6 things you can buy that will pay for themselves in a year
 

This is just a good and quick little article on fast ROI items that help you conserve energy. I'm sure there are many more little items but I think they nab the big ones. Can you guys think of more?

In any case, there are 6 good items to add to the Christmas list if you don't have these already.

6 things you can buy that will pay for themselves in a year

That's a good list, and talking about shortterm ROI items will get people's attention.

:thumbup: for the programmable thermostat, in most climates it'll save lots of money, even with a simple day/night program. The power strip is good only as long as it is used as more than just an extention cord/surge protector. I keep explaining to Dad-in-law that it saves money only if it is turned off.

What else would pay for itself in a year? A sweater + warm socks! (Assuming they go together with lowering house's the temperature.) And they make great presents, too:)

Yeah, imagine stuffing a water tank blanket under a friend's Christmas tree;)

Reflecting radiator foil would have more "Bling-factor" as a present.

Heat shrink window film pays for it's self and on a lot of windows you might not need to remove it for years and years!

The power strip that is on that list has a "trigger" outlet that signals that the other outlets need power, the kind of thing that you could plug your cable box, DVD player, video game system and so on, in to and plug the TV in to the trigger outlet, my radio has a switched and a non switched outlet on the back of it, the switched outlet is only live with the radio is on.

LED lights should be on that list, the ones I have have better quality light then CFL's and use half the energy, they also come on instantly, my 1.5 watt LED is bright enough to light up my living room as a really bright night light, almost all of the rest of my lights in my house are LED's.

A Kill-a-watt meter or other energy meter like a Watt's Up should be on that list! being informed as to what the energy hogs in your house is valuable! and when you are done with it you loan it to a friend.

A can of expanding foam should also be on that list, kill drafts in your house!

How about LED light bulbs, does that count? I haven't used one yet, would like some feedback from those who have.

I don't know of too many LED bulbs that will pay for themselves in a year (and will continue working long after), but its a definite possibility.

Still looking for other ideas too!

I agree with Daox that LED bulbs don't have a good one year pay off time. But certain applications using them REALLY works.

For example, I hated replacing those small 5 watt incandescent night light bulbs. The ROI here is low, but the time savings is huge. Also replacing high ceiling lights way a real pain in the . . . . neck, and LEDs work there well.

Still using CFLs until I see another 50% drop in LED prices. We may get there in 2013.

You don't need to buy a special water heating blanket. Strips of fiberglass batting works - especially if it is free.

I figure my LED pay back is about a year and a half.
I have not had a single LED of mine stop working and my oldest screw in LED is almost 10 years old, about 5 years ago I started finding ones that were bright enough for general room lighting instead of just task lighting and in the last year the price of those LED's that replace the most common light bulbs in my house has dropped to $10 to $13 each. I replaced all of the lights in my kitchen and living room with LED's, the most used lights in the house, According to the Kill-A-Watt meter they are using around 1/3 of the electricity of the CFL bulbs that they are replacing, labeled per year cost on the LED is $1.45 at my electrical rate if you have them on for 3 hours per day, living room and kitchen lights are on the most at 6+ hours per day so they were the first to be replaced and I figure a cost savings at that point of about $6 per bulb per year, cost of a CFL is around $2 each if I buy them on sale in a 4 pack so the cost of an LED is only $8 to $11 more then a CFL.
My parents and I also both replaced all of our outdoor light bulbs with LED's because you need them most in the winter, CFL bulbs do not like the cold and wear out quicker in the cold or they end up drawing huge amounts of power to warm up, LED's do not, so the only other reasonable choice outside is an incandescent bulb, so there again they have a quick pay back.
Replacing closest lights or other seldom used lights with LED's does not make sense of course, but replacing the most used bulbs in the house with them doe.

On the battery charger, it makes sense to look for one that can charge 1-4 AA and AAA cells individually. Many run-of-the-mill chargers can only charge one or two *pairs* of AA and often only one pair of AAA at any given time, and the charge management is rather dodgy.

I found a La Crosse Technology unit that can do up to 4 AA and/or AAA in any combination and it has individual charging management, with a handy display telling you what charging level is and when it is full, or if the cell is no good it says so. It comes with a detachable wall wart that run relatively cool.

BC-700 by La Crosse Technology - Tomorrow's Weather Today

I think you can find it for less than $50 - yep Amazon has it for just under $40. I also highly recommend Sanyo eneloop (the name is all lowercase) batteries - they hold a charge better and last longer and are compatible with more devices than any other rechargable brand I have used.

Here is another thing that can save you energy and money and since I'm generally retrofitting my house it is on the project list to eventually get done. Any house needs natural outdoor light for general psychological comfort. But if your house has 20% of its exterior walls being windows that window area defines the highest overall R value your walls can have. Even if the rest of the walls were perfect energy insulators the R value of the window area , typically R3 to R6 for good windows, will lower the overall R values of the walls dramatically. You can't do anything about it.

The newer cellular shades will help. The best have a value of about R4. I put them in the same category as LEDs since they are a major investment and will have a lower return on investment than the top 6 mentioned here. But just like light bulbs they can be considered something that will save you tons of money over time. Plus cellular shades look good.

Part of the whole ROI equation is implicitly connected with how much energy conservation mods one has already done. The quick ROI stuff will benefit you no matter how green your home already is. The longer ROIs usually depend on how much effort you have already made to make your home conserve energy.

