Living Like Ed

by Ed Begley, Jr.

  An Energy-Saving Thermostat

  Once you’ve got the air moving more efficiently through your heating and cooling system, think about how you regulate the temperature of that air.

  It requires a huge amount of energy—energy that you pay for in the form of your electric, oil, or gas bills—to raise or lower the heat of your home by even a few degrees. Controlling these costs, and the amount of energy you use, means controlling the temperature both when you’re at home and when you’re away. This is the magic of an energy-saving thermostat.

  Most people simply turn their heating and air-conditioning system on and off when they want to be warmer or colder. Some even leave the system on when they leave the house, so that it will be the right temperature when they return. Maybe you leave the heat running at your preferred temperature all night long—even though you’re sleeping under a blanket or a comforter—because you want the house to be nice and warm when you get up in the morning.

  But why spend all that money, and waste all that energy, keeping your house comfortable when you’re not there, or when you can simply add another blanket to your bed at night?

  Programming the thermostat is easy—and a real money-saver.

  If you have central heating or central air-conditioning or both, you can install and use a programmable thermostat instead of an old “set the temperature and it’s either on or off” thermostat. This way, you can save energy and money and have your house at the right temperature when you get home, when you wake up in the morning, and when you’re asleep.

  You will have to invest some money up front; an energy-saving thermostat starts at about $65. But it will pay for itself in heating and cooling savings in a year or less if you use all of its features.

  Programming Your New Thermostat

  • Make sure you program the energy-saving thermostat to shut down the heat or air-conditioning automatically when you leave for work or for school, and to turn it back on 20 to 30 minutes before you expect to return.

  • You’ll also want to program the thermostat to reduce the temperature when you’re heating the house (or to increase the temperature when you’re cooling it) about 30 to 60 minutes after you normally turn in for the night. Once you’re under the covers and asleep, you won’t require as much heating or even cooling. (You’d be surprised how much less cooling is necessary to keep you comfortable at night. And you can always open a window in the summer if it’s cooler outside at night.) Again, you just program the thermostat to return to “awake” mode 20 to 30 minutes before your alarm goes off in the morning.

  • You don’t need to worry about being uncomfortable if you’re home all day on the weekend, either. Energy-saving thermostats let you program different settings for weekdays and weekends.

  • If you plan on going out of town, make sure you override your normal programming and shut down everything until you return. The caveat here is that if you’re in a very cold climate and you’re worried about your pipes freezing, don’t let the temp fall below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. And you might not want to shut the system down completely if you’re leaving pets in your home. Even so, you can see there’s tremendous potential for energy savings here.

  Temperatures change day to day, so don’t be afraid to adjust your program settings, daily if need be, to maximize the efficiency of your system. I check mine every time I leave the house.

  Ed used to make me crazy with that programmable thermostat. He was always tinkering with it, making us late before we’d go anywhere. And if I adjusted it myself, he was always asking, “What happened? Who touched this?” He always knew if I’d cranked the heat up a degree or two, but he kept the house bordering on freezing in the winter!

  But I guess it’s like anything. You can get used to wearing a sweater inside, especially when you see the difference in the energy bill. And it does make sense to save energy when we’re not home. Of course, he’s got that thermostat programmed to dial the heat way back at night, but I have to admit I don’t mind putting an extra blanket on the bed anymore. It’s not such a bad trade. With what we save on the electric bill, I get to buy more shoes!

  Choosing a Comfortable Temperature

  It’s one thing to talk about programming the thermostat. Everybody says, “Sure, makes sense.” It’s another thing entirely to try to reach an agreement with the people living in your home about what temperature is comfortable.

  Let me talk about the temperature in my house before Rachelle and after Rachelle. When I was single, I would keep the house at 65 to 68 degrees in the winter and 78 in the summer. I didn’t think twice about simply wearing a sweater or sweatshirt in the winter and changing into a cotton T-shirt and shorts in the summer.

  There is no amount of thermostat programming that can replace good ol’ shutting down the heating and cooling completely when the temperatures outside and inside your home are within your own personal comfort zone. Well, that ain’t gonna fly anymore in my home. I have a wife and a daughter who require considerably more creature comfort than I did when living on my own.

  If you have a really old heating and air-conditioning unit, you might want to consider purchasing a new Energy Star system. It’s going to be a big investment, but you’re going to make that money back in a few years because the units are so much more efficient now, and use so much less power. The compressors are more efficient, the fans are more efficient, everything about the system’s more efficient. You can literally save up to 20 percent on your yearly heating and cooling costs with a new, more energy-efficient unit.

  What Energy Star Means

  Many people think Energy Star is a brand name or a particular company. Actually, it’s a program created jointly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. Its goal is laudable: to help everybody save money and protect the environment through energy-efficient products and practices. And the program is working.

  To benefit from this program, you just look for the Energy Star symbol a product. It’s like a seal of approval. To wear it, that product has to meet strict energy efficiency guidelines.

