Electricity Intelligence—hey, it may even save you some $$$

Going green is often criticized as elitist. Green behavior is accused of being a way for liberal elites and Hollywood actresses to assuage their guilt over being successful. This argument suggests that going green is a marketing scam directed towards people with too much time and money, and that it is wholly unreasonable for the regular person.

The argument that going green is elitist is without a doubt one of the worst arguments I’ve ever heard in a long time. Sure, there are lots of ‘green’ products on the shelves that cost more than regular products (not including the cost to your health of course). I also don’t doubt that some Hollywood actresses feel guilty about all sorts of things. And still, this argument against going green so fantastically misses the point, it is almost laughable.

First of all, who cares why Hollywood does anything? I generally try not to make any life decisions based on the actions of people who are stuck in some sort of eternal high school time warp that makes them do whatever it takes to be popular. Secondly, and much more importantly, going green can save you lots of money!

Reduce, reuse, recycle—even the EPA tells us to practice the 3 R’s of conservation. But which of these three is most often ignored? Reduce, of course. Reducing the amount of anything we do is tough. It just isn’t the American way. We like bigger, better, more.

However, by reducing electricity, not only are you helping to save the environment, but you are potentially saving yourself a lot of money. I recently spent some time researching different way to save electricity, and the more I read, the more obvious it becomes.

Here is a fantastic website: Saving Electricity, run by someone who appropriately calls himself Mr. Electricity. Yeah, it’s a quirky website, but the information you find here is incredibly useful (and I have done enough research to feel confident that this guy knows what he’s talking about). He does an excellent job of explaining how these electricity saving tips work, not just giving you a list of things to do and expecting you to blindly follow.

Of particular interest to me was the section on Air Conditioning. I have ceiling fans, and they are excellent. I will admit that it’s tough when the summer is at its peak to just rely on a ceiling fan, so I have a couple of window AC units. But check out the watt usage for AC units—you use almost three times the energy with a window AC as you would if you left your refrigerator door open for the same amount of time! Ouch. I also enjoyed his debunking of the myth that it is better to run your AC all day long. It is far more effective to turn your AC on at night when you get home than to leave it chugging away all day.

To start, I am going to experiment with using my ceiling fans as much as possible. If I can reduce my energy costs for the rest of the summer, perhaps I can save a good chunk of money. I’m pretty sure that a little extra money isn’t going to make me a guilty liberal, or a Hollywood actress for that matter.

If you are interested in more energy saving tips, the Saving Electricity site has tons, and not just about Air Conditioning. You might also check out this guide at treehugger.com on how to green your electricity.