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Include Home Energy Savings in Your Holiday Plans

If you are planning to travel this holiday season, don’t forget that you can save energy and money while you are away from home. Here are 5 simple tips to help you get more from your energy dollar.

1. Computers, stereos, TVs, DVD players, and VCRs all use electricity even when they’re not turned on.  Unplugging these products before a trip can help save energy.

2. Set your thermostat higher or lower than you typically do when you are at home.  A temperature in the low 80’s is ideal for air-conditioning, while one in the low 50’s works well for heating.  A programmable thermostat can automatically do this.

3. Consider using timers to turn lights on and off each night in a few rooms. This can improve security by giving your home a lived-in look. Use compact fluorescent bulbs for inside and outside lights that will be on the longest.  These bulbs use about 75 percent less power and last up to 12,000 hours.

4. If you are going on a lengthy trip, turn down your water heater’s temperature to the lowest setting.  Leave a reminder to turn it back up when you return home.

5. Adjust the temperature control on your refrigerator to a warmer setting.  If you are going on an extended trip, consider emptying the fridge and turning it off (remember to leave the door open to prevent mildew).

Fuel Diversity Is Smart

America’s electric companies rely on a variety of fuels to generate electricity—coal, nuclear energy, natural gas, hydropower and other renewables, and fuel oil.

Fuel diversity protects electric companies and their customers from contingencies such as fuel unavailability, fuel price fluctuations, and changes in regulatory practices that can drive up the cost of a particular fuel. Fuel diversity also helps ensure stability and reliability in electricity supply and strengthens national security.

Electric generation fuel mixes vary from state to state and region to region, depending upon the availability and cost of fuels located there. Major changes in the generation mix can have economic and reliability impacts, especially on a regional basis.

Find out what the fuel mix is in your state.

Hot Topic: Electric Reliability

A recent report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reinforces the need to invest in America’s electric future. According to NERC, electricity usage in the United States is projected to grow more than twice as fast as committed resources over the next 10 years. NERC says that peak demand for electricity will increase by almost 18 percent (135,000 megawatts) during this time—enough energy to power more than 100 million homes on an average day.

NERC warns that unless additional supply-side and demand-side resources are brought into service, some areas could fall below their target capacity margins within two to three years. The organization’s President and CEO Rick Sergel said, “Though some improvements have been made, we are requiring our aging grid to bear more and more strain, and are operating the system at or near its limits more often than ever before.”

NERC’s 2007 Long-Term Reliability Assessment analyzes the adequacy of the North American bulk power system through 2016 and calls for actions to improve reliability. The report is available at: ftp://www.nerc.com/pub/sys/all_updl/docs/pubs/LTRA2007.pdf

Take Our Poll

We’ve added a new feature to the Get Energy Active Web site: a monthly poll! Visit the site and take our first poll about energy efficiency. And, find out how others are getting energy active, too.

Remember to visit our site each month to answer a new poll question.

Take our poll today!