For instance, if the walls in your home are, ex windows, at R10 on average, then it wouldn't make economic sense to put in energy conserving shades. Maybe even LEDs wouldn't be the greatest investment then. However if you have already gotten to the point where all areas have the recommended insulation values for attic and floors/crawl space for your area and air sealed everything tightly, then it makes economic sense to get LEDs and energy conserving shades.

Thats why the quick ROI stuff is so important. They are easy and they ALWAYS make economic sense. There seems to be an order in which we are meant to accomplish things, even if we don't always do it that way.

I filled out a survey on home energy usage for my electric company and they sent me a whole box full of energy saving goodies. ROI about 2 weeks! :)

There was a 'smart' power strip among the items. I'm using it to power our rarely-used downstairs TV & peripherals. I plugged the TV into the smart outlet, and when I turn it on/off everything else goes on/off. "Off" in this case being completely powered down, no standby. Nice!

If you have an electric water heater a water heater timer has a pay back of less then 6 months.

Water boiling tea kettle with auto shut off, I figure mine saves me around $50 per year compared to a stove top tea kettle and $25 per year compared to microwave if it's used once per day and mine is used at least once per day, sometimes 3 or more times per day.

Hi,
Bubblewrap on windows has a less than one heating season payback in our climate. Actually, it has a zero days payback if you get the bubble wrap free :)

The $22 sunspace in the Feb 2005 issue of ESSN should have a less than 1 year payback: Rebel Wolf Online -- ESSN Archives

If you have not seen these issues of ESSN (all free), there is some nice stuff in them.

Painting the south side of your above ground pool should have a really short payback: A VERY SIMPLE pool heating idea

This sliding glass door insulation project has a half year payback if I did the numbers right: Insulating a Sliding Glass Door



Gary

A little more than a year?
 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...10breakman.jpg

Some things take longer to pay for themselves. If you are a DIYer,
and can install stuff, without much professional help, mini splits are a good investment.

My wife told me, she thinks our Sanyo systems have paid for themselves,
but the A7 water heater is going to take longer.
I asked her why will the A7 take longer? She said because we are using
a lot more hot water these days..

That got me thinking about the days before we got the Sanyos running.
Our house was cool and even cold during the winter. Because of the cost,
we kept the heat turned down low, a lot!
We rarely heated the Den during the colder months. It got way more use in summer.

Right now, we are running both Sanyos at 21C, 8AM until midnight,
when we set them back to 20C while we sleep. Because we can afford it!

We used to set the oil heat down to 18C when we went out for a few hours.
Now, we might turn the Sanyos down to 20C, but many times we don't even think about it.

My guess: Without the low ASHP operating cost we have today,
we could not afford to live this warm comfortable life style.

If we have to go back on oil, we can apply for 'free' heating oil money from the state,
and stay nice and warm. But, you taxpayers will have to pay for it.. :p

I'm not so sure 2 minisplits are the wisest investments under all circumstances. It really depends on what you have accomplished on insulation and air sealing of your house before you get to that point. It gets back to the point of prioritization and order of accomplishment of money saving conservation measures.

For instance, if you have the recommended insulation value according to DOE for your area here:

Insulation Overview | GreenBuildingAdvisor.com

and made the home really air tight then there is a high likelyhood you might have needed only one minisplit instead of two. So you would have avoided the cost of the second unit, the time to install it, and yearly cost associated with it. But I think you may have heard this before, or something similar.

I wanted to rip down the 2x4 walls with their 1956 so-called "insulation",
and convert to 2x8 walls, but my wife put her foot down.

Heck, I wanted to write this place off, sell out, and head home to Texas,
but my wife really likes it up here. (With her family).

She's also against sealing up all the windows on the north side of the house.
Even after I explained how having all those windows is like leaving a door open all winter.

I even wanted to use that 'spare' parts Sanyo unit in the garage to make a hot water heater,
but my wife wanted that big outdoor unit OUT of the garage and some cheap heat installed in the Den.
(The way it's been working, I think that was a pretty good idea).

My wife really doesn't want to change anything about the house,
unless it's something that adds to it's attractiveness (curb appeal?).
Fresh paint, new roof shingles, nice mail box post & etc.
Things that other people will notice and say "How nice". :rolleyes:
She even likes putting up decorative lights during the holidays. Me, I could care less.


We are using more power now. Not only because we are heating most of the house now, but because we like it warm!
I'm 67 this month and liking warmth more every day.
And, every time I do the math, heating with oil would cost us 4x more.
Maybe gas would be better. But my wife doesn't want to move.

Anyways, we have this saying at the Lab, If it works, don't fix it..

I can relate. I'm only 8 years behind you in age. Life is full of compromises and a big one involves relationships. I think you probably have made the right decision since divorce can be hell. It sounds like you love her in spite of everything or you wouldn't have gone along on some of those things. Good for you.

I used to use a Discman player and was really happy with it, even though I had to put in freshly recharged batts every morning. Worth it, and two pairs of batteries would go for about a year and a half, not the 1000 cycles they promised but waaaayy cheaper than a fistful of alkalines. So +1 on the rechargeables.

For an additional idea:

I use a timer on my water heater. It seems to have made a difference, not huge but noticeable. About 5-7.5% on the utility bill. Adding a blanket would improve that I'm sure, but there's not much room to spare in the closet where it lives.