[BabyPeanut]

I thought at the end of this year we could recap all the stuff we did to save energy. I also track my utility bills which consist of just electric and oil now. Much of the stuff that I've done this year was done toward the end so I don't expect to see all the savings until 2005 but there has some impact already. For instance my last oil drop ("shipment") was under 70 gallons despite having a 275 gallon tank for oil and a history of receiving 190 - 210 gallons on all the prior shipments (well they ran out during a delivery attempt once in the past.) My electric bills have been down each successive month but there were years in the past when I used less power (maybe due to more time away from home.)

My recap is

• new refrigerator (old one was a mess)
• two new storm doors (old ones were really crummy)
• new weather stripping around one door (the old strip had worn away almost completely)
• new windows (old ones were truely gross)
• five cans of Dow "Great Stuff" http://www.dow.com/greatstuff/ in my walls around the electrical outlets and other drafty spots. Cold air getting in a crack is the fastest way to lose heat energy.
• snap-on foam insulation tube around the hot water heater exit pipe (cheap and easy to do)
• 10 light fixtures converted to compact fluorescent lighting

[JoeW]

The other day I bought programmable thermostats for our home. We will see how much fuel oil it saves us.

Your comment about the insulation on the hot water heater exit pipe has gotten me to thinking... I have hot water heat, and our basement is always warm because of the hot water pipes running down there. I wonder if our system would be more efficient if we insulated the sections of pipe in our basement.
Fuel oil is now $1.69/gallon in our area.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JoeW', 'Y')our comment about the insulation on the hot water heater exit pipe has gotten me to thinking... I have hot water heat, and our basement is always warm because of the hot water pipes running down there. I wonder if our system would be more efficient if we insulated the sections of pipe in our basement.
Fuel oil is now $1.69/gallon in our area.

[johnmarkos]

I rode my bike and took Caltrain to work, even in the pouring rain.

[k_semler]

I replaced all incandesents with CFLs, and also bought a new choke pull off so I don't flood out when I start my car on a cold day.

[mindfarkk]

i sold my car and bought a 50cc scooter. oh wait; welll the car broke first but still.

i also had a water filter installed under the sink so we don't have to keep buying plastic bottles of water. although that was more to ease my own pocketbook than to save energy.

i discovered PO and made a commitment to move into a sustainable lifestyle. and now i'm learning how.

ask me the same question when we get to 2006. i wasn't ready for a pop quiz!

[marek]

I gave my car away to the Salvation Army It wasn't worth much anyway. I've returned to using public transportation and walking.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mindfarkk', 'i') sold my car and bought a 50cc scooter. oh wait; welll the car broke first but still.

[pea-jay]

I sold my 67 gas guzzler and particulate blaster and used some of the proceeds to buy a wood stove and in spring of '05 a bike. Now I take the bus to work

I changed all but two light bulbs to CFs

I replaced my 14 y/o fridge with a modern version

I line dry clothes in the summer

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('patrickjford', 'I') replaced my 14 y/o fridge with a modern version

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mindfarkk', 'i') also had a water filter installed under the sink so we don't have to keep buying plastic bottles of water. although that was more to ease my own pocketbook than to save energy.

[mindfarkk]

yep there's always that question of whether you are even benefiting from "cleaner" water buying bottled.

i also heard from someone that purified water (i.e. not just filtered but actually purified) is actually bad for you because it sucks all the minerals and stuff out of your body on the way through (osmotically). i have no idea if that is actually true but it could be.

[NeoPeasant]

I put a lot of thought into our routines, habits, temperature comfort zones, and the times required for the heat to ramp up and down in our house when the furnace is operating or set back, and finally entered an intellegently thought out program into our set-back thermostat.

I extended my carless commute into the winter by switching from bicycle to a combination of hiking and taking the bus, properly dressed for any weather I would be likely to encounter along the way. It turns out to be 2.5 miles of walking combined with 1 mile of riding each way on the woefully inadequate bus system that's typical for US suburban sprawl-ville. But I have a job where they will buy your monthly bus pas for you.

I just completed a carless/airplaneless trip to Las Vegas 450 miles away. I took a combination of local buses from my house to the Greyhound station about 40 miles away, then took the Greyhound bus 410 miles to downtown Vegas. As I was sitting on the full bus, I counted 60 passengers and quessed the bus was getting about 5 miles per gallon of diesel, which works out to 300 passenger-miles/gallon. When I got to Las Vegas I used the local bus system whose central station was about 2 blocks from my hotel, to get anywhere I wanted to go in Las Vegas that I didn't feel like walking. You can buy an all-day pass right on the bus for 5 bucks.
On the way home I did just the opposite, taking the Greyhound and then local busses to get home.

