Methods to Stop Windows from Leaking

Install New Windows

Installing new windows is expensive, but well worth it, as they will stop all the leaks all year round if installed properly. But again installing new windows can be a bit pricey so if you don’t have the money you may want to try a cheaper method of stopping leaking windows.

Re-caulk Old Leaking Windows

Re-caulking windows is cheap and easy to do, but will not stop all the leaks. Re-caulking your windows will only stop leaks around the window’s frame and between window’s glass and it’s frame. Re-caulking your windows will not stop leaks between the glass frame and the window frame or between the glass that slides and the other glass as those have different seals to keep them moving free so you can open your window. Plus re-caulking the between the glass and the glass’s frame could look a little tacky if not done right as this will put caulk on your window’s glass.

Covering Windows with Plastic

Covering your windows in plastic however will be a temporary fix just for the winter season. Covering you windows with plastic will block all air leaks in the window. Sometimes covering your windows in plastic can be a little pain when the plastic is not wanting to go where you want it, but is still very easy to do.

You can buy window kits that come with all the materials needed to cover your windows with plastic. These window kits are pretty nice except some of the double sided tape they come with is kind of cheap and do not have a very strong hold.

I would recommend purchasing 3M window kits or Duck window kits as the tape in these window kits are a lot stronger than some of the other brands of window kits, but you can buy any window kit you like.

How Much Money will I Save Covering Windows with Plastic

This is very hard to answer as every home will have different amount of leaks, different temperatures they have the thermostat set at, different temperatures of the air outside, and efficiency of the furnace. But you will save money on gas or save money on electric as your furnace will not have to work as hard to heat the cool air the windows let in or to replace the hot air that leaked out, as well as not have to run as often. I don’t like not placing a dollar amount and math on these go green tips, but there is really no way for me to calculate an average amount of money saved by covering your windows with plastic.

How to Install Plastic Window Covers

Installing the window kit on your leaking windows is very easy to do. The kits come with easy to follow directions, but here are the steps on how to install plastic on your windows.

Things you will need:

• Measuring Tape
• Hair Dryer or Heat Gun
• Scissors
• Razor Blade or Utility Knife (optional)

Installation Steps:

1. Measure the window to see how big to cut your plastic. Measure the window frame, wall, or window sill, depending on which one will be the easiest for you. I recommend putting the plastic on the wall if you don’t have any obstacles in the way like an extended window still.
2. Use the scissors to cut the plastic to the width and height of the window, I usually add a 3-4 inches to each measurement just in case I cut crooked as I don’t use a straight edge or framing square, I don’t need my cuts to be that accurate.
3. Now hold the plastic up to the window to make sure it fits properly.
4. Clean the surface with alcohol that you plan on putting the double sided tape on. Some window kits come with alcohol wipes.
5. Add tape to the window frame or if you don’t have any obstacles in the way you can add the tape to your wall or window sill to cover the entire window. Use the scissors again to cut the double sided tape. Make sure you press the tape down hard running your finger over the tape.
6. Peal the other side of the tape off to expose the second sticky side. This can be tricky getting the strip off without pulling the tape off completely. So just peal with caution.
7. Now stretch out the plastic starting at the top and align the plastic with the tape on top first. Push the plastic to the tape. You may want to have someone help you at this point to make sure you don’t get the plastic bunched up.
8. Now stretch out the sides and press them to the tape, don’t pull too hard when stretching as it may pull the plastic from the tape.
9. Now stretch out the bottom of the plastic covering and press it to the tape.
10. Go over the plastic again pressing it hard against the tape. Don’t worry of you have extra plastic hanging over or if there is a bit of bunching up in the center, we will fix this.
11. Now time to shrink the plastic window cover using a hair dryer or a heat gun. This plastic is low temperature heat shrink, it does not need a lot of heat to shrink it. If you use a heat gun be very careful not to melt the plastic as heat guns can produce a lot of heat. If you are using a hair dryer use the lowest heat setting first to see if it works. If not use a higher heat setting. Start heat shrinking the outside edges first.  like to heat up the tape area first to try and make it stickier. Then I work my way inward then just look around for any crinkles. Do not shrink the plastic too much. The more you shrink the plastic the more stress it puts on the tape. I don’t shrink mine until they are perfect because I tend to have the plastic pull from the tape if I do this.
12. Use the razor blade or utility knife to cut excess plastic from the edges.
13. Done! You may now clean up your scraps and throw them away before your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife starts nagging about the mess you made! Then move on to the next window.

