Zero Energy

  How To Get Your Utility Bills Down To Zero  

     Okay, so I've got your attention. You're sick of paying $100+ per month for electricity and you're not going to take it any more. Well you'll be excited to learn that cutting your costs by as much as 70% or yes, in some cases, 100%, is not as difficult or expensive a transition as you might think. You should, however, be realistic. The steps you'll need to take are an investment that isn't going to pay for itself overnight, but ask anyone who has committed to energy efficiency in their home and they'll tell you it was well worth it. So, how do you get your utility bills down to zero?

     The first step is to schedule a home inspection to seek out and eliminate wastefulness. For example, your house could be poorly insulated rendering your air conditioning and heating ineffective. Your air conditioning ducts could also be leaking air into your attic. Are you up there to enjoy all that cool air? I didn't think so. Who hangs out in their attic all day? I know I wouldn't do that at my house…my attic gives me the creeps! So anyway how much cool air are we talking about? In the average home, about 20%! That's nothing to shrug about, so I would go ahead and schedule that inspection. I learned through my energy efficiency audit, which was conducted using a blower door and a pressure pan test, that my AC was actually leaking closer to 30% due to some very old and shoddy duct work. I had my ducts replaced and not only did I notice the difference, but I now actually use the AC for much shorter periods of time and I set it to 72º instead of 68º to get the same or better results.









     So before I cover the single best way to shrink those bills, I want to touch on the subject of your light bulbs. By now you've no doubt heard about compact fluorescent bulbs. If you are using standard bulbs, consider the following: a compact fluorescent lasts literally 10 times as long and uses under 25% of the wattage. Yes the bulbs cost nearly three times as much, but light bulbs are cheap! Either way, you are looking at nearly a 7,000% ROI when you do the math. This might sound trivial but it is definitely a move in the right direction. LED lights are even more impressive, though more expensive up front. They last 30 times as long as standard incandescent bulbs.

     The single best way to shrink those bills, you may have guessed it, is renewable energy. Here in Southern California we've got sunshine and plenty of it, so I'm going to cover solar power - known more scientifically as photovoltaic power. The word photovoltaic comes from the Latin roots "photo" for light, and "voltaic" for electricity. Solar power works at the cellular level. That's right, those panels you see on roofs are made from millions of semiconductor cells, usually made from silicon which comes from - you guessed it, sand. These cells absorb photons (radiation energy particles) from the sun and convert the photons into energy. The technology is so efficient that a solar system will typically produce more electricity than your home needs. This excess electricity is fed back into the power grid, and your local utility company will actually deduct an equivalent value from your utility monthly statement to compensate you. Not only that, but there are federal and state rebate and incentive programs available to you that will dramatically reduce the cost of solar system installation. Read more about these rebates at http://www.dsireusa.org/. Solar power is scalable. Your home could run on 20% solar power, or you could beef up your system and run on 100% solar. The choice is yours.





     Are there more ways to help you can do to get those utility bills down to zero, while reducing your carbon footprint? Sure there are, but follow these steps first and you're off to a great start.