Dan wrote with a question unlike any I’ve received before. He lives in Alaska, where the residents of Juneau have been confronted with a sudden energy crisis (more here). Here’s Dan’s story:
I am facing a unique energy situation. I live in Juneau, Alaska. Last Wednesday, we had an avalanche which affected the electricity generation within our community. Our energy costs went from $0.11 per kilowatt-hour to $0.50 per kilowatt-hour instantly. Imagine your electricity bill quintupling from $150 to $750 each month. This increase will continue for at least three months.
We rent an apartment with electric heat. We’ve attempted to reduce our consumption substantially, cutting back on lights, tv, computer, and even heat. Pile on the the sweaters! It’s not quite Spring here yet, so it’s a little cool around the house. One thing we’re trying to reduce is our water consumption — our electric water heater may be a source of significant kilowatts.
We haven’t seen food prices increase around town yet, which has been fortunate. Everyone’s basically in the same boat. Grocery stores are dark, but open. Some small businesses aren’t operating.
Do you or your readers have any thoughts on saving energy?
According to the Juneau Empire, 22 percent of Juneau’s households are heated by electricity. But, of course, residents and businesses use electricity for more than just warmth; it’s a vital part of daily life.
The newspaper notes that it will take 100,000 gallons of diesel per day to pick up the slack, at a daily cost of nearly $400,000. Also from the article:
“It’s a disaster,” said Cathie Roemmich, Chief Executive Officer of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce. “This is when we need to pull together.” She was particularly worried about young people and small businesses, she said, who might not be able to handle their higher electric bills. But everyone should use less energy. “The more you and I conserve, the less we all end up paying,” she said Wednesday afternoon. “In fact, I’m going to turn the lights off right now.”
This situation highlights the need for disaster preparedness and for a solid emergency fund. How would you cope if your power bill went up by $500 a month with no warning? A spokeswoman for Alaska Electric Light & Power recommends “living an urban camping lifestyle”. That’s nice, but what’s going to happen to small businesses? Reading the comments on the article (the web version of the Juneau Empire is a blog!), residents are not happy.
Meanwhile, Dan could use some energy conservation tips. What would you do if your electricity costs quintupled? Would you find alternate sources of light? Would you give up television? Your computer? Wear your clothes more than once before washing them?
Photo by DanieVDM.
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Living in Canada, here are some things I do for winter living:
- Caulk everything, around windows, door frames, any pipes or wires that enter the home, to prevent drafts
- buy insulated backers for behind wall switch and electrical outlet faceplates, put caulking there too, again to prevent drafts. Faceplates on outside walls are most important
- if you have forced air heating, ie; vents, get aluminum tape and seal up the ductwork to prevent heat loss inside your walls
- seal off the vents in rooms that aren’t used much
- take short showers. Keep the plug in the tub while taking a shower to save the hot water. Let the hot water warm the room. When the water is room temperature, drain it. Wasting hot water is literally energy down the drain.
- as somebody mentioned let in as much sunlight as you can. At night close the blinds and curtains to provide a bit of insulation.
- use a toaster oven and/or microwave instead of the stove
- use weather-strip putty to seal off attic hatch
- use ceiling fan to circulate warm air near the ceiling to the rest of the room.
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I love a lot of these ideas, especially insulating curtains on the windows at night.
For water conservation, try googling for low flow shower heads. Average is 5 gal/minute. Low flow of about 2.5 saves a lot of water without sacrificing water pressure.
Aerators in your sink faucets. They’re about $3 and take maybe 2 minutes to install and cut your hand washing water consumption by half. It takes a little longer to fill up a water glass, but you also won’t let all that warm hand washing water go down the drain while you’re lathering up your hands.
Is your heat electric baseboard/ electric resistance heat? How old is it? You may save lots of $$ there if you buy a highly efficient space heater with all the safety features (anti tip, auto shut off if it gets too hot, etc) for your bedrooms at night.
Good luck. And try googling energy efficiency or go to the eere.gov website. Lots of good ideas there too.
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Yes, i would give up my tv. I’m doing it already since 4 months and i don’t miss it. Also, i would install solar panels and use candles (how romantic
).
Also, you can collect rain water in barrels and use it for many things. To heath up your house, you can install solarthermal panels.
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I assume the price of propane hasn’t gone up. Use a portable gas heater to warm up your place. They don’t cost much and they’re mode to be used indoors.
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This might be difficult in Alaska, where the days are longer/shorter depending on the time of year, but maybe you could try this: Adjust your sleep schedule as best you can, so that you sleep away most of the hours that are dark. If you’re sleeping you don’t need lights, tv, anything electric, except the heat, maybe (turned down!). Try to wake up as it’s getting light out (or after) so that you never really have to turn on any (or many) lights.