Both solar panel and wind generator systems are similar as far as how they are setup. You can have the wind generator grid tied or off grid, same as solar panels. Both the solar panel (photovoltaic panel) and wind generator will need a battery bank if you are using an off grid system. Both of these renewable energy systems will produce clean energy and help the environment as well as save you money in your home!

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Generator Systems and Solar Panel Systems

Now onto some of the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative energy system. None of this information is from my own personal experience as I do not have the financial funds to support the research. So the information about these renewable energy systems have came from researching the internet, talking to people that have these alternative energy systems, and of course some calculations of my own (prices, efficiency, etc.).

Wind Turbine Generator System Pros and Cons

The main advantage of wind generator is that they can produce electricity day or night as long as there is wind. Wind generators need less space on your land to produce sufficient electricity. Wind generators are able to produce more electric for the same price. If you spend $1,000.00 on wind generator you can produce 1kW – 2kW, with solar panels you may only produce around .5kW – .75kW with the same $1,000.00. Wind generators have moving parts, so there is always wear and tear on these moving parts. Bearings can go bad, propeller blades can be struck by objects, and heat may be generated. Your wind generator will be installed on a tower or pole of some sort to gain height where there is more wind, allowing lighting to possibly strike your wind generator. As wind hits the propeller blades there will be noise created, think of a fan and how they sound, or even taking a rope and swinging it fast in circles. You will get some of this noise from your wind generator. The propellers of the wind generator can also produce shadows flickering. Birds can get killed from flying into your wind generator’s propellers. There are vertical wind generators which will prevent this. So the quick break down of the wind generator system:

Pros of Wind Turbine Generator Systems

• Produce electricity day or night
• Less space taken up by the wind generator system
• Produce more electricity
• Cost less

Cons of Wind Turbine Generator Systems

• More maintenance
• Moving parts wear out
• Lighting strikes
• Propeller noise
• Shadows flickering
• Hazard to birds

Photovoltaic Solar Panel System Pros and Cons

Solar panel systems are pretty much maintenance free, after installation only thing I’d recommend is cleaning them. Just like windows in your home, they will collect dirt and dust which will block sunlight from entering the solar cells. You can add more solar panels to an existing solar system easily to produce more electricity. Solar panels need direct sunlight to produce electricity, so during shady hours or night time, you produce little or no power. Solar panels are a little more costly. You can not stack solar panels so each panel will have to be side by side taking up more space or land. Baseballs, rocks, etc. can chip, crack, or break solar panels.

Pros of Photovoltaic Solar Panel System

• Almost maintenance free
• Add more panels easily

Cons of Photovoltaic Solar Panel Systems

• Need cleaned
• Generate electricity only in good sunlight
• Expensive
• Takes up more space or land
• Break, chip, or crack from baseballs, rocks, etc.

Which Renewable System is Best for Me

Now that you know the advantages and disadvantages of wind generators and solar panel systems you can decide which system is best for you. If live closer to the equator or have lots of open room with lots of sunlight, solar panels will probably work best for you. If you have lots of birds in your area, solar panel system may be best in your home. If you don’t mind the noise or shadows flickering and don’t mind having to replace a few parts every now and then wind generators are probably your best option. There are also a few links I will find and post from NASA, that shows wind and sun for different areas. So you can see what is more abundant in your area, sun or wind. As for myself, I want to have a system with both solar panels and wind generator, so I can get the best of both. After doing so I will also report back here to give my own feedback of which is better.

