Bill Tauber the "Green Energy Coach™"

Dear Coach: I live in California and just got my electric bill and it is almost 60% higher than normal. I have been using my air conditioner more since it’s been much hotter in the last couple of months. I can’t afford a new air conditioner so what can I do?

                                                                                           Bruce R. – Modesto, CA 

Dear Bruce: There are three things I suggest you do right away and you’ll start saving on your air conditioning costs immediately. First, grab a caulking gun and seal air leaks throughout the house, focusing on leaks to the attic space, through the foundation, and around windows and doors. The EPA estimates that homeowners can typically save up to 20% of heating and cooling costs (or up to 10% of total energy costs) by air sealing their homes and adding insulation in attics, floors over crawl spaces. Second, make sure you’ve changed or cleaned your air filter on the air conditioner. Dirty air filters are a source of increased operating costs and poor cooling system operation. If your air conditioner is outside make sure there is no debris hindering the A/C operation. And third, fans, either a full house fan or portable fans, can actually allow you to set your thermostat 4 or 5 degrees higher without losing comfort and most fans use less energy than a light bulb.

Dear Coach: You wrote recently about computers and vampire/phantom power that uses energy even when not in use or in standby power so I tried turning everything off like you suggested. But I have a VoIP phone and I can’t shut off the Router or I’ll lose my phone.

Jim H. – Wichita, KS

Dear Jim: VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a method for taking analog audio signals, like the kind you hear when you talk on the phone, and turn them into digital data that can be transmitted over the Internet. You need to use a smart power strip that automatically turns things off like the printer and monitor when you turn off your computer but leaves on Modems and Routers.

Smart power strips are very good at sensing when you turn your TV or computer off. The smart power strip will automatically cut power to your other type devices like monitors and speakers so you can get rid of the vampire power drain plus it also can determine when to turn your devices back on automatically as well.

Dear Coach: When I try and read my electric bill I see the utility electric company charges me for usage of kilowatt hours. What is a kilowatt hour?

Shirley G – Lexington, KY

Dear Shirley: The kilowatt hour (kWh) is commonly used by electrical utility companies for purposes of billing since your usage is in a one month billing cycle. The best way to explain a kilowatt hour is to understand what things consume in energy. For example, a 60 watt light bulb uses 60 watts of electricity when it’s turned on. But the utility company has to know how long you had that light bulb turned on so they can charge you for the usage of electricity. Let’s say for example, you use that 60 watt light bulb every night for three hours. Remember, they bill you in a one month billing cycle. So 60 watts for three hours a night times 30 nights equals 5,400 watts of energy for the month. They bill you in kilowatt hours (kWh) so you divide that 5,400 by 1,000 (kilowatt) that equals 5.4 Kilo Watt Hours (kWh) of usage. If you’re paying your utility company $.12 cents per kWh than you multiply that 5.4 kWh times $.12 which equals $.65 cents for the month to have that one light bulb used.

All appliances, refrigerators, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, etc. that use electricity works the same way. So if the utility company is billing you for 800 kWh hours for the month multiply that 800 times what they charge you for a kWh. Or in other words, 800 kWh times $.12 equals $96.00 for the month.

Of course, there are other charges on your electric bill like Kilowatt Demand (KW), delivery charges, taxes, surcharges, etc. Some utility companies combine water and other services on the same utility bill. But the basic part of your electric bill is in kWh and all other electrical charges are usually calculated against that usage.