Hi Guys,

I hope that you have had a good day.

If you are like me you probably would like to reduce the size of your energy bills. After all the less energy we consume the less we pay.

However there is also another reason I would like to reduce my energy consumption and that is to reduce my energy storage requirements when I finally go off the grid.

And so today I would like to discuss ways to reduce our energy consumption.

The world is faced with an energy crisis now and none of us remain unaffected anymore. I personally think that this crisis is artificial in order to force up the prices of energy and to exert control over us.

I don’t think that we can expect anything from governments expect lip service. Government is more often than not part of the problem; for instance to tax component for a litre of diesel in the UK is 65%. The higher the price per litre of fuel the more money enters government coffers.

Ultimately it is up to us to do something to reduce our energy needs and to generate our own energy to power our homes.

It costs me on average £45.00 to fill up my car on a weekly basis. This means that my weekly contribution to government coffers is £29.25, which comes to £351.00. With three cars at home, as a family we contribute around £1053.00 to government coffers to get to work.

Once electric cars have become efficient and are able to travel longer distances than they can at present without the need for constant charging and no longer cost the earth, I will definitely get one. Who knows we may even have cars that recharge themselves with solar cells incorporated in the body of the car.

But what happens to our energy tax contribution to government coffers if this were the case. It probably explains their plan to try to charge us for every mile we drive instead of charging us road tax.

So what can we do, if anything, to reduce our current level of energy requirements?

There are some relatively easy steps can be taken to reduce our energy needs. However, we do need to consider the benefit of carrying out such energy saving measures. After all what good are they to you if you land up paying more than what you are already paying.

One must balance the cost to benefit requirements for each element of our energy reduction programme.

Quite a few cost saving measures mentioned below are associated to standby power. Standby power is also known as vampire power, vampire draw, phantom load, or leaking electricity, and refers to electric power consumed by electronic appliances while they are switched off or in a standby mode.

So let us look at how you can save power at home.

Computers:

At the vary least you should set the power settings on your computer to automatically go into Sleep or Standby mode after 15 minutes or so of inactivity.

Turn your computer and its monitor off when you’re done for the day.

If you use a desktop, use an LCD monitor. They use lots less energy than CRT’s.

You could always use a power strip so you can easily turn off all your computer accessories at once.

I personally turn off my laptop along with all accessories off at the wall switch when I’m done for the day. As everything is connected together through a power strip I know that everything is switched off at the same time.

Air Conditioner:

Set the temperature at the maximum or minimum you are comfortable with, depending on the season. The operative word here is comfortable.

Try not to set it at too high or too low temperatures. In our house I’ve got to keep checking the thermostat as our teenager keep changing the temperature settings.

Setting the air conditioner at reasonable temperatures helps save a lot of energy.

Unfortunately for me, I’ve got to keep checking our thermostat as our teenagers keep changing the temperature levels to what they feel is right for them.

Washing Machines:

Minimize the number of washes by washing full load of clothes every time. Also, if washing machine packs up you could buy a new machine with a better energy rating than your old one had.

You could also try to wash your clothing at a lower temperature setting or on a reduced wash cycle.

Television:

Switch off your television at the wall plug when not in use. Take off the power plug of your television set when not using it. This may not sound a big deal but this tiny step will help save power.

Power adapters:

Power adapters are very common “electricity vampires” as they have no power-off switches. These include mobile telephone chargers, electric toothbrush chargers and the like. I am quite sure that you may have touched one of these adapters when not in use and discovered that it was warm to the touch. Switch them off at the wall plug. Better yet, keep them unplugged until you need them.

Geysers:

Keep the geyser thermostat at the minimum heat. You do not need to heat the water at a very high temperature or for too long.

Refrigerators and freezers:

Bring hot food to room temperatures before putting it into the refrigerator. You can also save power by taking cold or frozen food out of the refrigerator much before the mealtime, thereby saving power in heating it.

Car:

For an air-conditioner equipped car, pull up the windows of your car before switching on the air-conditioner.

Save on your energy bills by generating your own power at home with solar and wind energy to reduce or eliminate your power bill. Get our complete guide at DIY Power System

As always, I wish you everything I wish myself.

Until the next time.

Alain

Check out my review of the top 3 products for renewable home enegy solution
Check out my review of the Home Made Power Plant product
Check out my review of DIY Power System product

• Passive solar energy
• Hot water heating solar panels
• Electricity generating solar panels
• Photovoltaic cells
• Electricity generating wind turbines for the home
• Building your own home electricity generating power plant
• House design
• Calculating your energy requirements
• Energy storage including battery types
• The case against commercial industrial wind power
• The case against commercial industrial bio diesel

I’ll start with an explanation of where I stand on some of the issue that in effect affect the above.

