1. Leaf by Jeff Kubina

2. His Fingerprints Fern Leaf by Randy Robertson

3. Sailing by Steve H

4. A Frosty Morning in Denmark by Flemming

5. Random Assemblage from Yard by Ctd 2005

6. Untitled by Dave Morrow

7. HerbstFeuer by Wolfgang Staudt

8. Netting by Jenny Downing

9. Rain Drops by OurEverydayEarth

10. Plant Shadows by Kevin Dooley

The chart instantly shows us the last seven days of electricity usage in Kilo Watt Hours (kWh) and at what points during each day we experienced highs and lows of usage;

Reliant Energy - Our Electricity Usage Chart

Our electricity usage is always highest in the evening and that is probably due to air conditioning, perhaps cooking with the oven, running the washer and dryer, watching television etc.

Our average daily cost was $7.09 and the most expensive day was Thursday topping the charts at $9.10 in electricity usage.

This is the first week we have seen the summary come through and we love it!

Check out more details about the Reliant Energy e-sense program here;

http://www.reliant.com/PublicResourceDispatcher?pageAlias=Shop_eSense_Residential

We had been searching for an affordable LED light bulb which would give us energy saving over incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs whilst maintaining the warm white feel that we are accustomed to. We tested the dimmable globe LED bulb model E27D-A19-WW4 from SuperBrightLEDs.com (P.S. The WW part of the code stands for “Warm White” so we were excited to see the results!)

The first thing we love about the SuperBrightLEDs.com site is the excellent product information. At a glance we could see that our test bulb runs on 120 Volts AC, it has a brightness output of 285 lumens, it provides a 360 degree light beam pattern and it costs $29.95.

Super Bright LEDs Spec Sheet - E27D-A19-WW4

I have a very engineering oriented brain so I love that SuperBrightLEDs.com has all these technical specs! They even have a dimension drawing;

LED Light Bulb Dimensions!

We received the Warm White LED bulb perfectly packaged and in pristine condition and couldn’t wait to get it screwed into a light fixture and tested.

The SuperBrightLEDs.com Warm White Bulb

The bulb was clearly a high quality and durable design which is backed up by the specifications which state an estimated 30,000 hour life.

The E27D Warm White LED

We already knew that this bulb would save us energy but we really wanted to know how it compared in terms of light output and especially the warmth of the lighting, we had tried LED bulbs in the past which provided a very harsh cold white light, we wanted that warm incandescent bulb feel combined with the energy savings of an LED bulb.

The E27D bulb plugged in to our living room lamp perfectly. Our living room lamp holds two bulbs so we kept one side with the compact fluorescent bulb while the other side had the new LED bulb from SuperBrightLEDs.com;

Compact Fluorescent Bulb

The E27D Warm White LED from SuperBrightLEDs.com

We compared the new LED bulb to the old Compact Fluorescent bulb and  we were pleasantly surprised, the LED bulb gave off a very warm light and we love the instant light that it provides. The old compact fluorescent bulb takes a couple of minutes to warm up to its full brightness whereas the E27D LED is instantly on at its full brightness.

If you would like to order the same bulb you can find it here at SuperBrightLEDs.com;

http://www.superbrightleds.com/E27D-A19-W4.htm

The Super Bright LEDs Website

Andersen Windows’ Garland TX plant is where one of the most sustainable windows in the U.S. is being made out of re-claimed wood fiber (sawdust). They are also made out of recycled glass. Andersen re-uses the wood that is left over when they make their wood windows. They have a patented material called Fibrex;

Andersen Windows Fibrex Reclaimed Wood Material

Andersen Windows is building these windows in Texas and they’ve become extremely popular in the state — as well as throughout the country. Not only are they one of the most sustainable and energy efficient on the market, but they are also Andersen’s most economical window (which is not always the case with green building).
With our family being very focused on sticking to a budget but also being passionate about the environment we will be looking into getting Andersen Windows installed in our home when our windows are past their useful life.

The new 100 Series is actually made by using excess sawdust from the plant’s operations (from their other wood products). The 100 Series has anywhere from 18 to 24 percent recycled content.
http://www.andersenwindows.com/100-series/index.html

Eco Friendly Windows by Andersen Windows

We Liked the Dark Bronze Color

One of the most interesting facts is that having a hot shower followed by blow drying hair is one of the largest consumers!

Check out the full infographic below for the full story…

Source by Power SuperSite

]]> http://www.oureverydayearth.com/an-interesting-infographic-power-consumption-facts-for-the-usa/feed/ 0 http://www.oureverydayearth.com/saving-water-in-texas-niagara-conservation-ecokits/ http://www.oureverydayearth.com/saving-water-in-texas-niagara-conservation-ecokits/#comments Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:22:18 +0000 Martin http://www.oureverydayearth.com/?p=8054 This year has been particularly dry for North Texans and most of us are under severe water restrictions. A couple of weeks back I was contacted by a wonderful local company called Niagara Conservation, they sent me a fantastic water saving “EcoKit” for our home to try out and review…

The Niagara Conservation Water Saving EcoKit

As soon as the Water Conservation EcoKit arrived we opened the box to investigate the various goodies inside!