I hope this information on solar panel systems and wind generator systems has helped you decide which alternative energy system is best for you. After you know which alternative electrical system you are going to use, you can read How Many Watts Do I Need to Generate to calculate how many watts you need. If you have any questions or comments, please ask below. Have a great day and remember to come back for more information on how to go green and save money!

Why Does My Furnace Consume Gas When Not In Use

Your pilot light is still burning gas. Your pilot light is a small flame that stays lit 24/7. This little flame is used to ignite the furnace’s burners which heat your home.

Now there are some furnaces on the market that use an electronic igniter instead of a gas pilot light. If your furnace uses an electronic igniter then this article may not save you much money.

Why Does My Furnace Consume Electricity When Not in Use

There are electronic valves that turn on and off your gas to your main burners and also to your pilot light. There is also a thermocouple that senses heat from pilot light. If your pilot light goes out, the thermocouple tells the electronics to shut off the gas to the pilot light so you are not filling the air with natural gas or propane. Each of these electronics are consuming electricity 24/7.

How Much Gas Does My Pilot Light Use

Your pilot light on your furnace or fireplace is a flame a little larger than what a candle would put out, but your pilot light is hotter. Your pilot light on your furnace or fireplace will consume 600 – 900 BTUs! Some would try to argue saying there is no way a pilot light consumes 600 – 900 BTUs, but it does.

How Much Money Does a Pilot Light Cost

This will depend on how much your pilot light consumes and how much you actually pay for your natural gas. This is usually printed on your gas bill. But on average 600 – 900 BTUs would cost you around $0.08 – $0.11/day. Which would be $2.44 – $3.35/month, or $29.22 – $40.18/year!

How Much Money Will I Save Turning Off Gas to Furnace

This depends on where you live. Here I could probably turn off the gas and electric to my furnace 6 months of the year. So I would save $14.61 – $20.09/year just by turning off the gas to my furnace during the summer months.

How Much Money Will I Save Turning Off Electric to Furnace

First if you are using central air conditioning system, you can not turn off your electric to your furnace as the air blower on the furnace is used to blow cold air through your home. For those of you that do not have central air, you can turn off your gas and electric to your furnace to save even more money! I’m not 100% sure on how much electricity is consumed by just the electronic valves, sensors, etc. in my furnace as I haven’t measured it yet, but with my electrical knowledge in circuits and such, I would have to guess around 10watts are being used for these devices 24/7. So shutting of the electricity to your furnace would save you an additional $4.39/year!

So saving gas and saving electricity by turning off your gas and electric to your furnace will save you a total of $44.57/year!

How Much Does Vacuuming Floors Cost

Well most vacuums on the market today consume 12 – 14 amps, the average home will have a 12 amp vacuum. So 12 amps x 120 volt = 1,440 watts. Average person will vacuum their home around 2 times a week. The average person will probably run their vacuum cleaner for about an hour each time they vacuum their floors. So that’s 2 hours a week spent vacuuming. So there are 52 weeks in a year, so 52 weeks x 2 hours = 104 hours per year vacuuming. So 104 hours x 1,440 watts = 149,760 watt hours. Most electric companies will charge you per kWh so to convert 149,760 watt hours to kWh we need to divide by 1,000. 149,760 watt hours / 1,000 watts = 149.76 kWh per year. What does that convert to in money? Average cost per kWh is $0.10, so 149.76 kWh x $0.10 per kWh = $14.98/year.

NOTE: The more often you vacuum, the longer you take to vacuum, the more money it will cost to run your vacuum cleaner.

How Can I Save Money Vacuuming

You can buy an environmental friendly vacuum cleaner like the Eureka Envirovac! This vacuum is awesome! The Eureka Envirovac is easy to tear apart for repairs, easy to clean, easy to empty, does a great job vacuuming hard floors, carpets, and cars! I personally own a Eureka Envirovac and love it. It is a very powerful vacuum but only consumes 8 amps! This vacuum has just as much or more suction than a lot of the 12 and 14 amp vacuums on the market! I highly recommend buying a Eureka Envirovac to save money, save the environment, and keep your home and car cleaner!