My paradigm or worldview provides me with a framework to organize new thoughts and information. This is how we all “make sense of the world around us.” Our paradigms filter out what doesn’t fit from our worldview. However it appears that for some reason or other we cannot seem to be able to learn what doesn’t conform to our paradigm and because of this, our paradigms can either liberate us or imprison us, depending on how true to our reality they are.

My paradigm has shifted many times in the past. At times the shift is slow and gradual, whilst at other times the shift has been rather sudden and violent. Some 13-years or so ago I had a series of paradigm shifts. I have always been an avid reader and to some extent I have always known that governments, religion, mainstream media, big business & the education system were actively sabotaging society.

With these paradigm shifts I learned not to ever take anything for granted, to cross reference any story, to see through the propaganda and most crucially to follow the money i.e. who benefits.

Repeatedly, through time, some grand fraud or other is concocted by the unholy alliance of governments, religion, mainstream media, big business & the education system, each with its own agenda and vested interest.

This unholy partnership of self interested businesses, so-called scientists, grandstanding politicians, alarmist campaigners and a main stream media pushing their sponsors agendas provide a new twist on a very old practice; companies and individuals using public policy to line their own pockets.

This loose grouping, to put them in the same category as the military-industrial complex, can I supposed, be called the climate-industrial complex. A grouping that does not promote any discussion or free thoughts on environmental matters but will attack and vilify any detractor or person not on message. They would really make the Spanish Inquisition proud by their labeling of any and all dissenters as heretics.

This loose grouping however have their own vested interests and agendas and will at times work against each other, which in my mind is a blessing in disguise.

For the last few years, they’ve been trying to terrorize us into accepting that human society was on the brink of extinction because of man-made global warming. We are warned that, unless we take drastic action to reverse it – then islands will disappear, whole cities will be destroyed and polar bears will drown. However, when the universe conspired against the global warmists by giving us rather cool summers and a really long and cold winter it quickly became climate change.

Climate change has occurred long before man made his apparition on this planet and will continue to do so long after we will disappear from this earth. As this planet has been considerably hotter and colder than it is at the moment, is it not rather egotistical of man to assume that he has an effect upon the earth’s temperature?

The climate-industrial complex / environmentalist movement has taken on a religious like fervour with saint Al Bore as its spokes person.

When it comes to so-called carbon trading, an industry created out of thin air that produces nothing but is going to cost the general public and taxpayer an arm and a leg one should follow the money and check out who will benefit from such a scheme. Interestingly enough Al Bore’s name pops up. He buys his carbon credit from, wait for it, his own carbon trading company. A company he conveniently started in 2004 two years before he brought out the fictional film “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006. The man whose home uses up as much energy as 20 average US homes. In 2006 he used over 191000 kWh of electricity whilst the average American home only used less than 11000 kWh. How’s this for an inconvenient truth!

Carbon trading is a scam used by the climate-industrial complex to redistribute even more of the taxpayer’s and general public’s wealth into their own coffers and the same as always: the control over our lives for its own sake, thinly disguised by phoney self-righteous posturing.

Hey! If you feel guilty about your so-called carbon footprint or if you believe in this sh1t I’ve got some pet rocks to sell you or even better you can buy your carbon credits from me… For more information email me at… Aw, forget it, I’d be scamming you too wouldn’t I.

The vested interest of climate-industrial complex / environmental movement cares little for the people of this planet. They don’t care that there policies sentences the poorest in Africa, Asia and South America to death just as long as they have done their bit for the “planet”.

Now back to my interest in renewable home energy solutions.

About 13-years ago a friend of mine who worked in photovoltaic (PV) research told me that I would not believe the amount of political interference in their research. And that at that time, keeping in mind that this was 13-years ago, every single home could be self-sufficient in energy. The only thing that was stopping this was the vested interest of energy suppliers and government interference.

The vested interest of the power companies which, apart from the electricity supply companies, also include the gas and oil companies, have kept this virtually free energy away from the general public.

However, various researchers, engineers and enthusiasts have continuously worked on private projects and the information has rippled out into the wider community.

Other advances in the manufacture of improved electrical and electronic equipment as well as in lighting technology has helped to reduce our energy consumption.

Another area that was and to a certain extent still is problematic is the storage of energy, especially electrical energy. However, battery technology is improving and can make a substantially difference to renewable home energy solutions.

This revolution has been long in coming. I believe that we have reached critical mass and that it will be our choice whether we continue paying exorbitant prices to the energy suppliers or we spend a bit of capital up front and enjoy vastly reduced energy bills or even go off-grid altogether.

I believe that there is a place for solar and wind energy, though, probably not in an industrial scale but certainly for home use.

The choice is ours.

Large industrial complexes will still require energy from energy suppliers but we no longer have to help subsidize them.

I wish you everything I wish myself.

Until the next time.

Alain
Check out my review of the top 3 products for renewable home enegy solution
Check out my review of the Home Made Power Plant product
Check out my review of DIY Power System product