Top 10 tips learned from energy-saving contest

Posted by Guest Blogger on October 6, 2011

What would you do with an extra $1,200?

That is what one family calculated their electric bill savings to be over a four month period of actively conserving energy. This family also won Wright-Hennepin’s 2011 “Littlest User” energy-saving contest.

Our Littlest User contest was conducted over a four month period. Six Wright-Hennepin families competed against six Lake Region Electric Cooperative (Pelican Rapids, Minn.) families to see which cooperative could reduce their energy use the most, when compared to the same time period the previous year.

The six Wright-Hennepin families walked away with a victory over Lake Region, with an overall average energy reduction of 43 percent during the contest – but they also gained a significant amount of knowledge about reducing energy. The top things these families did to reduce energy in their homes included:

1. Turning off lights when they weren’t in use
2. Reducing the number of lights used (One family changed the number of bulbs in their bathroom vanity from six to four light bulbs and didn’t notice much of a difference in light output,)
3. Switching out incandescent light bulbs to CFLs
4. Unplugging all electronics around the home that weren’t in use, including cell phone chargers, computers and VCRs (Just as a side note: set top cable boxes use A LOT of energy.)
5. Limiting television and computer use by family members (Board games became a great substitute these energy drainers.)
6. Adjusting the thermostat to a lower setting on heating days and a higher setting on cooling days (Some contestants completely refrained from using their air conditioner.)
7. Using outdoor grills for cooking
8. Hanging laundry on clotheslines to dry, rather than using electric clothes dryers
9. Running their dishwashers and washing machines only when they were full
10. Letting dishes air dry instead of using the heated-dry dry function on dishwashers

All of these things added up to make a big difference in energy savings – and, after all, a 43 percent reduction in an electric bill is no small change. One family estimated saving $1,200 over the contest’s four-month period. Over a one-year period, that translates to $3,600. What would you do with an extra $3,600?