How Much Money Will I Save

You will not save a great amount of money, but you will save a little money each year, as well as keep your house cleaner! This vacuum will cost you $7.49/year in electricity! Which saves you $7.49/year! Again, if you vacuum more often than 2 times a week you will save more money. If you vacuum for more than an hour each time, you will save even more money!

If your current vacuum cleaner is working fine I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a Eureka Envirovac as the savings are not that great, but if your vacuum cleaner is not working great or broken, I would highly recommend purchasing a Eureka Envirovac today!

Remember to read more ways to save electricity in your home and other ways to go green in your home on gogreeninyourhome.com!

Why Not Wash in Hot Water

Washing your clothes in hot water is really a waste of electric or gas depending on what your water heater uses. The reason washing your laundry in hot water is a waste because most people have their water heater set at 120°F – 140°F. When your washer is set to hot water it only allows hot water to enter the washer, no cold water is added. Therefore your clothes are being washed in 120°F – 140°F hot water when dirt, grime, body odors, sweat, etc. are all best dislodged at 100°F! So that extra gas or electric used to make the water 20°F – 40°F hotter is wasted for no reason at all!

How Can I Make My Washer Use 100°F Water For Warm Water

You rarely need to use warm water to wash your clothes in, but for those loads of laundry that do require warm water you will want to make sure your clothes washer is only using 100°F warm water. Most clothes washers will open both cold water and hot water valves 100% to get it’s warm water. So it will mix 50% cold and 50% hot water to make it’s warm water. Most of you will have around 50°F cold water and 140°F hot water mixing. Your cold water will also depend on the temperature outside and inside your home. The best way to adjust the temperature of your warm water is by adjusting the valves manually yourself. While doing a load of laundry use a thermometer after the water is completely filled and starts swishing around so you know it is mixed well. Take your water temperature during that load and see what it is. If your water temperature is above 100°F, reach behind your washer and turn down the hot water valve. If the water is below 100°F turn down the cold water valve. After you have done this, check the temperature again during your next load of laundry. Keep repeating this process until your washer’s warm water achieves 100°F. Also note, you may have to make this adjustment in the summer and in the winter as your cold water’s temperature will change slightly.

How Much Money Will I Save Washing Clothes in 100°F Water

It cost’s about $0.30/load of laundry washed in 140°F hot water. Which the average family will do 312 loads of laundry a year, so $93.60/year is spent to do laundry using hot water. NOTE: $93.60/year is just spent on heating the water, not including the cost of electricity to power the washer itself. If you use 100°F warm water to wash your clothes it cost about $0.16/load of laundry. So 312 loads a year in warm water will cost $49.92/year to heat your water. So if you wash your clothes in warm water instead of hot water you will save $43.68/year!

How Much Money Will I Save Washing Clothes in Cold Water

Being that cold water is not heated at all you will save $93.60/year by washing your clothes in cold water instead of hot water!

How Can I Save Even More Money Washing Clothes

If you want to save more money you could even use a Wonderwash hand crank clothes washer, which uses no electricity or gas at all! You can’t do a whole lot of laundry per load, but if you wash a portion of your clothes in it you will save even more money! If you are a single person or even just you and 1 other person, you could use the Wonderwash to wash all of your laundry. If you have children you can give them some small chores like doing the laundry using the Wonderwash! The clothes will come out of the Wonderwash very wet, so you will want to use a clothes spinner or clothes wringer to get the extra water out before hanging on a clothesline or clothes drying rack to dry or put in your electric clothes dryer or gas clothes dryer.

You can also read my go green tip: Save Money Doing Laundry Drying Clothes to learn how to save even more money while drying your clothes!