  You can find the Energy Star symbol on all kinds of things, from complete homes to appliances and office equipment, including

  • central air-conditioning units and room air conditioners

  • ceiling fans (another great way to reduce cooling costs and energy use)

  • furnaces

  • dehumidifiers

  • refrigerators and freezers

  • clothes washers

  • dishwashers

  • windows and skylights

  • doors

  • roofing products

  • insulation

  • televisions, VCRs, and DVD players

  • computers and monitors

  • fax machines, printers, and scanners

  • cordless phones

  • lighting fixtures

  Purchasing Energy Star-qualified products can even get you a tax break. To find out which products qualify and which forms you’ll need to submit to the Internal Revenue Service, visit the Energy Star website at www.energystar.gov.

  Energy-Efficient Refrigerators

  How much of a difference does it make to switch to an Energy Star-qualified product? It depends on the product. It can range from a little to a very significant difference. Say you’re thinking about replacing an old refrigerator with a newer model.

  Replacing your refrigerator bought in 1990 with a newer, more energy-efficient model would save enough energy to light the average household for nearly four months.

  In a typical household, that fridge is the single biggest energy-consuming appliance in the kitchen. In fact, the refrigerator actually uses 25 percent of the energy consumed in most homes.

  But even if you can’t replace your current refrigerator, you can still help the one you’ve got use less energy. First, position your fridge so it’s not near a heat source, which makes the fridge work harder to stay cool. You don’t want it right next to t
he oven or right next to the dish-washer or even in the path of direct sunlight from a window.

  Also, make sure air can circulate around the condenser coils. If your refrigerator has coils on the back, that means leaving a space between the back of your refrigerator and the kitchen wall or cabinets.

  Once or twice a year, you’ll want to unplug your refrigerator and clean the coils, which are either on the back or in front, behind a kick plate. You can use a vacuum attachment or even warm, soapy water if they’re greasy and grimy. Cleaning those coils enables the refrigerator to operate more efficiently.

  And here’s another piece of low-hanging fruit: Make sure the door seals are airtight. If you can feel cold air seeping out of your refrigerator, you’re wasting a lot of energy. The good news is it’s easy to install new seals, and they’re readily available online or from a hardware store.

  You can also adjust the thermostat inside your fridge and inside your freezer. Keep your refrigerator between 35 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit, and keep your freezer at 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

  And while this may sound obvious, another easy way to save energy is to shut the refrigerator door. Some people get into the habit of leaving that door open when they’re unloading groceries or trying to figure out what to cook for dinner or looking for the perfect mid-night snack. This makes your refrigerator work a lot harder to keep your food cold. It’s also important to avoid overcrowding your refrigerator, as restricting the airflow makes it less efficient. The freezer, on the other hand, keeps food frozen most efficiently when full.

  If you do decide to upgrade your fridge, be sure to take the old one to a recycling center or call for a pickup, if that service is provided in your area. (We’ll go into recycling in more detail in Chapter 3, “Recycling.”)

  Energy-Efficient Dishwashers

  Ed used to be adamant about doing the dishes by hand. I’d just as soon use the dishwasher. I said, “Let’s just get a very efficient dishwasher.” You know what Ed said? “You have one. His name is Ed.”

  Well, guess what. It turns out using an Energy Star dishwasher is actually more energy efficient—and more water-wise—than washing dishes by hand. So there!

  I gave Rachelle a hard time about using the dishwasher for years. The truth is, I find solace and joy and happiness in doing dishes, and I was always careful about filling up the sink with soapy water, rather than letting the water run while I was cleaning plates and pots and pans.

  Still, as careful as I was, there are now Energy Star-qualified dishwashers that are even more efficient than I am.

  Beyond that, a dishwasher uses hotter water than you can stand when you’re hand washing. Energy Star dishwashers get that water up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which does a much better job of disinfecting your dishes, so it’s more sanitary.

  A dishwasher saves time, too—more than 230 hours a year.

  Of course, you need to develop good dishwashing habits to maximize the eco-savings. First, make sure the dishwasher is full before you run it. Using the dishwasher only saves water and energy over hand washing if you’ve got the dish-washer at least three-quarters full.

  Also, don’t use the Heated Dry feature. Instead, allow the dishes to air-dry inside the dishwasher. If you’re worried about spotting, you can always use a rinse agent.

  If you’re like most people, you probably still rinse your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher. Rinsing dishes can waste up to 20 gallons of water per load. With most newer model dishwashers, this is no longer necessary. A grinder in the exhaust drain will cut up any residual food particles to prevent clogs, and today’s detergents are designed to do all that cleaning. Even if your dishes are going to sit in the machine overnight because you don’t have a full load, you’re better off using the dishwasher’s Rinse feature. It uses far less water than hand rinsing each plate individually

  Energy-Efficient Washing Machines

  Refrigerators and dishwashers certainly aren’t the only appliances that have gotten more energy efficient over time.

