A while ago – maybe around when the Prius first appeared? – there was a lot of talk about the hypermilers. You know, the folks who would coast down the hill to their garage and draft 6″ off 18-wheelers in an effort to eke out the very best possible mpg in their car? I know it is a cultural phenomenon, because it has a Wikipedia entry! There are also YouTube videos, Wired articles, and Instructables. Clearly, this has caught people’s fancy – probably because paying for gas sucks, especially now. Saving energy and money – in your car – has become just a little bit cool.
So where are the hyperwatters, the folks who eke every bit of utility out of every watt-hour? Where are the forums, the Wired articles, the … words of the year for the electrical efficiency freaks?
Even if the word isn’t in our language yet, I’m pretty sure you may be a hyperwatter if you:
(Note: some Amazon product links follow)
- Read your electric bill each month – and look forward to it!
- Know how much energy your doorbell uses
- Replaced your electric coffee grinder with a hand grinder?
[amzn]
- Replaced your CFLs (which were in every socket) with LEDs
- Own a Kill A Watt
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- Know that turning the gigabit ethernet card in your computer down to 100 megabits can save up to 2 watts, or up to 20kWh/year
- Delay laundry until the sun is shining
- ???
So – are you out there? Are you with me? Have you gone to any extremes to shave that last kWh off your bill? Will it take electricity at $1/kWh for “hyperwatter” to become the 2014 word of the year?
We’re out here, as you know :-)
Seriously, though, I think they’re more hypermilers because:
a) driving is more “sexy” than turning out lights at home;
b) electricity is so much cheaper than gasoline;
Of course, when you put driving together with electricity (and solar), that’s when it all becomes a lot sexier, and I suspect you might see more hyperwatters soon because of this..
So, Christof, what’s your hyperwatter equivalent to drafting 6″ off a semi to get that last kWh shaved off your bill? :)
That’s a good point that the EV hypermilers may also be hyperwatters, if they make the holistic connection…
I didn’t know that what I do had a name other than efficient. Last year my AVERAGE monthly use was 438 kwh down from 513 in 2009. My goal is to average 350. Years ago Mother Earth News preached Reduce, Reduce, Reduce and then you can go with solar power. Next month I will be installing a 3.9Kw system. It will be great to watch that meter run backwards.
Gerard, cool! With 3.9kW you should definitely go backwards, overall. Our 2.5kW array has achieved that a couple months, with monthly use in the 300kWh-400kWh range. Let me know how it goes!
BTW, I think “efficient” is quite descriptive… but not so marketable. ;)
I think we qualify – our record last year was 90 kW-hrs for the month of June, although that was some pretty extreme living (we turned our water heater off in addition to the air conditioning and all other extra appliances).
So how do we make it sexy? I’d love to know…
Wow!
I hope nothing too icky grew in your water heater as a result ;)
Was this as a result of http://greencouple.com/2011/01/23/energy-showdown-finale/ ?
Yeah, we did it as part of a contest to reduce energy usage. The winner received a 1 kW-hr PV system. Actually, the family that won didn’t do anything nearly as extreme as we did but they found all kinds of ways to slash their energy usage. (Basically, they had a lot of fat to trim like making their pool pump more efficient whereas we were already living pretty frugally.) You can read their story here: http://sirensolar.org/EnergyShowdown.htm#GRAND%20PRIZE%20WINNERS:%20Woodie%20&%20Pam%20Bessler,
I checked around and it’s okay to turn off your water heater for awhile with no worries about algae. It’s when you keep it at incubation temperatures for long periods of time that you need to worry…. :)
Too bad you didn’t win. You guys totally deserve it! :)
Our family of four has gotten down to around 250kWh/month in the spring & fall, but that’s the best I can do so far. I saw one person on your blog mention turning off the radon fan in the summer when the windows are open – ours uses about 15kWh/month, but I’m not sure I’m willing to do that. Cold showers is one thing; radioactive gas is quite another!
Hm, now I am considering replacing my existing laserprinter, which sleeps at 4W, for a newer model which sleeps at 0.9W. I know that on balance, that would not exactly help anything in the big picture, but it is tempting. 4W is 26kW/year! :)
Ok turning off wireless saves 0.5W-1W or so. :)