The Walton EMC Blog

Keeping Your Cool

Here are great tips to beat the heat and help your energy bill:

• Keep blinds and drapes closed on the sunny side of the house. You'll be surprised how much difference it makes to keep out solar radiation.

• If your home has large expanses of exposed glass, consider window tint.
• It  won't help right now, but plant hardwood trees on the southern and western sides of your home. The leaves shade the home in the summer and fall off in the winter to let the sunshine through.
• Keep the doors and windows closed. Okay, I know this one seems obvious. But how many times have you caught the kids leaving the doors wide open?
• Use ceiling and floor fans to create a wind chill effect. This may allow you to set the air conditioner thermostat a tad higher.
• Put off heat-producing chores -- like cooking, drying and ironing -- until the evening. Hey, now you have an excuse to go out to dinner.
• Turn off lights. If your fixtures are equipped with incandescent bulbs, they're using 90 percent of the electricity they consume to produce heat. Yep, that's right, old-fashioned light bulbs are more of a heater than a light source.
• Better yet, replace all those old bulbs with compact fluorescents. You'll light for one-fourth the energy and the bulbs don't create near as much heat the AC has to get rid of.
• Speaking of the AC, keep it in tip-top shape. It works hard when the weather is hot. Keep the filter changed, make sure indoor vents are not obstructed and don't block the airflow around the outdoor unit. Having your AC unit checked regularly isn't a bad idea, either.

Running a Marathon Without All the Work

Next to central heat and air, water heating is the second largest contributor to energy cost in your home, which means that your system should be efficient and economical. Whether you are replacing an existing unit or installing a unit in your new home, efficient and economical comes in the form of a Marathon.

Marathons are energy efficient, lightweight water heaters that are guaranteed to never leak and last as long as you own your home. Check out the diagram below to see what else sets Marathon apart from standard steel water heaters:

As the premier Marathon dealer serving the Atlanta and Athens area, Walton EMC can sell you a Marathon and then help you pay for it with financing and rebates.

Payment options include 90-day same as cash and 12-month financing at a prime rate. In addition to financing, we also offer rebates. To qualify, you must be a customer-owner installing a Marathon inside your home within Walton EMC’s service territory.

 Rebates:

• $200 – Replacing a fossil fuel unit with a Marathon.
• $150 – Installing a Marathon inside a new home.  

Upgrading your water heater is a budget friendly decision, but for evens more savings, pair Marathon with a solar water heating system from Power Partners Solar. Switching to solar power as a source of renewable energy benefits your budget and your environment.

To get more information on Marathon and Power Partners Solar, visit our website.

 

ENERGY STAR - More Than a Label

Walton EMC is proud to partner with ENERGY STAR as an official Energy Efficiency Program Sponsor. Using the platform provided by the program, our co-op promotes improving the environment through energy efficiency. For Walton EMC, improvements comes in the form of energy efficient appliances, lighting and home improvements.

ENERGY STAR is “a partnership among government, business, and consumers, united in the pursuit of a common goal – to protect our environment for future generations.”

ENERGY STAR provides a number of tools, resources and strategies to Program Partners. We encourage all of our customer-owners to look for the ENERGY STAR label when shopping for energy-related products:

 

Along with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ENERGY STAR is working to build environmentally friendly homes and promote improved energy performance in existing homes. Beginning this month, if you purchase an ENERGY STAR certified appliance, you may be eligible for a rebate from the State of Georgia. Learn more at www.georgiarebate.com.

Got a Minute?

That's all it takes to watch one of our Energy Minute videos, but you'll get lots of tips on how you can save money on your power bills. Check out some of our latest ones:

Be Your Own Energy Auditor with Our Energy Calculators

When you get your power bill out of the mailbox each month, more than likely your eyes go straight to the total, right? 

Most people just want to find out what they owe, but have you ever stopped to think what actually makes up that number? Sure, it's your energy use, but each appliance that uses energy contributes to that final cost.  The energy calculators on our website can pinpoint specific areas where you can lower your bill as well as your impact on the environment.  

Home Energy and Carbon Footprint Analyzer

The Home Energy and Carbon Footprint Analyzer offers a number of tools to help you identify areas of your home that use the most energy and ways to break your not-so-favorable usage habits. You start by filling out a few general questions regarding your home, such as the age, square footage and number of occupants. Once the information is entered, the analyzer will calculate the consumption and separate the information into usage categories. There is also a "Ways to Save" section that provides energy saving tips based on your usage results. This calculator even goes a step further to translate your monthly energy consumption into carbon footprint components such as acres of trees, cars on the road and barrels of oil. 

Check it out here.

Heating System Comparison Calculator

The Heating System Comparison Calculator is a great help when considering the operating cost of various heating systems inside your home. This calculator allows you to gather information on any heating system using different rate structures and discount programs. Check it out here.

Cooling System Comparison Calculator

The Cooling System Comparison Calculator provided the same capabilities as the Heating System Comparison Calculator expect that the focus is placed on cooling rather than heating. Heating and cooling combine for the highest energy usage in your home, so use the comparison calculators to make sure that your heating/cooling system is the most energy efficient option for your household. Use it here.

