ENERGY CONSERVATION IN THE CITY Tim and Betty Gulden copyright 1991 by Tim and Betty Gulden Energy conservation is important to everyone. Anybody living in the city can conserve energy right now with little or no impact to one's comfort. You will save money and help the environment, too. Our Location October 1, 1990 we moved into a week-old 4 plex apartment building in South Eastern Minnesota. It measures 27' by 27' and occupies 729 square feet of floor space. The apartment was built to current building codes with 6" walls, 6" floor and 22" ceiling insulation, and double pane windows. Three of the four apartments have two people living in them. Apartment 3 has three people. We live in apartment 4. Everything is run by electricity in all our apartments. We have all the modern conveniences of the typical home. Our major appliances are as follows: frost free 14 cubic foot refrigerator/freezer, electric range, 800 watt microwave, and electric hot water heater. Our remaining, smaller, appliances are: 19 inch color TV, high powered stereo system, toaster, blender, mixer, can opener, answering machine, cordless phone computer (with dual disk drives, monitor, and printer), hair dryer, curling iron, two alarm clocks, slot machine, and bathroom/kitchen vent fans. Initial Investment I replaced the six incandescent lamps with six 18 watt compact fluorescent lights for $61.02. I installed a water saving shower head with on/off valve for $20.50. It has a maximum measured flow of 1.8 gallons per minute. My total investment is $81.52, including tax. Modifications to our Apartment I used two accurate thermometers. One to calibrate the four bimetal thermostats that control our electric baseboard heaters. The other to set the refrigerator's temperature at 38øF. We keep the apartment temperature at 70øF. I found that we need only one baseboard heater located on the wall between the living room and bedroom. Enough heat travels thru the bedroom wall and enters thru the bedroom door to maintain 70 degrees. We have experienced no temperature discomfort when the outdoor temperatures dips to -15øF. Our electric hot water heater is located two stories below us and supplies us with 110 degree water at the faucet. This is plenty hot for all our hot water needs. Modifications to our Life Style The following modifications are so slight that after a few weeks they become routine. They are as follows: 1. Open and close the entry door as quickly as possible. The door is directly exposed to the outside with no air lock. This will limit the amount of cold air entering the apartment. 2. Shut off lights and other appliances when not in use. 3. Close the refrigerator soon after opening. It takes approximately 15 seconds to displace its cold air. 4. Take shorter showers and use an On/Off valve when soaping up. 5. Keep the apartment temperature at 70øF. Monitor with an accurate thermometer. 6. Keep the two South facing window blinds open to take advantage of the Sun's solar heat. The Measured Results I read and record all four electric meters in our apartment building on the 1st and 15th of each month at 11:00 AM. I enter these figures into a spreadsheet program which allows me to graph the results. Each bar on the graph represents a 2 week period. INSERTSPREADANDGRAPH. The bar graph represents Oct 15, 1990 thru Nov 1, 1990 and so on. The electricity dramatically increased between Dec 15 and Feb 1. During that time the temperature dipped to -15øF. for many days. Our electricity is currently running 8.2 cents per KWH. This includes the basic charge of $6.50, City fee of 4%, and State tax of 6%. Conclusion Our total electricity cost for the past 18 weeks has been $256.50. The average electricity cost of the other three apartments for the same time period is $464.12. The difference is $207.62 or 2,532 KWHrs. Subtract our initial investment of $81.52 and we have a net gain, to date, of $126.10. And we save even more every day... Quality of Materials We are more than satisfied with the shower head. We can vary the pray from a light to a very satisfying, massaging, and forceful spray. To date the spray pattern remains constant with no nozzle clogging. I wish the fluorescent lights were so reliable. Since our initial purchase, we have return three of our light for replacement. I am a little disappointed with the reliability and hope it will dramatically improve in the future. (Editor's note: Home Power tested the Lights of America models and found that, while they are inexpensive, you get what you pay for. We recommend the OSRAM EL series fluorescents, they cost more, but they work better and they last. See HP#20, page 15. RP.) Future Plans We plan to dramatically cut our air conditioning bills this summer. I will install a 24 hour timer to the wall air conditioner and operate it only at night. This is the most efficient time. If the nights are cool enough we will exhaust the inside heat using a window fan. During the day we will shut the south facing blinds to eliminate a large portion of the solar heat gain. In the near future we will be building our new home incorporating all the latest energy saving measures. Reducing our energy usage is one way we can make a significant contribution to saving our planet. Access Authors: Tim and Betty Gulden, 731 East Front Street, Apt. 4D, Winona, MN 55987. Shower Head: Real Goods, 966 Mazzoni Street, Ukiah, CA 95482 ù 1-800-762-7325 Fluorescent Lights: Lights of America, Walnut, CA 91789. Lights were purchased from a local large retail store.