How Much Does it Cost to Dry a Load of Clothes

Drying clothes cost around $0.50/load of laundry done in an electric dryer or around $0.45/load of laundry to dry in a gas clothes dryer. The gas dryer costs around $0.04/load for electricity and $0.41/load for the gas. The average family will do around 6 loads of laundry a week, which is 312 loads of laundry a year! So if you are using an electric clothes dryer you will spend around $156/year just by drying your clothes. If you are using a gas clothes dryer, you will spend around $140.40/year to dry your clothes!

How Can I Dry Clothes Without Using a Clothes Dryer

Yes, you can dry your laundry without having a clothes dryer, or even if you have a clothes dryer you can use these methods to save money. Simple, you can hang your clothes on a clothesline to dry. You can hang your clothes on a clothes drying rack, indoor clothesline, outdoor clothesline, etc. Just hang your clothes somewhere dry, and your clothes will dry. Hanging clothes to dry will save you around $156/year. Plus, if you don’t already have a clothes dryer, you will save more money by not buying a clothes dryer!

If you want to hang your clothes indoors, you can simply get a clothesline and run it across your basement. I’d recommend using a clothes drying rack and a clothesline. I like clothes drying racks slightly more because they are not in the way. You can place clothes drying racks off to the side somewhere and you don’t have to duck every time you walk around in your basement! You will still want to use a clothes line for some of your larger loads or even larger laundry, like sheets, blankets, etc.

Hanging your clothes on an outdoors clothes line will usually dry your clothes faster as the heat from the sun will dry them. Some people worry about clothes fading as they are in the sun. I really haven’t had a problem with that, but I don’t leave my clothes out all day. I usually only set them out to get them partially dry, then bring them indoors to finish drying.

Another way to dry your clothes even faster is to use a clothes spinner or a clothes wringer first before hanging them to dry or if you are still wanting to use an electric clothes dryer, spinning or wringing your clothes out first will save you money, but not as mush as just hang drying your clothes.

A clothes spin dryer is kind of like the last cycle on your washer, it spins clothes really fast using centrifugal force to force the water out of the clothes. A clothes spinner will get clothes dryer than the spin cycle on your washer. The clothes wringer squeezes the water out of the clothes.

I think the clothes wringer is more efficient than the clothes spinner. The clothes spinner is a little faster, and also uses less effort from you. A clothes wringer still requires you to feed each article of clothing into the wringer, even if you get an electric clothes wringer, you will still have to feed the clothes into the clothes wringer, but you won’t have to hand crank the clothes through the wringer. I recommend thinking of it like this, if you get a hand crank clothes wringer, you get to do laundry, save money, and get a slight exercise all at the same time!

You may also wat to read my go green tip: Save Money Doing Laundry Washing Clothes

What Electrical Appliances Still Use Electricity When Turned Off

Any electrical device that has an external power supply connected to it will still use electricity while powered off. Such as cellphone chargers, computer speakers, any of those electrical devices with a cubed power supply on it. Also any electrical appliances that have a clock, LED, light, or LCD panel on it will also still use electricity while turned off. Such as microwaves, coffee makers, TVs, VCR’s, DVD players, etc. Also any devices that have a standby or sleep power modes will still consume electricity. Most TV’s and set top cable boxes never actually turn off, they just go into a standby mode. Computer monitors and computers are the same. Most computers will still keep power to the motherboard for different functions such as ethernet cards/network cards, modems, USB hubs, etc.

How Much Energy is Consumed by Appliances While Turned Off

The electricity consumed by electrical appliances while they are turned off depends on the electrical appliance. The range of electricity used by these electricity leaking appliances are anywhere from 1 watt to 50 watts of electricity! Now 1 watt doesn’t sound like a lot, which it isn’t, but when you have 20+ electrical appliances in your home using just 1 watt of power, that’s 20 watts being used!

A single cellphone charger will consume 1 watt while plugged into the wall, even without a phone plugged into it! The same cellphone charger will also consume 4.5 watts of electricity with a cellphone plugged into it that is already fully charged! The same cellphone charger will consume 8 watts of power while charging a cellphone.