[Guest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mindfarkk', 'I') also heard from someone that purified water (i.e. not just filtered but actually purified) is actually bad for you because it sucks all the minerals

[mindfarkk]

maybe it's distilled i'm thinking of then. and i didn't mean purified like the kind of purification we would do with say a field-purifier like Katadyn or Nikken - i was thinking of the uber-purified, industrially stripped water - again i must have been thinking distilled instead.

and agreed - better even distilled than none at all.

[lowem]

Bought 2 more standing fans for the bedrooms and used those instead of the air-con. Now we use the air-con very sparingly and only if it goes up over 30 degC at night.

Almost never switched on the halogen spotlights. Using compact flourescents (11W and 13W PLC) and ordinary circular flourescent tubes throughout my home.

Offset by : one more person living in the house since middle of the year, more dryer usage because of the frequent rain and high humidity recently ... and increasing electricity rates, so in the end the bill went up.

[nocar]

I did not do anything extra in 2004. We have not owned a car for 30 years, and managed to raise 3 children in a suburb without owning a car, something lots of people say is impossible. (Now they are adult, do not complain about hte experience, and only one owns a car)

For space heating and hot water we use a heat pump, which is a very efficient way of using electricy for heating. No change since last year.

Unlike our neighbors, we do not have any outdoor lightning in the garden, and are very careful to turn out lights.

We have no dryer for clothes (in winter we hang them in the basement, in summer outdoors or occasionally indoors when it is rainy).

Unfortunately, I made four airplane trips in 2004 - much more than usual.

Two new things - I built a solar stove but due to the cloudy weather and high latitude, 59th parallell, it did not really cook anything - heated water for dish washing though. In winter I have started to put water bottles outside to freeze and then put them into the fridge - really paradoxical to use lots of energy to cool things while simultanousely using energy to heat the kitchen where the fridge is standing.

I guess I also had a few more vegetarian dinners from home-grown veggies.

Due to the air travel, I am sure I have used a lot more energy and particularly more oil products this year than last year. But perhaps it is better anyway to get PO sooner than later - the sooner it happens the fewer of the world's people have adapted to an oil-burning daily lifestyle, as in car culture, which makes the transition easier. And fewer people will have build their lives around servicing the tourist industry. If the whole world could agree to power down and use just a little oil every year it would be different. Then it would better to postpone PO

[BorneoRagnarok]

Stop watching TV and don't buy newspaper. Status (Success). Go to my friend's house to see them once in a fortnight. See 14 daily issues at one go. Save printing energy and save trees . In the future, I expects a single copy can serve 20 people so now I am learning how to read newspapers without damage it. I am quite clumsy with newspapers. How much energy and kilogrammes of paper that are used to produce 358 issues and 2 hours of TV everyday ?? No TV, read books.

Stop craving for processed food and drinks. Status (Success). Those items required moden machinery and a lot of energy are required to power those machines. Besides , it is not efficient to ship a packet of chocolate milk 1000 km from West Malaysia to East Malaysia.

Stop using air-con. Status (Success) . I just cut off the electric wire to prevent air-con addict in me from switching it on. Only use low power standing fan.

Change to more energy efficient diet. Status (Partially success). Learn to be a vegetarian. Local vegetables use less energy to be produce and market than local meat or foreign vegetables. Still learning how to switch to local vegetable in daily diet.

Stop using car. Status (Failed). This year I drive over 20,000 kilometres to every corner of East Malaysia instead of using airplanes for job related duties. Almost 1500 litres of petrol is consumed. I just restored this old car to near prime condition and need to test it. Need to improve on this area. However for the last 4 months only use 200 litres of petrol. This single failure will wipe out all the gains above by large margins.

[BabyPeanut]

The other day my dishwasher broke and I was able to stop the leaking onto the floor by cutting off the water using all my Peanut Power on the valve.

I ended up buying an ASKO D3121 from Bray and Scarff. ASKO dishwashers exceed ENERGY STAR® guidelines.

[MauricioBabilonia]

I put 2200 miles commuting on my bikes and rode the bus in bad weather. Drove to work only 11 times all year.

We bought an Xtracycle. I'm still building it up, but hope to eliminate over 2000 automobile miles next year.

We put new windows in the house. Seems to be reducing our gas consumption, but we'll have to see how this works out over time.

We installed 9 new compact flourescents.

This coming year I hope to improve our attic insulation and air loss and insulate the insides and outsides of our foundation walls. We're also considering an energy star washing machine and an on-demand water heater. We may also join a local farm share.

M, in gloomy Wisconsin