Low-Tech Electric Bill Helpers

As the summer courses on, I’ve made some interesting and startling discoveries about the way I live and what it does to my electric bill.

About a couple of months ago, I got the crazy idea to put car shades in my apartment windows just to see if they’d have any effect. I figured we put them in our cars without hesitation to block the sun, so why not our houses too? Since my apartment gets sun in the rear windows during mornings, and afternoon sun in the front windows, I figured I might give this a try. If it doesn’t work, I have several spares for the car, right?

They’ve been up for a full month, and my electric bill (which usually doubles due to A/C use) only went up 50%, netting me a 25% reduction for the month of July. I can’t wait to see what happens in the August bill.

In case you’re wondering, I put the rearview mirror indent part down on the sill so my cats can still see out without me having to remove it completely—I just shift the indent over from dead center slightly over to one side so they have a view of something other than window cross-members.

The other low-tech helper I’ve discovered is more a matter of timing rather than device: don’t try to cook and run the dishwasher together during the hottest part of the day (around 5 p.m. here). You‘ve probably already heard about timing your kitchen activities around the sun (such as cooking in the early morning or late at night), but the dishwasher got my attention when the humidity level, combined with the heat of a toaster oven, overworked my ancient A/C unit and caused it to shut down. This happened at around 6 or so, so I opened my windows and waited. The next morning, the A/C was back to normal, and away we went. Now, I consciously remind myself to either cook or run the dishwasher in the morning, and either cook or run the dishwasher in the evening—either before 9 p.m. or after 9 a.m. so I don’t disturb the neighbors (we have thin walls). I’m not to run both appliances at the same time any more.

Give the car shade thing a try if you have direct sun from one direction or another—it works. If you’re occasionally absent-minded about your appliance use like I am (I just want to get it DONE!), then be more observant about how and when you use them. Since I have side-by-side units, I bought some extra-large shades to fit all the way across. The shades fit ACROSS, but they're not as tall as the windows, so I still get a little light over the tops.

My next experiment: turning the car shades around in winter to reflect some heat back into the room. Will it work? Stay tuned. :)