Home Energy Share and Compare Quickly compare your energy use to that of your neighbors.  
Find out how much energy your neighbors are using!Clean Energy Durham collects monthly energy use data from homes in Durham. Click on the links below for case studies from Durham neighborhoods: Note: Wondering why there are flags in the case studies? The flags indicate months that the household has achieved an average per person energy use equal to or below that of the average person in a particular country. The particular countries used as benchmarks appear on Clean Energy Durham's refrigerator magnet: United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and China.
More stories about energy savings! Below are more stories from Durham households about their successes in saving energy. 83% savings with a variety of measures!
This family used a variety of measures to reduce their energy bills by 83%. Most of their energy savings come from simple, common sense measures that any homeowner can implement. Click here to read their detailed account. Also see the cost/payback analysis and a graph of monthly savings.
Easy 20% savings I reduced my electricity usage by 20% (quasi-temperature adjusted) with 3 simple changes: - Replaced 5 oft used incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Turn off computer or use standby mode at night
- Do all laundry in cold water with Tide Cold Water formula
The new detergent gets my clothes clean, but I had become used to color-free, scent-free detergent, so this new "glacier scent" seems a bit stinky. I can't wait until they come out with unscented cold water formula.
Clothesline beats the dryer
The average clothes dryer load uses about 5 kWh. I quit using my dryer 6 years ago in favor of hanging it on a clothes line. At first, I got funny comments and looks from my SUV driving neighbors, but they've become much more accepting. At 10 loads per month, I've saved 600kWh per year which at 8 cents per kWh is about $48/year. Plus my clothes smell great and don't get beaten up in the dryer so they last longer. Check out this great site about line drying: www.laundrylist.org.
An awning keeps it cool
Every April through September I hang up a home made awning over the deck on the South facing corner of my house. This area collects alot of heat and it radiates in through the windows, even with curtains drawn. Its great in winter, but during hot summer days before I made the awning, my A/C would run all day and still the house would not go below 83F. Ever since the awning I can easily keep the house to 78F if I want to, but usually I aim for about 80F. Unfortunately, I can't access my Duke Power bills from the days before the awning to do a comparisson, so I don't know how much electricity I saved, but I know that my house is much more comfortable.
And here's a story from a small business:
On-demand hot water gives big savings for commercial laundry I save $700/mth on Natural gas... Yes, my natural gas bill from October - February averaged $1800. March - June it is $1100. And, I could have saved more! As a commercial laundry owner I knew adding on-demand hot water heaters would save me money, but honestly, even I didn't think it would be that much. I had worked with the NC Solar center on a proposal to install a solar hot water system (that included an on-demand heater for backup and "kick-ups") but due to an unfriendly landlord, I ended up only implementing the first phase of the plan, the on-demand hot water (we are looking for another location with a more willing landlord to execute the "total" plan). The brand we used is a Nortiz and got a good deal from Ellis Gas Supply in Durham (tell Marty Bob sent you!). Noritz offers a full range from small residential to large commercial and with a solar pre-heat capability, if our landlord ever moves into the 21st century, we will be ready! Lesson learned...If you are thinking of alternative energy for a commercial setting (and you don't own the building), Find a nice landlord! And if you know of any good locations for another laundry, let me know :)
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