Energy Useage and Goals. AKA Justin looks at his energy consumption!

I have spent the past couple of days of compiling my families energy usage since moving to College Station, TX almost a year ago. I decided to do this because if I am going to talk about being eco-friendly and saving on electricity, I need to start setting goals.

Our Apartment!Laura and I live in an apartment, which makes our options fewer than owning a house (obviously we can't change out Windows, redo insulation, weather strip, and change our washer and dryer). Yet, the options we do have, are cheaper and probably can be done quicker and we should be able to see a faster impact. We have yet lived here for a whole July, and I haven't seen the whole June energy report yet (our current energy usage is through 325 days), but I do think that I can start making estimates and still setting goals of month by month. My over all goal is to cut back our energy by 15% and our gas by 10% the first year. I will start the year at the end of July for measure, but will start looking for energy saving practices during the month of July, so in reality, that last July of next year should be the hardest month to save on, unless I have come up with some great ways through the previous six months. 

So far this year we have used 3922 KW/h for an average of 12.06 KW/h a day (I stated earlies this was through 325 days). Which means by the end of July next year I will want our average to be down to 10.251 KW/h a day for a total use of 3741.615 KW/h for the year. That is already less energy used than we've used in 325 days this year. I will start taking the proper steps to correct this immediately and let ya know what I am doing. Something that might surprise you that I am not going to do immediately. Like, switch all my light bulbs to CFLs. The reason for this is the following. I am going to wait for the light bulbs that are non-CFL to burn out before replacing them with CFL lights. The energy cost to make a CFL light outweighs using a normal light to the very end. Yet, as soon as the lights go out, a CFL will go in!

The next thing I will conquer is my gas bill. I only have the stove, heater, and hot water heater hooked up to the gas line. This process will be more about conservation and use more than changing out products (even though I have a nifty piece about the new GE Water Heater coming out in a few days, thanks to a tip from Kevin Fretz, who was tipped by Jay). My current gas usage over 10 months has been 18.8 MCF (MCF for 1,000 cubic feet, M denotes mil, thousand). That is an average of 1.88 per month. My goal is a 10% reduction for 1.692 MCF per month or 20.304 MCFs per year. 

I will keep everyone updated on my progress, and am open to any suggestions you might have no or along the way. Any little help I can get, I think I will need.

---Justin J. Stewart

P.S. An aditional bonus will be the money we save by doing this! Per average this past year would have cost us 595.04 in energy cost alone (not counting other fees, but just pure KW/Hs). If I meet my goal it should cost me 505.04 dollars. That's one hundred dollars for small changes that I can probably make for free, plus it should in tern lower taxes and what not. For my gas is currently would cost me $164.36 just for delivery of the gas (no taxes and other fees). After it should cost me $147.92. That is only almost twenty dollars, but if I exceed my goals by just being aware for free, it could save me more, and honestly in today's economy every penny helps!

**edit 7-2-10: The reason we are not tracking water consumption is because, unfortunately we have no date on water consumption. Our complex owners take care of our water through the city of College Station. When we get our utilities bill that would normally also include water, it says our useage is 0.0. As great as that would be from a conservation stand point, I just don't think it's true...**

Belkin showing people how to conserve electricity at home with their new home energy lineup...

Belkin, who leads the industry in, ummm...plugs, has introduced four new products to the market that will be available Mid-July. These are great products for people at home that are trying their best to reduce unwanted power vampires from their home.

The first product is the Conserve Smart AV

The Conserve Smart AV features a "green" outlet, in which you plug your television into, and in the other outlets you plug in the rest of your entertainment system. When the television is shut-off, the rest of the surge protector then powers down, reducing the energy usage of the rest of your entertainment center. It will retail for $29.99.

The next up is Conserve Socket

The Conserve Socket has a timer for your plug and automatically powers down the socket after that allotted time. The user can select from three settings, 30 minutes, 3 hours, or 6 hours. Perfect for those using a coffee maker in the morning, and always worrying about if you turned it off. The Conserve Socket will retail for $9.99.

Next is the Conserve Valet

The Conserve Valet is for all of us that have a lot of gadgets, which now a days seems to be more and more. It has four charging stations for your mp3 player, phone, or whatever other peripheral that you might have that can charge via USB hub. What is great about this product is that it will sense when your item is fully charged and shut-off the plug charging that item. No more cell phones charging on the kitchen counter for 14 hours anymore. The Conserve Valet will retail at $39.99.