A stand-alone DVR set top box will consume 48.5 watts of power while turned off. A digital cable DVR set top box will consume 43.5 watts of electricity while turned off, while a digital cable box without DVR will consume 33 watts of electricity. A satellite set top box with or without DVR will consume 33.5 watts of power while turned off.

Almost everyone has a TV in their home, so how much electricity do TVs consume while turned off? Rear projection TV will consume 48.5 watts of electricity while it is turned off! A standard CRT TV will consume 13 watts while turned off.

Most of you will have a mini stereo system, one of those with speakers, CD player, AM/FM radio, etc all built into one unit. They will consume 24.5 watts of power while turned off! I’m sure most of you have one of these in your bedroom, living room, or kids bedroom.

A home theatre audio receiver that most of you will have hooked up to your TV in your living room will consume 19.5 watts of electricity while it is turned off.

So with just the few things I’ve mentioned here, that’s a total of $127.69/year just for  electrical devices turned off for 16 hours every day. Most of you probably have more than 1 of each of those items in your home that are turned off, but still plugged in consuming power.

How Much Money Do These Appliances Consume While Turned Off

So now I’m going to calculate an average family of 4, and see how much electricity is leaking in their home, and how much it costs them. Well the parents are leaking 2369.74 kWh a year of electricity, which costs $236.97/year! Each of the children leak around 920.43 kWh of power each year, which costs $92.04 each child! So we have a total of $421.05/year being wasted because of electricity leaking on your electrical devices in your home!

How Can I Save Money by Stopping Electricity Leaking Appliances

There are 3 ways you can save money and save electricity by stopping these electrical appliances from leaking electricity. I will provide all 3 methods of stopping electrical devices from leaking electricity so you can save electricity. Some methods work better than others, but are not as convenient.

The cheapest and most effective is just by unplugging electrical appliances when you are not using them, which can become a major pain.This method works great as there will be no electrical usage at all since the electrical appliance is completely unplugged and can not use any electricity at all. As this method is the cheapest as you don’t have to buy anything new.

The next cheapest and least effective method is buying a standard surge protector and plugging your devices into surge protectors, when not in use, turn off the power switch which will cut off power to all the devices plugged into the power strip. Standard power strips and surge protectors are priced well and will pay for themselves if you turn them off and stop your electrical appliances from using electricity while turned off. The reason this method is not as effective as you would think, is that each surge protector will still consume electricity, so even though all your electrical appliances are not, the surge protector will still consume around 6 watts of electricity. So it is still a great method to use and cheap as well.

The next cheapest method and second most effective is using a smart power strip or smart surge protector. The smart surge protectors will cut off power automatically to only the devices that are turned off, while still powering the devices that are turned on and in use! These smart surge protectors cost about the same or slightly more than regular surge protectors, but use less electricity and you don’t have to turn off the power button when you’re done with your devices, just simply turn that appliance off! The smart surge protectors will still consume electricity when not in use, but not as much as normal surge protectors. The smart surge protectors will consume around 1 watt while in use, and less than 0.25 watts while turned off!

LCD Advantages

Some of the advantages of using an LCD computer monitor is that you will use a lot less electricity, so you will save money on your electric bill. Also since a Liquid Crystal Display monitor uses less electricity and you need an Uninterruptible Power Supply, you will not have to buy a large capacity UPS. If you do buy a larger capacity UPS, it will last longer using an LCD monitor vs. CRT monitor.

LCD monitors generate less heat. So in the summer time when you run your air conditioning, the A/C will have to work a little harder and longer to cool your home down if you are using a CRT monitor. So by using a LCD monitor on your computer you will save money because your A/C system will not have to run as hard and as long.

Liquid Crystal Display monitors are also easier on your eyes. When using a computer with a CRT monitor for long periods of time your eyes will start to strain and maybe even give you headaches! Using a LCD monitor will not do this to you!

LCD monitors are also smaller in size and weight. Almost anyone can carry an LCD monitor if rearranging rooms in your home. If you are moving a CRT monitor it will require a little bit of strength to move. CRT monitors are also a lot larger in size which makes it difficult to wrap your arms around. You will save room on your computer desk by using a LCD monitor, so you will have more work space or more room to place photos of your family or other things.