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What a terrible situation! If it were me, I would stop using everything with the exception maybe of my phone. Unplug everything … Wear clothes until they smelled and pile on the blankets.
I would also probably invest in come battery powered lanterns. Surely the cost of batteries is less than their electric costs.
I would also handwash my clothes. Yes, it will take longer but then you don’t have to use the electricity to turn on the washer. Hang drying would also prevent the need for electricity hogging dryers.
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You can use solar lights instead of using your electric lights. Bundle a bunch of them together and get light for everyday activities that costs less than your electricity…and they recharge during the day.
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I grew up in Alaska, and when we had bad power outages in my town, they used to let us go to the rec center to get showers. It’s inconvenient, but if you really want to save on heat/water, perhaps you can grab a few showers a week at your local gym instead of at home. (This is, of course, assuming the gym is still operating…)
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This is an interesting situation, and everyone has great ideas. It is the perspective (luckily) that you’re dealing with a short term emergency. Solar lights, communal living to some degree, rechargable batteries (use solar recharger), homemade solar water &/or space heater, learn to love candlelight, even consider a solar oven if have access to 6-8 good hours of sunlight (doesn’t have to be warm), lotsa “woolies”. You can even preheat your bed by putting a cast iron (type) pot with rice/pasta that’s been heated to a boil in it between layers of newspapers/towels tucked in your bed. The rice will cook without extra energy and you’ll have a warm bed!
Always try to multitask your energy use….
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Turn the heat off at night and with a prgrammable thermostat turn it on a hour before you get up. An electric blanket or a bed warmer uses a lot less power than the furnace. Get a foam toilet seat so it warms up quickly when you set on it. If you are in an apartment with neighbors on each side there heat will heat your apartment. My uncle did that for years.
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@beth (56) – that reminds me… the phone company doesn’t want you to know this, but you can get free electricity from your phone line. Just google “electricity from phone line.”
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Great suggestions! Just a few additions:
1. Just for clarification – LED’s might be a challenge. They’re near impossible to find, and for the moment they aren’t very good at throwing light. That is, they might act as a flashlight, but they won’t light up your room. I would stick with CFLs for now (but be sure to dispose of them properly!!).
Learn more here: http://www.unscrewamerica.org
2. Try and pick up a couple of hand-cranked flashlights. They have usually have batteries that can be recharged by turning a crank or a wheel.
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In the winter it gets down pretty cold. While -5 is nothing like Alaska, my house has NO insulation.
It’s best to move to just one room and heat it. The less area needed to be heated, the less energy used. You may only have central heating, so I recommend buying a small space heater. Electric is pricey and uses a lot of energy but the halogen type is rather energy efficient. Also if everyone in the house is in one room, the body heat alone does wonders!
Doing hot pots on a portable gas stove is also a great way to keep the heat. Not only does it use no electricity, the soup warms you and the air up, and since everyone sits around it in a tight bundle its another great free way to utilize body heat.
I used no heater what so ever, and my house consistently dropped down to 0-5. You can stay warm without using 15 billion layers. You just need to layer smart. Under-armor is a great investment for this, if your base layer is this, you can just go by with a either a thick hoody, or a baggy sweater. Socks and gloves are important, just wearing socks will keep you surprisingly warm, and WEAR A HAT. You lose a large amount of your body heat from there.
Also think of sleeping in sleeping bags at night. You won’t have to turn on the heater at all. Someone said it may take a lot of energy re-heating your house us, but I can’t see how re-heating it would burn more energy than 7 hours of non-heat. If someone would like to prove me wrong please do.
A lot of heat is lost through the crack in your house and windows, really make sure those are sealed. And your windows are very cold itself, it can become a heat vacuum. I recommend using thick drapes. Unless it is a really sunny day then open those suckers up!
Last, use a humidifier or if you a really cheap hang up a moist towel. Better yet don’t use the dryer and hang your clothes in doors. Moist air can hold more heat than dry air.
All other suggestions are great! Cold water CAN get clothes clean (just buy cold water formula detergent). Boiling water for your dishes not only forces you to use a bucket (and use less water) but saves a lot of energy. Yes, it does take a bit of heat to re-heat up the water but again I can’t see how the re-heating would cost MORE than perhaps 20 hours of non-heat. So only turning on the heater when using the shower is another great idea.
I’ve read a few already on here, but not all of them, so sorry if these are repeats!
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Turn central heat down as far as you can stand it – 55 or lower.
Use a small portable heater to heat the room you’re currently using.
