smart phones, new TVs, and new tablets are just a few of the items on our holiday wish lists. But, what about these products impacting our energy bills, not to mention, impacting our environment? Maybe we need tech that saves energy???
Many of us have programmable thermostats for instance but smart thermostats may do an even better job. They can tell when no one is in the house and therefore reduce energy consumption when you otherwise would have forgotten to adjust the temperature. LED light bulbs use 90% less energy and last 5 times as long. A single battery may be able to power our homes. Every technology innovation we can make furthers our goal and when you combine that with our personal habits you achieve more in shorter time frame. Everyone needs to support and even demand more investments in energy saving technology.
The impact that future technologies have on saving energy is crucial as there has been an astonishing increase in overall energy consumption since 2000. Finding new ways to save energy at home and on the road is now becoming a primary objective among technology innovators. Whether through the creation of “glow-in-the-dark road markings” or light bulbs that can last up to 50,000 hours.
The infographic below outlines the inventive technological advances that are aimed at helping people save money both on the road and at home. Think a “smart road” is something straight out of 2060? Think again!”
Image from SaveOnEnergy.com
I’ve been replacing my bulbs with LEDs as they go out and in November I installed a Nest Thermostat – took 10 min,
December Bill (Mostly with new Thermostat) I reduced my energy use by 43%. In Jan I reduced my energy use by approximately 49%. I’m using my energy company’s website to track this and comparing my usage by average daily temperature not calendar day. (I can go back 1 year and find a day with the same temperature.
The real test will be this summer because I live in Houston, Texas. I’m replacing the weather stripping around my doors and windows. One thing the NEST does is it cuts the AC off early and uses the fan to circulate the already cooled air through the house.
Another thing I’ve done is set up an alert on my phone with IFTT that tell me when the temperature drops below 76F that lets me know to open my windows and a second one that warns me when the temp gets above 78F so I close my windows.
I love the idea of alerts for opening windows! I don’t have a NEST…maybe they have a smart thermometer that does the same? Need to look into it. I always try to open and close windows with the weather.
If this then that alerts are easy to set up. The website is https://ifttt.com/ play around with it. I have many different ones set up in addition to the text alerts to open and close the windows. I have one that when I set Nest to away, it turns out all my lights except the porch. I have one that turns on my porch lights at sunset great when I’m out for the evening.
For the weather alerts you don’t need a smart device – just a phone with a texting plan. You link to a their weather app.
Great post about the different kinds of light bulbs that help save money on home energy. We are looking into NEST products and hope to have them installed soon!