Any Ideas On This?

[mac60]

I HATE those CFL bulbs. Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em. They are a serious hazard if they break because they have mercury in them. You have to be really careful how you clean them up. Plus, the ones we've ever used don't last nearly as long as incandescent bulbs; I think it's because we don't leave the lights on long enough in most of the rooms. Half the ones we get take a long time to turn on, some of the rest give a strange light that I can't stand. They're expensive and I just don't like them.

Has anyone tried LED light bulbs?

You said it well. I hate those bulbs too. We replaced our bulbs with the energy efficient expensive ones quite a while back, and almost every one of them have quit working. They definately are not what they are cracked up to be.

[dEHmom]

i didn't read all the posts but one suggestion is to close all blinds during the day, and if it's decent (not muggy out), then draw the air through the house by opening windows on one side and the opposite side of the house, and possibly sticking a fan in the window blowing out or in, that way the air in the house keeps moving, and with the blinds closed, the sun stays out and doesn't heat the house so much.


we run ac only when we need it.

try not to use the stove/oven, but if you do, make it worth while.

i line dry as much as i can, and generally don't have to tumble unless it's towels (so they soften up).

block out extra sun in windows with tinfoil or dark shades.

turn everything off that you don't need like a monitor (screen savers do not save energy).

I somehow magically have a big credit on my bill this month, woohoo. couldn't have come at a better time that's for sure.

[Sunshine44]

any ideas how to keep our electric bill down? Being at home and running the AC is killing us over here. The bill was so high, I think my husband almost fainted. He keeps the house chilly at night though and won't budge on that so its partly on him.

Phantom power is a big cause of high electric bills. Unplug anything you are not using. Kitchen appliances, lights, chargers of any kind (BIG ONE, eats a lot of power when not in use).

Slowly up the thermostat. Each week go up a degree so you can adapt to it.

[dEHmom]

oh there was something on the news not too long ago that stated pvr's are a big source of phantom energy, even when they are turned off they draw just as much and sometimes more then they do when they are on. They highly recommend unplugging them, or installing a powerbar so you can switch off all power to it when you are not using it.

[mom2many]

That sounds wonderful...

What kind of initial investment was this??

Is it as efficient with standard appliances?

How well does it work through a snowy/icy winter?

Sorry for all the ??? but I don't know anyone who actually has gone this route.

It was $56,000 (which included a state rebate of $2800) and we will get $18,000 in tax credit, which helped make it a lot more feasible! Because of the rising costs of energy and the amount we use monthly, they projected it will take only 7 years for us to recoup our investment. Last month they owed us $240 for the extra energy we produced above what we actually used ourselves, plus our bill was $600 less than it would have been for that month alone. That's a savings of roughly $840 in July!!!!

I live in Ca and it's usually pretty moderate in the 80's. No snow here and the coldest it gets is usually in the 30's at night. It can be cold and sunny and the system will produce better than when it's hot and sunny.

We have a deep freezer, 2 refrigerators, a swimming pool and waterfall. (No A/C here and for the most part, we don't need it.) Our electric bill was running upwards of $600 some months. We installed a pretty big system, because we wanted to wipe out our electric bills completely. We've only had it for 2 months, but it's worked out great. Several of our friends are also installing solar and it's becoming pretty common in our neighborhood.

[harperluu]

any ideas how to keep our electric bill down? Being at home and running the AC is killing us over here. The bill was so high, I think my husband almost fainted. He keeps the house chilly at night though and won't budge on that so its partly on him.

Some electric companies will allow you to pay an average each month and spread those high electric months over the whole year. If your bill is $100 through the winter and $250 in the summer you might pay $160 (or whatever the average is) every month all year. This way your not hit with whopper electric bills in the summer. Same with heat.

[jen]

It was $56,000 (which included a state rebate of $2800) and we will get $18,000 in tax credit, which helped make it a lot more feasible! Because of the rising costs of energy and the amount we use monthly, they projected it will take only 7 years for us to recoup our investment. Last month they owed us $240 for the extra energy we produced above what we actually used ourselves, plus our bill was $600 less than it would have been for that month alone. That's a savings of roughly $840 in July!!!!

I live in Ca and it's usually pretty moderate in the 80's. No snow here and the coldest it gets is usually in the 30's at night. It can be cold and sunny and the system will produce better than when it's hot and sunny.

We have a deep freezer, 2 refrigerators, a swimming pool and waterfall. (No A/C here and for the most part, we don't need it.) Our electric bill was running upwards of $600 some months. We installed a pretty big system, because we wanted to wipe out our electric bills completely. We've only had it for 2 months, but it's worked out great. Several of our friends are also installing solar and it's becoming pretty common in our neighborhood.

That is SO cool!!!!! I am totally impressed!

[Unregistered]

My husband read on our power company website to set the thermostat to a certain temp in the winter and then a certain temp in the summer, cant rememeber what else it said but we have been doing that and cu tour bill by a ton! Maybe google it? Our bill was real high to until we started doing that.