Turn water heater down to 120, and keep it off – only turn it on before you need hot water (an hour before, 30 minutes before? – you’ll have to experiment)
Wash clothes in cold water, hang them to dry.
And there’s little point to unplugging a modern (2001 or newer) fridge – an apartment sized fridge will use under 500 kWh/year, which is only about $20/month even at $0.50/kWh
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@ #54
Propane heaters have the potential to be extremely bad… They can use all the oxygen in a closed environment (which you’ve now created with the extra insulation) and asphyxiate you. In Arizona here, we have an optional pay-as you go power plan, which really helps you monitor your power consumption. We have the same insulation issues as our Juneau friend, but with heat in the summer instead of cold. Closing drapes makes a huge difference, and the heavier the drapery the better. If you don’t have it already, double or triple paned glass makes a difference. Moving to a mini-fridge vs. a fullsized unit saved noticeable amounts. The $40 programmable thermostat paid for itself in 2 months. One day of forgetting to shut off the A/C in the morning kills the power bill.
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There are so many great comments! I want to add my two cents.
When I was growing up, we had very little money and so my mom was always coming up with frugal solutions to heating our drafty old house. We also went through many weeks during the harsher winters without electricity (not in a row…) when Seattle had big windstorms, etc..
I would recommend that you live Little House on the Prairie style for a while:
The suggestions below all follow doing this one list: turn off the heat, turn off the water heater, turn off all lights, unplug everything.
Put your groceries in coolers outside (protects them from animals, prevents refrigerator usage).
Cook all meals by grill or at apt building events where you rotate apartments each night. Or cook by fire if you have one.
Confine yourself to only one room – your entire family can do all their daily activities in the one room. If there are any open doorways leading to other rooms from your main room, drape blankets over the doorways and make sure they’re closely sealed against the wall. Hang blankets over all the windows, especially at night. My mom used to just tack them against the wall – no need to buy pretty curtains. I would also suggest that if there are still drafts, cover your windows in sealer plastic.
Heat this one room that you are now living in with fire (if you have a fireplace), or with candles. You’d be surprised how few candles it takes to raise the temperature in a room. And with all of you staying in the same room, your combined body heat will add to the room’s warmth. Do activities huddled under blankets. Sit together on the couch – you’ll conserve body heat this way.
Wear SMART layers. Your body is kept warm by the proper layering of clothing. Wear something with some padding – “pocket space” – close to your body to hold warm air. Fleece is especially good for this. Then wear something tight-knit outside of that – this traps the warm air in the pocket layer. This is how to dress when hiking in sub-zero temperatures (at least, that’s where I learned it) because it keeps your body heat trapped against you. And like said above, wear a hat! And wear socks with your slippers. If you have no slippers, apply the two-layer heat trap idea to your socks, too.
Wash your clothes only once every two weeks. Nearly everyone has enough clothing to do this, and it’s really not good for your clothes to wash them all the time – unless they’re soiled in some way (mustard stain, dirt, sweat, etc.). I do laundry every other week (I could go two months, with the amount of clothes I have) and even with three wears, things are always clean and presentable. It can be done!
Read by candlelight. For activities, play board games or riddles with your family. Keep the computer and the TV off as much as possible, and keep them unplugged.
If you’re freezing, do 100 jumping jacks.
Take very short showers. When I had a French exchange student living in my home, she would take 20-minute showers, but the water would be on for only 3 minutes or so. I kept telling her she could just leave it on, but in France she had to conserve, and so she kept doing it her way. She told me the process – get wet all over, turn water off; soap-wash whole body, shave legs, shampoo hair; turn water on and wash off everything, turn water off; condition hair and wash face; turn water on and rinse off, turn water off. I know it may sound a little neurotic, but it uses little water. This way you can keep your water heater at a low temperature and the whole family can use its contents in one burst in about a half-hour.
Alternately, you could heat a pot of water on the stove or in the fireplace or on a grill and then have each person take sponge-baths with a washcloth alone with their pot of warm water. It’s what they did before water-heaters. You can use baby-powder to cut the grease in your hair and you’ll stay pretty clean – and you could then turn the water heater off for good.
Sleep in sleeping bags either in the main room, or heavily bundled up in the other rooms. Consider sleeping in the same bed as other family members to keep the heat together and heat the house less.
I would recommend doing all of your cooking by grill or by fire because it’s free heat. If you can’t, since all of your neighbors are in the same boat, I think organizing apartment complex or neighborhood meals would be an excellent idea.
I hope this all helps! You are in an incredibly tough situation and I’m sorry that you all are going through this. I can’t imagine my electricity bill quadrupling
JD – I would love if later you’d find out what he’s done since this post and how it’s worked. I’m curious for the “after” post.