The Niagara Conservation EcoKit came packed with lots of amazing water saving ideas and devices;

• 1.5 GPM Earth® Massage high-efficiency showerhead
• 1.5 GPM dual-spray kitchen swivel aerator
• (2) 1.0 GPM bathroom aerators
• Toilet Tank Bank™
• Toilet water saver fill cycle diverter
• Plumber’s tape
• Leak detection tablets
• Shower Flow meter bag
• Water conservation wheel

Inside the Niagara Conservation Water Saving EcoKit

After looking through the collection of water saving devices we can see that the Niagara Conservation EcoKits are a perfect way to implement conservation solutions throughout the home. Each EcoKit™ includes a variety of their easy-to-install water conserving products. Each EcoKit™ also includes helpful, everyday tips for water conservation. These EcoKits would make wonderful promotional tools for any business and could also serve as educational tools to help children understand the importance of saving energy and water with simple but effective ways to do so.

We are planning to host a giveaway this month to giveaway two of these amazing Niagara Conservation EcoKits to two of our lucky readers so check back soon!

Over the next couple of weeks I will be installing the Toilet Tank Bank device to cut down on the amount of water used during each flush and I will be adding the two 1.0 gpm aerators to our bathroom sink faucets to save some extra water. The rest of the goodies in the kit will also be put to good use but I may have to install those next month, busy schedule etc…
You can find out more by visiting the Niagara Conservation Website

Tracking Our Refrigerator Energy Usage with the P3 Kill-A-Watt Wireless

We collected eight days worth of energy usage including some worst case scenarios such as a full grocery shopping expedition, we realized that putting up our groceries was the event which required the refrigerator to be open the longest, it also introduces lots of warm food and drink which requires extra work to chill back down.

The Running Total for Our Refrigerator

Over the eight days that we monitored the P3 Kill-A-Watt tracked approximately 14.25 Kilowatt Hours of energy which cost us $1.62.

We recently switched to our current refrigerator and knew that it was energy star rated, the energy usage results certainly backed this up, the predicted total energy usage for an entire year was 613 Kilowatt Hours which would cost us $69.89;

The Predicted Total Energy Cost for 1 Year of Refrigerator Usage

We were pleasantly surprised that our refrigerator didn’t use too much energy, we also saw that if we want to save money we probably need to focus on another area of energy usage.

Our quest to track our electricity usage continues, to summarize the results so far;

• Electric Kettle (used to boil water for tea and coffee) = $7.45 per year
• Television (used for around 5-7 hrs per day) = $40 per year
• Refrigerator = $70 per year

Our next target for energy monitoring is going to be our garage door opener, check back soon for the results!

If you are interested in buying the Kill-A-Watt Wireless you can visit their store here;
P3 Kill-A-Watt Wireless

A typical day of television watching in our household consists of a couple of hours watching the news in the morning and then around 3-5 hours of drama / sports etc., in the evening.
I expected our TV would use a large amount of electricity and wanted to know exactly how much.
For reference, the TV we monitored is a 42″ LCD made by Vizio.
Plugging in the Kill-A-Watt Wireless transmitter was easy;

All we had to do to collect the usage data was sit back and enjoy our favorite television shows for three days, we set about this task with enthusiasm and watched as the data piled up!
We collected a total of 89 hours worth of usage data, this was almost 4 days of monitoring the TV while it was switched on and off.

We were pleasantly surprised by the results!
The Kill-A-Watt Wireless showed that our TV uses just 11 cents per day in electricity, that equates to roughly $40 per year, which isn’t bad at all.

The P3 Kill-A-Watt Wireless also told us that our television uses less than 1 Amp and less than 1000 Watts when in use.

Our quest to track our electricity usage continues, to summarize the results so far;
Electric Kettle (used to boil water for tea and coffee) = $7.45 per year
Television (used for around 5-7 hrs per day) = $40 per year

Our next target for energy monitoring is going to be our trusty refrigerator, check back soon for the results!

If you are interested in buying the Kill-A-Watt Wireless you can visit their store here;
P3 Kill-A-Watt Wireless

After tracking almost 3 days of usage, 60 hrs, we found that the electric kettle and my tea habit was costing us approximately 2c per day in electricity.

The coolest thing about the Kill-A-Watt Wireless is that it calculates how much electricity a particular item will use over a week, month and year. At the click of a button I saw that my tea drinking costs $7.45 per year in electricity.
Not too expensive then!
It also calculates operating energy, I found out that our kettle runs at 12 Amps and 1328 Watts on a 114 Volt circuit.
The low electricity usage of the electric kettle shows that if I want to save energy I need to focus on other appliances, my next target for monitoring will be the television, tune in next time for the television results.

If you are interested in buying the Kill-A-Watt Wireless you can visit their store here;
P3 Kill-A-Watt Wireless

Congratulations to Angela Morgan, she will be receiving the 50 Sunflower Seed Kits for her summer wedding courtesy of TreeBeginnings.com.

Congratulations to Our Lucky Winner - 50 Sunflower Seed Kits

We would like to personally thank everyone who entered the contest, please check back soon for our next green giveaway.