  Full-size energy-efficient washing machines are superior to standard models on many levels. They use just 18 to 25 gallons of water per load, compared with the 40 gallons used by a non-Energy Star machine, and they extract more water from clothes during the Spin cycle, which reduces the amount of time your clothes need to spend in the dryer. This also saves wear and tear on your clothing.

  Again, even if you’re not ready to buy a new washing machine, you can reduce energy use—and water use—with your current model. (When you do get a new machine, these steps will further reduce your energy use, too.) The first step is to avoid doing partial loads. Don’t run the washing machine until you’ve got enough dirty clothes to fill it.

  We dry our clothes on racks both outdoors and indoors—no energy required.

  Also, wash your clothes in cold water. Most detergents now work very well in cold water. Even if you use warm water, you’re going to be saving some energy, compared with washing clothes in hot water.

  The Energy Star people haven’t qualified any clothes dryers just yet, since pretty much all the dryers being sold today require the same amount of energy to operate. But there are still ways to cut down on energy use when drying your clothes. The most obvious way is not to use a machine at all. We use drying racks in our house, but you can also hang your clothes outside on a clothesline.

  If you have to use a dryer, then it’s best to use one that has a moisture sensor, rather than simply choosing a timed drying cycle. This way, the machine shuts off the moment your clothes are dry, rather than continuing to tumble—and heat—your clothing. This too eliminates wear and tear on your clothes, prolonging their lives and saving on wardrobe expenses, as well as your utility bills.

  Lastly, clean the dryer’s lint filter before every load. A clogged lint a year. Compared with a model manufactured before 1994, an Energy Star-qualified clothes

  Water Heaters

  Besides washing your clothes in cold water, there are other ways to save on your water heating bill. Your water heater has a thermostat inside. That’s why a hot water heater works. The natural gas comes on when the temperature drops below a certain point. I find on my hot water heater tank, I can adjust the thermostat. I have set mine to medium, on the center position, and I get water that is 110 or 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

  By switching from the hottest to the medium setting, you get water that’s plenty hot enough for a shower or to do dishes, and you’re still saving energy. As an added safety benefit to lowering the temperature of your hot water, you remove the possibility of scalds from too-hot water in the bath or shower, or when you run water in the sink.

  Another way you can save here is by putting a blanket around your water heater, if you have an older model that doesn’t have thick, thick insulation like the newer heaters. A hot water heater blanket costs only $5, and many municipalities give them away for free. Check with your water provider by phone or online. A blanket keeps the hot water hotter longer, so your heater doesn’t have to work so hard. (You’ll find more info on water heater technology in Chapter 4, “Energy.”)

  Earth-Friendly Cleaning Supplies

  Most cleaning supplies are highly toxic. How many times have you gone into a bathroom that was recently cleaned and thought, “I’ve got to get out of here. I’m breathing toxic fumes”?

  Everyone wants to protect their kids and their animals and themselves from exposure to those kinds of chemicals, so nontoxic cleaning products really make sense. Until recently, though, they just didn’t work very well. I had tried them in the past and felt like they weren’t good enough to satisfy me. I was always struggling with Ed over this, saying, “We need scouring powder and bleach in the house.” Sometimes I bought “real” cleaning products on the sly and made my housekeepers swear not to tell.

  But then, a couple years ago, a product came to us in unmarked bottles. We started using it, and—lo and behold!—it worked really well on any kind of stain, on carpets, on all kinds of surfaces. W
e said, “We’ve got to have this tested. It’s got to use some kind of funky chemicals.” But we had it tested, and found out it really was nontoxic. That cleaner became the first product we marketed under the Begley’s Best name. We were so happy with it, we started a business around it.

  It really is nontoxic. I use it all the time without wearing gloves, and it’s never even hurt my manicure, which is really important to me. You spend some money on a manicure, and you don’t want it to peel off, especially on the same day.

  Ed has gone so far as to drink the stuff, which I would NOT advise. I guess Ed will do anything to make a sale!

  While I definitely don’t recommend that people drink my cleaner, or any other cleaning product, no matter how pure it claims to be, Begley’s Best is made from environmentally responsible, natural ingredients that will not harm you, your family, or the environment, and you can drink to that!

  Seventh Generation makes a nice laundry detergent, and Begley’s Best cleaning concentrate works great as a laundry soap, too; just use a quarter cup per load. We sell it in a 64-ounce jug, so you’ll get forty-eight loads out of each container.

  The cleanliness of your home doesn’t have to suffer from making the switch to more eco-conscious products, either. These natural cleaners dissolve grease, grime, and dirt quickly and safely. They can clean your bathroom, your kitchen, even your carpets. And you’ll feel a lot better while you’re using them, too. They’re safer to breathe, safer for your skin, and overall they’ll keep your home’s air cleaner.