And last but not least, and what I find the most interesting The Conserve Insight

The Conserve Insight excited me the most out of all of these products. The Conserve Insight will give you real-time information on how many watts a product that is plugged into it is using. It also tells you how much CO2 that a product is emitting, and the biggest feature to most will be this: The Conserve Insight will tell you how much money, in real time, that you are spending on keeping that device plugged in. This product will remove all of smoke and mirrors of trying to figure out how much electricity a device is really using. Knowledge is power, and given this knowledge you can figure out how to use your power. Then you can experiment with different power configurations for different devices (like maybe putting a surge protector on that microwave that you don't use the clock on it for anything). At $29.99 I feel that the cost could be made up in no time with the money you could save.

These look to be exciting products for everyone, from the lazy man (the Conserve Smart AV), to the person that loves numbers (The Conserve Insight). I hope to get my hands on a few of them in Mid-July and let you know how they are, especially the Conserve Insight. If anyone else gets to try and of these out, let me know what you think!

***edit 6/22/10 received an e-mail from a reader that is suggesting some of the other Belkin's products as well that are already out:

"We have a similar Belkin product. Power strip with wireless switch. ( and 2 switches that dont turn off if need be) . On our way to bed we hit the switch and it shuts down power for out big power sucking items. Love it!
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-BG108000-04-Conserve-Energy-Saving/dp/B001GQ2W6W/ref=pd_cp_e_1

 ---Nichole"

Thanks Nichole! Knowing that someone out there already loves part of the Conserve line by Belkin makes these that much more promising! Looks like these are quality products, and like I said, I hope to get one or a few of them in my hands in a month. ***

---Justin J. Stewart

We Shall Overcome...his work shall go on

As many of you know, or do not know, the owner and creator of this blog, Jay Fretz, was killed on his bicycle on his commute home from work on May 17th, 2010 at the corner of a Alamada and McClintock in Tempe, Arizona, when a car struck him. At this corner a solemn reminder, a ghostbike, now stands there as a tribute to a great man. He was survived by his wife, Angie; daughter, Anika; brother, Kevin; and his parents John and GayLee; and many more friends and family than Jay knew he had.

During this process we learned how important Jay was to the community and his message of eco-friendliness and that we, as individuals can make the difference, and spread the word to make this Earth a greener world. It was the small things he focused on, things that everyone could do. He gave up his car for commuting, and decided to bike to work to reduce his carbon footprint. He looked at the little things in his house that he could change, or monitor to reduce energy consumption, water consumption, and waste consumption. Most of those things we could all do, and he told us how. He talked to people, participated  in local focus groups, and started this blog, to get his word out and to have people listen.

If you talked with Jay for five minutes, you knew what his passion was, and it was almost contagious. No, it was contagious. You would go home immediately and see what changed you could do. This message needs to live on and spread, from house to house, person to person, business to business. That's where we come in.

My name is Justin J. Stewart. I have known Jay and his family for five years, and in those five years it is the most active in making changes to my lifestyle to help with the environment. To hypermiling my SUV from 16 mpg to 20 mpg in a few short months, to starting and maintaining a recycling program at one store of a Fortune 500 retailer, to organic urban gardening, these were all changes that or activities that I saw important to do, mostly from talking to Jay. I had always been eco-smart, but it wasn't until Jay that I learned to take the next step, and most of those steps were easy ones that every single one of us can do. That is why this blog is going to continue with myself and my wife, Laura Stewart. We want to share with you what you can do at home, or have you share with us what you do at home, so we all can get Jay's message out and be more energy efficient and eco-friendly, and with the events of the past two months, now is the best time to do this.

Our goal for this blog is to continue talking about "Slaying Energy Vampires" and telling you what home tips you can do, and what tech stuff is out there, and what I am doing at home to conserve energy. We also want to hear from you though, we want to know what you are doing, what you are hearing, what works for you. We want this to grow into an organic community where sharing creates knowledge and helps this world. If you have a piece that you have written, or a photo of something you have done, or a tip we should all know, please share with us, and we will share with the world. With each of you, we will go person by person, door by door, and business by business and keep Jay's dream alive. I hope to hear from you soon. I know I will be talking to you soon. Let's do this, with everyone together, we really can make a difference, Jay did.

  R.I.P Jay Curtice Fretz October 3, 1973- May 17, 2010

Recent news links about Jay:

ABC News 15 story about Jay.

Arizona Republic story about ghostbike installations in Tempe, including Jay's.

Wonderful piece by Nancy Puffer in the Plugged In blog for The Arizona Republic.

Jay's Obituary that appeared in The Arizona Republic.

The Jay Fretz Memorial Page.

A great blog remembrance from a friend of Jay's, Jon Hajek.

Like I said, We Shall Overcome, his work shall go on, and we will never forget.

---Justin J. Stewart