• They will save you about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb’s lifetime.
Producing about 75% less heat, they are safer to operate and can cut home cooling costs.

Understand your power bill and monitor your detailed energy use with the Galtronics’ symHome™ home energy management system. www.symhome.com

Tips for Finding a Contractor
• Ask neighbors and friends for recommendations
• Look in the Yellow Pages
• Focus on local companies
• Look for licensed, insured contractors
• Get three bids with details in writing
• Ask about previous experience
• Check references
• Check with the Better Business Bureau

The first time the word “dashboard” was used was in the 1600’s. The word was used to describe wood or other material in front of a horse-drawn buggy. The board was put in place to keep passengers from being hit by “dash”. Dash is an old English word meaning “to break into pieces” or “to smash into violently”. The dashboard was simply put in place to protect passengers from being hit by dirt, rocks, ice and any other object horses might kick up as they trotted along.

Today, the dashboard of an automobile can serve multiple functions. The steering column is attached to it. It also holds the many gauges used in determining the health of your car. More recently, your car dashboard can include fuel usage feedback including tips on how to maximize your fuel use.

But what about your home energy dashboard? Not very many exist today. Those that do only give you a whole home reading, or, in other words, the total amount of energy your home is consuming right now and over the past recorded period of time. This is useful information, however, consider a car dashboard that only provided a fuel gage. Or, only a speedometer. What if there was only one gauge that combined the oil level, odometer, speedometer, gas gauge, and temperature in a singe gauge. These are very useful gauges, although you may argue that all-in-one gauge is not of much use. However, it is difficult to manage your energy use throughout your home with only a whole home use gauge.

The answer is to isolate individual circuits and appliances, then meter and monitor each of them. With all of this information, you would want to see a few big numbers or gauges such as your projected monthly bill with a comparison of last months bill. You may also want to see if you are using less or mores energy than yesterday. Then, you want the ability to drill down and understand how much energy is being used on each circuit and major appliance in your home.

You’d be surprised at how much energy is simply wasted in your home. Learn how you can get this kind of information about your home by visiting www.symhome.com.

My Last Electric Bill Was 2 Pages Long Including a page of legal jargon

I’m not proud of my extensive phone bill, but as a father of five children I have a family plan covering my five children’s cell phones. My service provider limits the number of phones on their family plan, so I have a second family plan for my wife and my own cell phone. It is interesting to look at the family plan covering my children’s cell phones.

I have unlimited text and unlimited data covering the entire plan. They all share 900 minutes of talk time between the five of them and calls to people with the same service provider are free. Additional charges happen if they call outside the country. The phone bill details out each phone number. Under each phone number I get detail of text messages received and sent including the phone number it was sent to or received from along with the time and date of the text. I receive the same information for phone calls. In addition, I also receive the amount of data downloaded during the billing period.

This has proven invaluable for several reasons. Although the text message and data use are both unlimited, I can still compare what I am paying and our use against the pay-as-you-go plans to make sure we are using the most cost effective plan. I watch the minutes of phone calls used very carefully each month to make sure I am not paying for minutes they do not use and to make sure there are enough minutes available so I don’t pay a premium for above plan minutes used. I have also found a few scams that tricked my children into adding unwanted monthly charges for services such as ring tones that were not wanted.

Now let’s take a look at my electric bill. I see a complicated formula for the tiered pricing in my area. I see a graph, which I like, comparing this months Kwh used to the previous 12 months. And, I see the total Kwh used for the billing period. Then, there is a page and a half of legal stuff along with the billing coupon.

Reading my Electric bill reminds me of a famous quote “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” Yes, I know the total electricity used for the month of the billing cycle, but compare that information to the detail I receive from my phone bill and you start to get the idea. I need more detail about my electrical bill!

But how? There are two common ways to get this detail information today and neither of them are offered by the electric utility company yet. The first is to use a special wall plug. Simply unplug an appliance such as your hot water heater, plug in the wall plug, and plug your hot water heater into the wall plug. The wall plug reports how much electricity this appliance is using.