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Research everything before you buy.
For example, Energy Star isn’t just for big appliances. I just bought an Energy Star compliant cordless phone (V-tech Dect 6.0, and it is EXCELLENT), and in their power adapter section, they list mobile phones that have energy star chargers. http://energystar.gov/
If you are technical, look for things with ‘switching’ power adapters. These use less power than transformers.
There are some newer ‘green’ PC’s that will save you money in the long run. Look for the 80 Plus logo when you buy http://80plus.org
If you build your own PC, or have one that uses a standard ATX power supply that you can replace, I recommend the Seasonic brand. I have built 3 PC’s with them, and they are absolutely reliable. http://www.seasonic.com They make non-80plus power supplies too, so check the model number first.
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Build and use a solar cooker:
http://solarcooking.org/
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Gotta love the solar suggestions for southeast Alaska, LOL!
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Dave, you are right about using less electricity. And it isn’t often my non-engineer friends ask me to elaborate on something technical!
Basically, a fridge only turns on when the temperature rises above the set point. The smaller the difference between the ambient (room/outdoor) temperature and the temp inside the fridge, the slower the heat transfer. The slower the heat transfer, the less the compressor runs. The less the compressor runs, the less electricity you use.
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Gasp! And here I felt put upon when we were told our power bills would go up a mere 9 percent this summer! No more complaining from these parts….
Having spent three months in Alaska hitchhiking and sleeping on the ground, I’d say the summer weather there is pretty temperate. Now is a good time to set aside some extra money toward next winter’s power bills.
Here, our winters are mild and the summers fierce, with upwards of six weeks of 115-degree (plus) temperatures. Our power company told us about the raise in rates last winter. I’ve put the amount of a typical month’s power bill in savings and figure I can use it to stay on budget when the astronomical statements come in.
Meanwhile, I’m experimenting with the Month of (not-so-)Extreme Frugality as we scribble, and indeed am scribbling this by candlelight. My plan is to see whether keeping the lights off at night to the extent possible will actually make any difference in the power bill. Tune in next month to see the result, if any.
Meanwhile, I’d second & third all the advice above, except for the idea of leaving the food outside where the bears can eat it. Even in the city, grizzlies and brown bears will come through and raid anything they can find, and they certainly are clever enough to open a cooler (yum!), a refrigerator, or a freezer.
With the thermostat turned down, use electric blankets at night and wear socks to bed (it’s amazing how much warmer you feel when your feet are insulated).
During the summer, definitely cook everything you possibly can on a grill. Use a toaster oven for small iterms, such as sandwiches, bacon, and the like. Bacon cooks nicely, layered between paper towels, in the microwave–one minute per slice. If you’re in the market for a grill, look for one that has a side burner on it–this will allow you to use propane to boil water and cook in a saucepan. Propane is expensive, but a tank lasts quite a long time.
Even in southern Alaska, it’s likely to be too cold and wet to cook outside during the winter. So use a) a slow cooker to put together all-in-one meals; b) a pressure cooker to speed cooking; and c) the oven to cook several things at once. Prepare plenty of recipes that make leftovers, which can be reheated quickly or made into cold sandwiches.
SDXB, who loathes electric stoves, cooks on a camp stove in the kitchen. While this may annoy the distaff side of the family (note that he doesn’t live here any more…), it does cut the power bill. As Carl points out above, don’t overdo this–run the blower over the stove and open a window. Burning propane creates CO, which in an enclosed space can suffocate you in short order. Absolutely positively never start a charcoal fire indoors. Don’t even think about it.
Keep the thermostat turned as far down as is safe for the plumbing and use a space heater to make a single room livable.
And please please don’t move to Arizona! We’ve got too wayyy many people here. Enjoy those fine crisp winters in Alaska…118 degrees in the shade is scary.
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Electric heat in Alaska? I believe that wood pellet stoves are the most energy efficient solution.
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hi For this Alaska friend
I have a post about saving energy on my blog.
Hope this can help a little.
with my best wishes,
Mrs.ThePoint
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I was asked to write an article for a magazine a few months ago dealing with power outages during the winter months. Some of the advice in the article may be helpful in reducing usage also.
http://totallyready.com/content/view/25/9/
I also write a blog dealing with emergency preparedness which may have tips for helping you to prepare in the future for future emergencies. Good luck and stay warm!
blog.TotallyReady.com
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Hi,
There’s this great website (www.edenbee.com) focused on ecology and reducing one’s carbon footprint. Lots of tips on power conservation and effeciency.
Good luck!
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The 12 Volt RV Solar Systems will keep as well as charge your own RV battery pack whilst getting rid of noises and air pollution with costly power generators to power the equipment
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