Maximize Use Efficiencies (or Minimize Inefficiencies)

It is amazing how much energy is used by an incandescent light bulb compared to a LED bulb. On a whim, I bought a buggy full of LED bulbs from a big box retailer and replaced all the incandescent bulbs in our big house, except the oven. The next month our power bill went down by one half. Let me say that again, 50%!

The LED bulbs paid for themselves after three months. Just amazing.

By the way, the picture above is NOT an LED bulb, but instead a compact fluorescent. These curly bulbs have a more artistic design, but they are not as efficient as LED bulbs. LED bulbs are kind of boring in appearance.

Our traditional house needed a new furnace/AC unit. We chose a more expensive, 90% efficient natural gas furnace. This device sucks so much heat from the exhaust of burning natural gas that you can use plastic PVC for the exhaust pipe. The unit is more expensive and the cost recovery will extend into years. One other benefit is the house resale value should be greater.