The second method is to open up your circuit panel and attach a simple sensor to each wire coming out of each circuit breaker. The sensors report the electricity used by each circuit breaker. Since large load centers such as your hot water heater, air conditioner, dryer, and pool pump all have their own breaker, you now know how much each is using. Although you must be a trained installer to install these devices, it is a simple and straight forward task and it only takes a few minutes.

We believe a combination of these two methods is ideal.

Not that I look forward to reading another long, detailed, bill each month, however, if I want to make sure I am not wasting my money on unnecessary purchases of electricity, this is what I need. Could you save money if you knew where electricity was being wasted in your home?

Let’s take a closer look at the highly publicized Google PowerMeter. It’s easy to use and the idea behind it is great: go to the Internet and see how much energy you’re using. Now, go shut off a light and see if there is any change in your consumption rate. It’s like looking at the dashboard of your car and seeing one gauge that combines your speedometer, tachometer, oil pressure, and check engine lights into a single meter. Yes, you can see things change, but the only reason you know it was from the light bulb is because you just turned it off. You have no idea which devices are consuming what energy.

And even though these products may not provide the level of detail that would make it easy to figure out the best way to save, studies have proven that consumers will use less energy once they can easily see how much total energy is being used.

There are plenty of facts to back this up:

• Savings from 5 to 15 percent on electricity bills are the norm for people who can easily see their energy consumption, according to researcher Sara Darby in her paper The Effectiveness of Feedback on Energy Consumption.

• Customers of Canada’s Hydro One utility who had access to a home energy monitor consistently used 6.5% less electricity, according to the report entitled The Impact of Real-Time Feedback on Residential Electricity Consumption, written by economics professor Dean Mountain.

• In a Florida study of electricity monitors, customers averaged 7.4% in electricity savings, according to Evaluating Energy Use Feedback Devices.

These studies covered a period of months, not years, but are valid. Would putting up a Post-It® note accomplish the same awareness? Maybe.

If seeing whole home energy use results in significant savings, imagine the savings if you could see the detail of each individual load center, such as the air conditioner, water heater, pool pump, or dryer, and general load centers, such as the kitchen, home office, family room, or bedrooms.

How can this be done? There are some great solutions on the horizon such as digital signatures, where each appliance creates its own wave of power consumption. These waves are unique to each appliance and can be captured in a meter and displayed. There is some uncertainty if these systems will work in a crowded environment where there are multiple appliances turning on and off.

But what if you want to take action today and see how the devices you own right now consume power? There are products available today that meter each circuit breaker in the circuit breaker box and display the results on the Internet for you to see. These solutions enable you to see the individual load centers and general load centers.

Taking it a step further, individual appliances such as a refrigerator can be isolated using plugs. Unplug your refrigerator, plug in the wall device, then plug the refrigerator into the wall device. Now you can track the energy use of your refrigerator too.

But does simply providing information about energy use save me money? Well, no. These systems provide you with the information you need to know how you can save money, but it is up to you to take action. Once you have a means to get granular information about your energy use the next step is to do something about it. One way to take action and even automate your actions is to add home controls. With home controls you can put all of this energy intelligence to work.

We’d love to hear what you have learned from you home energy management system and what did you do about it.

• Be more energy efficient and save money – By monitoring your energy usage, you are more likely to change the way you use devices that consume energy, thus reducing both your consumption and your bill. Studies have shown that consumers with HEMS save anywhere from 5 to 15 percent on their electrical bill. In this case, HEMS is only defined as providing a means of reading your meter (no controls).
• Become more environmentally responsible – Even as we use more devices that are powered by electricity, people around the world are seeking ways to be better stewards of their environment. HEMS helps balance the need for energy with the desire to protect our environment by giving you insight into your energy use.
• Gain control of your energy consumption – People want to conserve energy but often find it inconvenient to make the changes necessary to see real benefits. HEMS can allow consumers to remotely access and control energy-consuming devices in their homes and set up automated energy modes similar to the day and night settings on thermostats; for example, a low-energy mode during the day you’re away at work or school, and a higher-energy mode for evening when everyone returns home.
• Self-education – Armed with detailed, real-time information about your energy usage, you will be more knowledgeable about your patterns of consumption and how they are trending over time. HEMS give you actionable information that aids in making better decisions about how you use energy.
• Community – HEMS can provide an online community to compare usage with your neighbors or similar homes in your area – see who can be the most environmentally responsible!