CRT Electricity Cost

I’m using a 17″ Flat CRT monitor for this calculation. Which is a great monitor but loves to consume electricity! This 17″ Flat CRT monitor will consume 150 watts! I also have a 14″ CRT monitor that will consume 65 watts! Most of you will have your computer running around 8 hours every day, some will be more, some will be less.

LCD Electricity Cost

My 17″ LCD monitor will consume 28 watts! There are some LCD monitors that are larger that will still consume around the same amount and consume less power! LG has a 22″ LCD monitor that only uses 22 watts!

So now you can see that LCD monitors save you lots of money! There are more and more energy efficient LCD monitors being designed and built every day. As for LG’s 22″ LCD only using 22 watts of power, that’s just the start, I’m sure there are other LCD monitors out there that are more energy efficient than the LG 22″ LCD.

How Much Money Will an LCD Computer Monitor Save Me

As you can see switching from a 17″ CRT computer monitor to a 17″ LCD computer monitor will save you $35.65 every year! So go green by buying an energy efficient LCD computer monitor for your home! For more go green tips on saving electricity continue reading through Go Green in Your Home!

How Much Electricity Do Christmas Lights Use

Christmas lights that are using incandecent lights use a lot of electricity. Depending on the brand, quality, etc. a string of 100 incandecent Christmas lights will use around 45 watts of power! Most of you have around 500 lights just on your Christmas tree. So that’s 225 watts of power being used by Christmas lights! Most people will probably have their Christmas tree on for about 9 hours per day, and probably from Thanksgiving until a little after New Years, so your Christmas tree will be on for around 40 days.

So  let’s calculate how much electricity your Christmas tree is using:

40 days x 9 hours per day = 360 hours of use
360 hours x 225 watts / 1,000 = 81 kWh
81 kWh x $0.10 per kWh = $8.10

So now after calculating your Christmas tree’s electricity usage we found that it costs $8.10 just to power your Christmas tree for those 40 days if you only have 500 lights on your Christmas tree.  Most of you will also have more incandecent Christmas lights decorating other things as well wreaths, stair hand rails, windows, icicle lights hanging from your gutters, etc.

How Can I Save Money on Christmas Lighting

You can save money on Christmas lighting by using LED ( Light-Emitting Diode ) Christmas lights instead of your standard incandecent lights. There are also many other advantages to using LED Christmas lights instead of incandecent Christmas lights. Go Green in Your Home suggests replacing all of your standard incandecent Christmas lights with LED Christmas lights to save money, save electricity, and save the environment!

What are the Advantages of LED Christmas Lights

LED Christmas lights have many advantages over your standard incandecent Christmas lights. The 2 major advantages of LED Christmas lights is that they use a lot less electricity than incandecent Christmas lights. The technology used in light-emitting diodes is based on a semiconductor diode. When the diode is forward biased, or powered on, electrons recombine with holes to release photons. This is called electroluminescence. The next major advantage is that the light-emitting diodes last a long time. So you won’t have to replace light bulbs every Christmas and check the strings to make sure they work. LED lights are very durable and will last anywhere from 25,000 – 100,000 hours! A lot of the light-emitting diodes produced in the 1970′s are still in use today! Some of the other advantages of LED lights are that they are smaller in size, very fast light (instantly turn on), do not give off a lot of heat, and overall more energy efficient!

How Much Does Electricity Cost for LED Christmas Lights

Light-emitting diodes will cost you a lot less than standard incandecent Christmas lights, but how much will LED Christmas lighting save you? Well lets calculate the electricity usage of a Christmas tree using LED lighting instead of incandecent.

200 LED lights use 12 watts of power. So we will use 500 lights as we did when calculating the incandecent Christmas lights. So 500 LED lights will use 30 watts of power. We will also use the same amount of time and days used in the incandecent calculation.