Appliance Calculator

With the Appliance Calculator you can estimate how much you pay a month to use the dishwasher and television. Don't mistake this information as useless facts. Learning which appliance have become energy hogs can help you to reduce consumption and cost. Calculate yours here.

*Note: Energy consumption varies by household based on a number of factors, therefore all calculations should be considered estimates and not specific values. 

Help your kids go green

 
 

These days, Dr. Suess isn't the only one getting kids to think green. While Green Eggs and Ham is still a favorite among children, green means a lot more to kids these days; they hear and talk about being "green" - energy efficient and environmentally friendly - all the time. But are you helping them to be green at home?

A person who is energy efficient as a child - consistently energy efficient - will likely practice those same energy efficient behaviors as an adult. So how do you encourage your children to save energy? Here are a few tips:

1. Make a game of it.

Who doesn't love a good game? Have a little friendly competition to see who can remember to turn off the most lights in a week. Or create an energy saving chart where you track progress and reward good behaviors like turning off the water while brushing teeth or closing blinds during the day with little treats.

2. Put in into perspective.

Kids naturally have a genuine concern for the world around us. Simply let them know that saving energy not only saves money, but also helps the environment. 

3. Set a good example.

As with anything else, it's important to practice what you preach. If you take a steaming hot 45-minute shower every day, you may not be sending the right message.

4. Watch the savings add up.

Follow your electric bill from month-to-month. If the bill is lower than the last month, place the difference in a jar. Tell the kids that once you've saved a certain amount of money in the jar, you'll use it for a fun activity.

5. Have a family night.

Turn off the TVs and computers for an evening and have a good old fashioned family night. Gather together in one room (and turn the lights off in all the others!) to play a board game.

For more fun ideas, check out Nickelodeon's Big Green Help site.

Have a special way you teach your children to save energy? We'd love to hear it in the comments!

One More Chance

If you missed our energy seminar last night, you have one more chance to attend next Tuesday, November 24, in Snellville.

Here are a few photos from the program last night in Watkinsville:

 

Walton EMC member services reps showed how to save energy in several different categories - heating and air, water heating, lighting and more. 

If you attend next week's seminar, feel free to come prepared with lots of questions. You'll have plenty of one-on-one time with our reps to ask questions about your home. 

Remeber, there's no cost (and you even get a little goody at the door). See you there!

Energy Seminar Tonight

If you're in the Watkinsville or Athens area, don't forget about our Energy Saving Seminar tonight at the Oconee Civic Center in Watkinsville. The programs starts are 7 p.m. See you there!

Did You Set ALL Your Clocks Back?

Hey there! It's Heather Maynard, communications specialist at Walton EMC and one of the writers for this blog. This morning I had a little something happen that I thought would be great to share here.

Every morning this week when I woke up, I noticed that my house was feeling a little chilly - nothing too uncomfortable, but definitely colder than normal. I thought that maybe cooler morning temps were to blame, so I didn't think a lot about it. Then, this morning it hit me - I have a programmable thermostat.

So why, you might ask, would my programmable thermostat cause my house to be cold all of a sudden? Because of time change! I forgot to set my clock back on my programmable thermostat last weekend when time changed, so it was acting as though it was an hour later. That left me reaching for the covers when the temperature went down to 57 degrees an hour earlier than it used to!

So, the point of the story is that it's important to set ALL of your clocks back - including the one on your programmable thermostat!

All of them are different, so you may have to consult the user's manual for your thermostat in order to change the time. (Lucky for me, the directions are printed right on the thermostat on mine!)

Looking for information on the best temperatures to set your programmable thermostat or thinking about installing a programmable thermostat in your home? Check out these articles for a little help:

Set Your Thermostat to Savings

Energy Star: Programmable Thermostats

 

Have a great weekend!

Save Energy, Save Money with Our Energy Seminars

Looking for a few extra bucks this holiday season? Why not start with your power bill? 

In a couple of weeks, we'll be hosting a series of energy saving seminars to teach you how you can save energy - and thus money - on your power bill. Our member services reps have been at it all day planning and practicing for the seminars so that you get the most out of them.

Here's the vital info:

November 10 - Carver Middle School, Monroe

November 16 - Oconee Civic Center, Watkinsville

November 24 - Brookwood High School, Snellville

All programs start at 7 p.m. and are free to attend (you'll even get a little goody just for coming). All you have to do is RSVP by calling 770/267-5551.

For more info on the programs, click here. 

Side note: We've had a few questions about the holiday programs that we hold each year. Due to budget constraints and current economic conditions, we decided that our customer-owners might benefit more from these energy saving seminars. We'd love to get your feedback to help us make decisions on future events.

Spotlight: Our YouTube Channel

If you frequently peruse our newsletter or website, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you may already know that we have a YouTube channel. 

If you haven't checked it out, it's a great source for energy-saving tips. Of particular note are our one- to two-minute "how to" videos, designed to give you do-it-yourself ideas that can save you big bucks -  on your energy bill and on the project itself. You don't even have to be the handy type to do most of these projects. They're laid out step by step for you in the video, but they're short enough that you don't have to invest lots of time watching them, either. Watch them all to see which projects you'd like to try.

Check out our latest video about creating an attic stairway box:

An attic stairway cover can cost upwards of $200 to purchase in a store. This one costs just $25 to make!

Check out more of our videos here.