This is for everyone who came out to see my presentation at the SEE Expo today - titled "Energy efficiency on a budget". We listed all of the things everyone at the office could think of that are easy and cheap and save energy, and we categorized them by how easy they are to do (couch potato, small effort/cost, medium effort/cost) and then estimated the carbon emissions reduction. Here they are in order with estimated tons of carbon and effort. They all add up to 10.1 (although everyone can't do all of them, and some would be double dipping), but the average car creates 6.3 tons of carbon, so you can easily take the equivalent of a car off the road. The "couch potato" ones add up to almost 1/2 a car!
Rank Item CO2 reduced (tons) Cost/effort
1 Insulate attic ceilings 1.5 medium
2 Heat pump water heater 1.4 medium
3 Don't run HVAC fan continuous ON 1.05 couch potato
4 Insulate floors 1 medium
5 CFL bulbs 0.7 small
6 Don't turn AC on and off. 0.6 couch potato
7 Clothesline 0.54 medium
8 Get rid of un-needed things (xtra fridge) 0.46 couch potato
9 Air sealing 0.4 small
10 Low flow fixtures 0.35 small
11 Kill phantom loads w/ power strips 0.28 small
12 Monitor power 0.28 small
13 Blinds/shades/trees on S, E, W sides 0.25 small
14 Close windows before running heat/AC 0.2 couch potato
15 Energy star appliances 0.19 couch potato
16 Turn down water heater 0.17 couch potato
17 Programmable thermostat 0.16 small
18 Pipe insulation 0.15 medium
19 Seal/cover attic fans, window AC in winter0.1 small
20 Keep garage door closed 0.1 couch potato
21 Turn down thermostat 0.053 couch potato
22 Fix attic kneewalls 0.05 medium
23 Lock windows to get better air seal 0.05 couch potato
24 Insulate hot water tank 0.04 small
25 Insulate + w-strip attic hatch 0.03 small
26 Fix water drips and leaks 0.001 small
27 Dual flush toilet conversion 0.001 small
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I should add that some of the water-savings ones look small in terms of carbon, but they save so much water that the dual flush toilet conversion, if you do it yourself, has a 5 year payback, even with the very low rates we pay in Asheville for city water.
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