40 days x 9 hours = 360 hours of use
360 hours x 30 watts / 1,000 = 10.8 kWh
10.8 kWh x $0.10 per kWh = $1.08

As you can see $1.08 for lighting a 500 LED Christmas tree is a lot more efficient than the incandecent Christmas lighting. So buy LED Christmas lights for your Christmas tree, Christmas wreaths, and all your other Christmas lighting needs so you can start saving money, and not have to replace all those light bulbs every year!

How Much Heat is Wasted

When you are sleeping your furnace is heating your entire home when your bed only needs to be warm! So all that extra heat is wasted for those 8 hours of sleep time. You are also wasting heat while you are away from your home for 8 hours at work or school and you leave your heat turned on. So in total there is 16 hours of heat being wasted in your home!

How Will I Save Money Using an Electric Blanket

Using an electric blanket at night will allow you to turn your furnace’s thermostat down to 55°F instead of your normal 70°F. This 15°F temperature drop during the 8 hours you are sleeping will save you money. How will you stay warm in 55°F temperatures? Easy, use an electric blanket, a 90watt electric blanket on for 8 hours a day will only cost you $2.20/mo. for each electric blanket in your home, yet will drop your gas bill or electric bill which ever you use for heating your home dramatically.

How do I Save Money on Heating While I’m at Work

Easy, turn your heat down to 55°F for the 8 hours you are at work or school as well. There is no point heating your home when no one is in it to benefit from the warmth. Now if you have pets or someone still in your home, them maybe don’t turn your thermostat down to 55°F, but you can still turn it down at least a few degrees. For every degree you turn down your heat you will save around 2% – 3% on your heating bill.

How Much Money Will I Save on Heating My Home

If you follow these steps and turn down your thermostat to 55°F for the 8 hours your sleep and the 8 hours you are at work or school, you will save around 22.06% on your heating bill!

So if your monthly heating bill is usually $140/mo. your new heating bill following these gas saving tips will be only $109.12/mo. which saves you around $30.89/mo. on your heating bill! Well subtract the $2.20/mo. that you would be paying for each electric blanket running. So you are saving $28.69 every month during the winter on your heating bill!

Programmable Thermostats

For those of you that forget to turn down the heat thermostat to 55°F while you are at work, school, and sleeping, you can buy a programmable thermostat! Basically you can program the thermostat to automatically turn the temperature down to 55°F for the 8 hours you are sleeping, and also for the 8 hours you are at work or school! This way you can have your heat kick back on and heat your home to 70°F before you get home, or before you actually get out of bed!

Electric Blanket Tips and Recommendations

When buying an electric blanket, make sure you get a decent one. You don’t have to buy anything very expensive, but make sure it has a temperature control and also an auto shutoff. This way when you get up in the morning it will automatically shut off incase you forget about it, so you are not wasting electricity to heat your bed when no one is in it. There are also programmable electric blankets, and also auto temperature controlling electric heating blankets. These blankets are a little more exspensive, but they auto adapt to your body heat, you get too warm in the middle of the night it will automatically turn itself down or off. If you get out of bed to go to the bathroom and come back, it will sense that your body temperature has dropped and heat you back up! But, any electric heating blanket or matress heating pad will work great to help you save money on your heating bill.

If you do buy an electric blanket be sure to also buy a decent quilt or comforter to put over top of it so the comforter or quilt will help keep the heat under the covers so the electric heating blanket doesn’t have to run all night to keep you warm.

So if you are saving $28.69/mo. for heating bills, and around my area I am heating my home for about 8 month of the year, so $229.52/year I save! But if your normal heating bill is more than $140/mo. originally, you will save even more money than me!

I hope you use these money saving tips to lower your heating bill. Using an electric blanket to heat your bed is more efficient and also usually a little more comfortable.Your entire bed is nice and warm, even when you first get in it. I hate getting into a cold bed and having to rub my body to create heat by friction to get warm enough to fall asleep. With an electric blanket you will be nice and warm in no time at all. So now you can sleep great knowing you are saving money while you sleep!