There’s a hip new way to save energy, and it is making waves in the UK. The Wattson is a sleek and chic device that measures a household’s energy usage in real-time and displays it in watts per hour or British Pounds per year. The system works in two parts. The first is a tool that attaches to the electric meter, measuring the current amount of electricity being used by the household. This tool then communicates wirelessly to the second, which is an attractive display placed prominently inside the house- on a kitchen counter, perhaps. This allows the occupant to see how their lifestyle affects energy use- watching it spike when the air conditioning is turned on, seeing how low it can get when the home is empty. Also, the lights underneath will turn from blue to red if the home’s energy usage is running unusually high, giving the viewer a quick look into the home’s overall energy health.

What is one of the simplest and easiest ways to start saving energy immediately? Hibernation! If bears can do it, why not your computer? Move over Goldilocks, because we’re about to show you an energy saving tip that is juuuust right.

One great source of home energy usage is your electric appliances. Between lighting, refrigerators and the numerous other machines Americans use, about 30 percent of your home energy usage goes to power appliances. And while you may not be willing to give any of them up entirely, you can reduce your consumption anyway, by using energy-efficient appliances and fixtures.

Computers are not the biggest energy hogs in your house, but, depending on how much you use them, they can become a significant cost. If you use your computer for smaller jobs like word processing and emailing, and if you’re using a laptop or smaller desktop, chances are your computer is using moderate amounts of energy. Your computer’s energy use will increase with its size and with the complexity of the tasks it performs - playing high-tech games will strain your computer and it will suck up power.

When you conduct over 3000 Home Energy Audits per year you’re bound to run into some interesting opinions. Many people believe certain things about home energy consumption that are just not true. These “Energy Myths” have often been inherited from one generation to the next. “Grandma always said…” is the typical preface to many of these energy myths. But a whole lot has changed in the last 50-100 years that makes grandma’s recommendations obsolete. Sorry Grandma. So after hearing many different Energy Myths from many different energy customers, the staff of Conservation Consultants got together and compiled some of the most common ones into a list of… drum roll please…

Because your solar power system depends on absorbing sunlight, the placement of your panels is of utmost importance. Ideally, in the northern hemisphere, panels should be affixed to the south face of your house, the direction from which the sun will shine most of the day. If they are slightly to the east or west of true south, they will retain about 90% of their absorptive capability, but if the configuration of your house prevents you from orienting them more or less to the south, you should consider remodeling or choosing another energy source.

Building a solar system is a substantial financial commitment. It has both fixed and variable costs. That’s why many people choose to start out with a small system and build on as they can afford to do so. The federal government offers modest tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements, including solar power, and many states also offer tax credits or other incentives, which can reduce your costs significantly. Even so, payback periods on solar power systems are long and extremely variable.Before you install a photovoltaic system, or any alternative energy system, make your home as energy-efficient as you can (link). Every dollar you spend on increasing your home’s energy efficiency will save you between three and five dollars on the cost of your solar power system.

On-Grid: The energy produced via a residential renewable energy system both feeds off of and into the outside utility’s system.

A PV inverter is the part of your solar power system that converts the DC power from the photovoltaic panels into AC voltage for use in your home.The size of an inverter is measured in its maximum continuous output in watts, from less than one hundred to several thousand. Its physical size will also vary based on its power - currently the smallest inverters can be smaller than laptops.

In some cases battery banks are an optional component of your residential solar or wind power system, while in others they are necessary. In either case, the bank’s function is to store energy for later use. In an off-grid system, the battery is necessary because solar power is your only source of energy, and you don’t stop needing power when the sun goes down. Your system will collect excess solar energy while the sun shines and store it in a battery bank until you need to use it.
In an on-grid system battery banks may still be useful, because they will allow you to store solar energy for use when neither the sun, wind or your traditional power source is available -for instance, if there were a power outage at night.