By increasing your energy intelligence, you can save money and your environment. The savings increase for your pocket book and the environment when you add home controls. This is sometimes referred to as the double bottom line—save money, save the environment. By focusing on one, you help the other. Now, it really feels good to save money! Or, should I say, now, it really feels good to save the environment!

What have you been doing to cut back on your energy use? Were you more driven by the money savings or the environmental savings? Come on, be truthful!

Smart Meters

Unlike a traditional electricity meter that just records how much electricity you use and has to be read manually every month, a smart meter is digital and allows two-way communication between the meter and a central system, which is typically located at your utility company.

Utility companies are deploying smart meters for several reasons:

1. Your meter can be read remotely and automatically, so a meter reader doesn’t need to stop by your home or business to read the meter. This is referred to as automated meter reading (AMR).

2. The utility company can turn your service on or off remotely, without requiring a service call. Utilities can also control specific devices in your home with your permission. For example, during peak energy use times, the utility may shut down your air conditioner for short periods of time. Utilities generally provide a financial incentive for the ability to control things like your air conditioner.

3. Smart meters also enable advance metering infrastructure (AMI) systems that measure, collect and analyze energy usage, and allow utilities to bill based on the time of day electricity is used. Smart meters were designed specifically to help utilities save money and run their businesses more efficiently.

Home Monitoring Systems

Home monitoring systems have been around for a long time, mostly for security systems. Now, home monitoring systems are available that monitor electricity use. With a smart meter installed on your home or business, you can use a home monitoring device to see your electricity use, usually reported every 15 minutes. Google PowerMeter is one example, allowing you to read your smart meter any time you have Internet access.

Home Energy Management Systems

Home monitoring systems have evolved into home energy management systems now by providing visibility into your whole home energy use. Some have gone a step further in identifying and isolating large load centers such as air conditioners, water heaters, and pool pumps. Others home energy management systems take things a step further by adding home controls.

All of these systems are designed to help you learn more about your energy use and to help you control your use. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure” is the mantra. With home energy management systems you can now measure your use enabling you to take control and manage your energy consumption. Have you been using an HEMS? If so, please let us know if the system has provided sufficient energy intelligence for you to effect your energy use in a positive way.

We’ve all heard about ways to conserve electricity, from installing compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to buying Energy Star appliances – and chances are, you’ve done some of these things to be energy wise. But despite your best efforts, you may notice that your electric bill is actually going up, not down! Why is this?

One reason is what’s known as “the SnackWell effect” – you know SnackWell cookies are lower in calories, so you tend to eat more of them. You may unconsciously be doing the same thing with energy – you know that CFLs use less energy so you leave them on longer. Or you use your high efficiency washer more often.

Another is that we are using more things that use electricity than ever before, from HDTVs and home entertainment systems to computers and smartphones. On top of that, many utilities are raising their rates for a variety of reasons.

But what if you could pinpoint the energy hogs in your home and make a point to change your use of that device – for a measurable savings in both money and power usage?

The energy we never use is sometimes referred to as the “fifth renewable energy” in addition to wind, solar, geothermal, and tidal. The great news is that awareness is at an all time high for using our energy more efficiently and not wasting it. Utility companies are also investing in new technologies to help. But you don’t have to wait for your utility to give you the tools to really make a difference.

A new category of products called Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) is available today that can put you in control of your own energy usage. There has been a lot of buzz around HEMS, but what does that mean for you? If you have experiences with HEMS, let us know.