AttemptGreen.com

Our gas bill has needed some serious help. We have been looking at where the colder outside air is coming into our house. The biggest problem we have found is our windows. Ultimately, we need to replace just about all of our windows but that isn’t in the budget right now. The worst window was the big window in our living room. Upon further examination the wood around the window has been rotting and there are actually quarter size holes allowing the cold air to enter at least beyond the outside window. This leaves just the main interior window to hold back the cold temperatures.

As a temporary fix, until we can replace the windows, we put plastic on the windows. This is one of the easiest projects I have done. They sell little kits at the home improvement store that include the plastic already cut to the size of most major window sizes and double-sided tape. The only other tools you need are scissors and a hair dryer. I would bet you already have these tools. The plastic gets put up using the double stick tape, the excess is cut off, and the hair dryer shrinks the plastic to give it a nice tight fit. The Creative Homeowner has a great article explaining each step with picture, if you need a bit more explanation.

This took about 10-15 minutes for me to do, cost under $5 and now I have a much more comfortable living room. 

Are you considering a new gaming console? Have you considered the amount of energy a game console uses?  The National Resources Defense Council released a study comparing the different gaming consoles, the quick facts can be found here .

I was quite surprised at the results.  First, all the consoles still consume energy when turned off, which I could have guessed.  The amount in comparison between the consoles was what surprised me the most. 

The Nintendo Wii used only 16 watts in active mode, while the Xbox 360 used 119 watts and PS3 used 150 watts!  The study translated these into costs.  The Wii costs $3 while turned off per year and $10 while active.  The Xbox 360 costs $11 off and $103 while on.  The PS3 has the highest numbers with $12 costs while turned off and $134 while on.  I realize these numbers are not going to be exact costs for anyone because of the amount of time a system is actually on versus actually turned off in a year is going to be different for each system.  What I find fascinating with these numbers is the huge difference between the Wii and the other two systems.  The amount of energy the Wii uses while on is still less than that of either the Xbox 360 or the PS3 turned off.  The Xbox and the PS3 use more than 10 times the amount of energy as the Wii while turned on.

So, if you were considering a new console, perhaps this information will sway you to a Wii.  If you have a different console and are now worried about the amount of energy used, read the full study .  They talk about how to utilize the energy settings the consoles have but by default are not set up.  We actually purchased a Wii last year, and this study makes me feel real good about our purchase.

I know I have been bad about blogging lately.  We recently purchased a house and I have been very busy with making updates.  However, it is providing lots of topics for me to write about.  Today I want to talk about a new purchase I just made, a new washer and dryer.

The previous owner’s washer and dryer were in pretty bad condition and we knew we weren’t going to keep them.  So with yesterday being Veterans Day, and all the huge sales, I purchased a new washer and dryer.  There were a lot of factors that went into picking out what to buy.

First, I looked for the Energy Star rating.  With the washer, there were a couple of features that were important to me.  I was looking for the ability to set the temperature of the water.  I also wanted the ability to set how large the load is.  This way I could minimize the energy to heat the water and how much water is used based on the laundry I was putting in.  Having these options on a washer, and using them, can really help with energy consumption.  The biggest different between washers though is a top-loader versus a front-loader.  I went with the front-loader based on the fact that it uses drastically less water than a top-loader does (nearly 40% ).  There are many other features you can look for in a washer, but what I’ve found are that these are the important ones when it comes to being green.

I started out being a little frustrated with the dryer.  I couldn’t find a dryer with an Energy Star rating.  Then I found out that Energy Star does not rate dryers “since there is little difference in the energy use between models.”   Once I figured that out, I felt better.  The one feature in a dryer that is important to pay attention to is the moisture sensor.  The moisture sensor will sense how wet the clothes are and adjust the run time accordingly to how wet the clothes are.  This means that the dryer will only run the necessary amount of time and minimize the amount of energy used.  The biggest difference between dryers is gas versus electric and for the most part anyone will use which ever their house is setup for.  Our house happens to be hooked up with gas, so naturally I bought a gas dryer.  A gas dryer is more expensive to buy, but less expensive to run.  I couldn’t find any numbers as far as what is more energy friendly.

So once you have all the features you want, brands I believe are more of a personal preference on how much you want to spend and what level of quality you want to buy.  I personally choose the LG brand, but was in debate with Maytag and Whirlpool as well.  I also considered GE for a less expensive option. 

For more laundry tips to save energy, check out the department of energy’s website.