1. Prepared for Enterprise Community Partners

2. Why Should You Care about Energy Use?
It saves money
Using less energy means lowering utility bills and saving money
It reduces carbon emissions
Carbon emissions are linked to climate change that results in more common severe weather events (hurricanes, heavy rains/floods, and droughts)

3. Why Should You Care about Energy Use?
Electricity is generated from power plants

4. Why Should You Care about Energy Use?
Image Source: Señor Codo via flickr under a CC license
Power plants produce emissions that can be harmful to human health and contribute to global warming.
GREEN & HEALTHY LIVING: Energy Conservation
Enterprise Community Partners | 4

5. Why Should You Care about Energy Use?
The more electricity used...
the more Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emitted

6. CO2 Contributes to Climate Change & Affects...
CO2 Contributes to Climate Change, Affecting...
Eco-System Changes
Catastrophic Weather Events
Source:
Source:
Hurricanes
Extreme Drought
Source:
Source:

7. Major Home Energy Usage
Space Conditioning (Space heating and Space cooling) together make up over half a typical home’s energy use (54%). Leaving windows open while the heater or A/C is a huge source of energy loss and equates literally to throwing money out the window
Source: US EPA

8. Reading an Electricity or Natural Gas Bill
There are different units of measurement for energy, depending on the form of energy
Electricity is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh)
Natural Gas, (used for heating, hot water, cooking, and sometimes clothes dryers) is measured in Therms
1 therm = 29.3 kWh

9. Energy Conservation Exercise 1
How Much Electricity Do I Use?
Input your monthly electricity use (kWh) and cost($) into the worksheet
Trainer should ask residents to take out their electricity bills and walk through each of the sections of the bill similar to the Video “How to read an Electricity Bill”. Portions of the Electricity bill that the Trainer should point out for residents are:
-Total kWh used
-Total amount due
-Breakdown of charges – both for distribution and generation – so residents can see the component costs
-Historical use (often included as a table displaying monthly kWh usage)

10. Ways to Save Energy Heating and Cooling
If possible, avoid space heaters as they are very inefficient and become a fire hazard if something is placed on them
Buy Energy Star air conditioner
In addition to being energy inefficient, Space Heaters can be dangerous if people put something on them or a blanket slips over them.

11. Why You Shouldn’t Open Windows in Winter
The Stack Effect
Window is opened in an upper floor unit
2) Heat rushes out and draws warm air up from other units
3) Cold air is drawn from the outside to replace air
Stack effect is the pressure driven flow produced by convection (the tendency of warm air to rise).
The stack effect exists whenever there is an indoor-outdoor temperature difference
It becomes stronger as the temperature difference increases.
As heated air escapes from upper levels of the building, indoor air moves from lower to upper floors,
Replacement outdoor air is drawn into opening at the lower levels of buildings.
Source: Steven Winter Associates

12. Ways to Save Energy Ways To Save Energy Appliances:
Look out for Phantom loads – little lights, LCD displays, and other indicators that remain ON even if your electronics are OFF
Turn off computer when not in use (not just sleep…OFF)
Use a timer or smart surge protector
Phantom loads account for up to 10% of your appliance energy use—even when you’re not using them!

13. How a Smart Strip Surge Protector Works
Smart strips sense when a master appliance is turned off and switches peripherals off
When the master electronics are:
Turned ON, all peripherals are turned ON
Turned OFF, the peripherals are turned OFF
Smart strip available in most stores
Control Outlet: Plug your independent “Master” electronics here
Dependant Outlets: Plug your peripherals in here

14. How a Smart Strip Surge Protector Works
Smart strips sense when a master appliance is turned off and switches peripherals off
“Master” electronics
Peripherals
DVD
Television
Cable box
Surround Sound
Printer
Computer
Monitor

15. How a Timer Strip Surge Protector Works:
Timer strips allow residents to set times of the day to turn the outlets ON or OFF
Smart strips and timer strips are available in most stores as well as online at sites like smarthome.com
Timer Switch: Set the time of day to switch outlets ON and OFF
Timed Outlets: Outlets switched ON/OFF depending on timer setting

16. Refrigerator & Freezer:
Ways to Save Energy
Refrigerator & Freezer:
Clean the coils on the back of your refrigerator
Ensure back of the refrigerator has several inches of clearance from the wall
Clean out frost from your freezer
Set your refrigerator to 37 degrees, no colder
When purchasing, choose an Energy Star appliance
Refrigerators and freezers work by expelling heat from the inside of the unit to the outside via the coils on the back. Anything that makes this job more difficult will require the unit to use more energy.
-Dust that gathers on the coils acts like a sweater to the coil and prevents it from getting rid of heat
-Not giving the unit enough clearance from the back makes it more difficult for cooler air to clear out the heat
As weird as it sounds, frost on the interior of the freezer actually makes it more difficult for the freezer to freeze your food. It acts as an insulator between your food and the freezing unit.
Source:

17. Ways to Save Energy Water:
Install an efficient showerhead (<2 gallons/minute)
Less heated water down the drain saves energy
Set clothes washers to use only cold water
Showering with warm or hot water takes energy. Using less water from the showerhead means you use less energy. Changing from a showerhead that uses 4 gallons per minute (not uncommon) to one that uses 2 gallons per minute saves, 20 gallons of hot water during a 10 minute shower.
Source:

18. Ways to Save Energy Lighting:
Replace incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent (CFL)
CFLs use 66% less energy than incandescents
Turn lights off when not in use

19. Ways to Save Energy Through Purchasing
Energy Efficient Products
Energy Star is an EPA program that identifies energy efficient products
Look for the blue Energy Star label
TVs
Refrigerators
Dishwashers
Air Conditioners
Computers
Clothes Washers

20. Ways to Save Energy Through Purchasing
Water Efficient Products
WaterSense is an EPA program that identifies water-efficient products
Look for the WaterSense label
Toilets
Showerheads
Sink Faucets

21. Energy Conservation Exercise 2
WATT Do They Take?
How is operational cost impacted by:
Settings
Wattage
Usage
Appliance
Size
Trainer to lead discussion about how operational cost is impacted by:
Settings (computer monitor awake vs. asleep)
Wattage (high vs. low)
Usage (hours per day)
Appliance Size (large vs. small)

22. This Resident Cut Their Bill in Half
Before:
Electricity used: 540 kWh
Bill Amount: $107.99
After the Electricity bill reading exercise and the discussion of reducing electricity use, lets look at a resident who implemented a number of these measures.

23. …They Save Over $300 Per Year
After:
Electricity used: 216 kWh
Bill Amount: $49.29
Discussion: Have Residents get into small groups to brainstorm how this resident saved this much energy. The answers are on the next slide.
How did they
do it?

24. How Did the Resident Cut Their Bill in Half?
Switch all lights to Compact Fluorescent
Replace Fridge with Energy Star model
Replace Dishwasher with Energy Star model
Line dry laundry

25. How Did the Resident Cut Their Bill in Half?
PLASMA
No space heater use
No blow dryer use
Non-plasma television
Almost no A/C use in the summer