Affordable Solar & Wind

Reducing Home Energy Usage: Using a Home Energy Monitor

Most people do not know or follow how much energy their homes consume on an average day. The fact is that most of us just use our various utilities and do not pay attention to the consequences. Not only is this an expensive habit but it also has a negative impact on the size of a household's carbon footprint, which many people feel obliged to cut down. If we closely monitored how much energy we use each day, whether it is gas or electricity, we would be surprised at the amount of waste we indulge in. Whenever we leave a light on or any other electrical appliance on for longer than we need, it is an automatic waste of energy. 

Whenever we cook and turn on the gas and leave it burning for no reason, it is gas wasted for no reason and we end up with a higher gas price that we otherwise would have done. Needless to say it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that all we need to do is pay just a little attention to our usage and we could reduce the amount of energy that is being needlessly used. Most of us do not stop and think where we get our energy from and how it is produced. The majority of electricity is produced by burning coal, gas turbines or by tapping nuclear energy. There are other sources such as hydro electric and wind turbine, but they only produce a fraction of electricity needed. 

The problem with coal power is that coal is burnt and this is not the most environmentally clean way to get energy. Whenever coal is burnt it sends carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. Gas turbine energy makes use of diesel fuel which is almost as harmful. Atomic or nuclear is a clean source in the short term but in the long term it is arguably a harmful substitute. Now the question is; how can we decrease our energy usage and become more socially responsible? For starters there are many ways to do it, the easiest is almost certainly to be more careful with our usage. 

Nowadays there are many manufacturers that make clever little gadgets to help us monitor our daily usage of gas and electriciy. One such gadget is the home energy monitor. Home energy monitors are capable of monitoring your usage in real time. This means at any given time you will be able to see what your actual usage is. Research has shown that people could reduce as much as twenty five percent of their energy use if they were able to monitor how much they are using. This is because when we use an energy monitor we will make necessary adjustments during the course of the day.

This kind of reduction in energy usage is huge. If each person were to use an energy monitor, our collective carbon footprint could be greatly reduced. Indeed in some countries it has become the law to use such devices in people's homes. The fact is that our energy reserves are depleting at a very fast rate and we need to start doing something now to help make the environment a safer place.

About the Author

Marcus Gallon regularly writes about home efficiency and electricity use.

Energy X-Prize: Reduce Home Energy Usage

suggest sources to make a project on the use of alternate sources of energy?

use of alternate source of energy like, solar, wind, water, tidal CNG, biogas usage of bicycles

The site given below has a kids' menu page. Click on the alternative energy types and you will find projects for schools at different grades. It is from the USA.

In the UK you have the Dept for Education and Skills site which is the second one below. I wish you luck with it as I cannot get it to open.

Wind Energy Information Guide $32.45 This guide is designed to help you search for information in the wind energy field, ranging from its history and technology basics to the latest in research and development. It is written to help several audiences, including engineers and scientists who may be unfamiliar with a particular aspect of wind energy, university researchers who are interested in this field, manufacturers who want to learn more about specific wind topics, librarians who provide information to their clients, and anyone else who is interested in knowing more about wind energy technologies. Author: US Department of Energy Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 140 Publication Date: 2005/02/01 Language: English Dimensions: 11.00 x 8.25 x 0.30 inches

View of Windmills on a Wind Energy Farm $39.99 Marc Moritsch View of Windmills on a Wind Energy Farm - Photographic Print

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Wind Energy Basics By Gipe, Paul $32.07 Author: Gipe, Paul Subtitle: A Guide to Homeand CommunityScale Wind Energy Systems Publication Date: 2009/05/05 Number of Pages: 166 Binding Type: Paperback Language: English Depth: 0.50 Width: 8.00 Height: 10.00

Thames & Kosmos Wind Power: Renewable Energy Science Kit $44.95 Thames & Kosmos Wind Power: Renewable Energy Science Kit

Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor $44.1 Are your utility bills going through the roof? Track energy consumption with the Kill A Watt Usage Monitor. An LCD readout displays energy consumption by the Kilowatthour with a 0.2 percent accuracy rate and monitors voltage line frequency and power factor. You ll save on electricity once you have identified and replaced or changed your usage of energyguzzling devices. Helps to track and budget electrical expenses by the hour day week month even an entire year.

Generational Usage of Social Support $96.59 Las Vegas, Nevada, as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States, represents the perfect microcosm in which to look at the ways younger (3045 years of age) and older adults (65 years of age and older) attempt to deal with different and similar life stressors such as illness, companionship, time constraints, financial constraints, mobility, and distance from family members. Rather than feeling isolated due to geographic distance, participants in this pilot study used a variety of means to stay in contact with key members of their social support network, including computermediated communication. They also refocused their time and energy to make these interactions more meaningful. The findings of this study into generational differences in the structure and usage of social support networks in a mobile society may be helpful to government and social service agencies in assessing the types of services offered in major metropolitan areas to assist families cope with aging relatives. Author: Klein, Jeannine Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 116 Publication Date: 2008/10/01 Language: English Dimensions: 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.23 inches

Kill A Watt Ez Electricity Usage Monitor $59.46 Are your utility bills going through the roof? Track energy consumption with the Kill A Watt Usage Monitor. An LCD readout displays energy consumption by the Kilowatthour with a 0.2 percent accuracy rate and monitors voltage line frequency and power factor. You ll save on electricity once you have identified and replaced or changed your usage of energyguzzling devices. Helps to track and budget electrical expenses by the hour day week month even an entire year.

Thames amp; Kosmos 623913 Wind Power Renewable Energy Science Kit $58.37 Thames Kosmos (TK) was founded in 2001 with the mission of improving informal science education by publishing highquality science and technology related educational products for children of all ages. TK places an emphasis on teaching concepts and skills through handson modeling of realworld devices and processes and by offering comprehensive meaningful reading materials for a rich learning experience. nbsp;. Build a working wind turbine to harness power out of thin air. Wind is one of the most promising sources of clean renewable energy available today. Wind energy has been used for centuries to pump water and crush grain in windmills and is now increasingly being used to generate electricity to power our modern world. First assemble a wind turbine complete with electric generator adjustable rotors and wind speed indicator. Then conduct more than 20 experiments with your wind turbine including experiments with different numbers of rotor blades different blade angles and profiles different wind speeds different gear ratios and so on. Use the wind turbine to generate mechanical power to lift a heavy weight or generate electricity to light up an LED and charge a rechargeable battery. During the experiments you will learn the physics of force and motion as it applies to wind power technology. Learn how to measure and calculate the different forces acting on the rotor blades by breaking them down into vectors. Discover how the sun makes the wind providing us with an endless source of energy. Read about different types of wind turbines and windmills. The fullcolor 32page experiment manual offers illustrated instructions and scientific information. Ages 8 and up. build a working wind turbine. harness mechanical energy to lift weights. generate electricity to light an LED and charge a battery. learn the physics of wind turbines. discover how wind occurs and why it is such a promising energy source

Offshore Wind Power $76.47 High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Offshore wind power refers to the construction of wind farms in bodies of water to generate electricity from wind. Unlike the term typical usage of the term offshore in the marine industry, offshore wind power includes inshore areas such as lakes, fjords and sheltered coastal areas, utilizing traditional fixedbottom wind turbine technologies, as well as deepwater areas utilizing floating wind turbines. Author: Surhone, Lambert M./ Timpledon, Miriam T./ Marseken, Susan F. Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 124 Publication Date: 2010/06/25 Language: English Dimensions: 5.98 x 9.01 x 0.29 inches

Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy By Lynn, Paul A. $107.33 This book uses academic content and rigor to introduce all relevant topics, from global wind resource and historical background, through to modern electricity generation and distribution, including the topical subject area of offshore systems Author: Lynn, Paul A., Ph.D. Subtitle: An Introduction Publication Date: 2011/12/20 Number of Pages: 223 Binding Type: Hardcover Language: English Depth: 0.75 Width: 6.00 Height: 9.00

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Wind Sculpture $506 -Striking free-form shape and luxuriously vibrant finishes radiate energy in the lacquer sculpture. -Made of fiberwood. -Each piece is hand finished by Vietnamese artisans.

Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor $45.99 Now you can cut your energy costs and find out what appliances are actually worth keeping plugged in.

Sunsolar Energy Technologies SQHWK High Wind Roof Mounting Kit $25.81 For high wind areas to be used in addition to the roof mounting kit (SQRMK5). 1 SQHWK per SQ2220 system is required plus one extra.

Darrieus Wind Turbine $76.47 High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles The Darrieus wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine used to generate electricity from the energy carried in the wind. The turbine consists of a number of aerofoils usuallybut not always vertically mounted on a rotating shaft or framework. This design of wind turbine was patented by Georges Jean Marie Darrieus, a French aeronautical engineer in 1931. The Darrieus type is theoretically just as efficient as the propeller type if wind speed is constant, but in practice this efficiency is rarely realised due to the physical stresses and limitations imposed by a practical design and wind speed variation. There are also major difficulties in protecting the Darrieus turbine from extreme wind conditions and in making it selfstarting Author: Miller, Frederic P./ Vandome, Agnes F./ McBrewster, John Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 104 Publication Date: 2010/07/01 Language: English Dimensions: 5.98 x 9.01 x 0.24 inches