Today's $mart Energy-Efficiency Technologies/Products
'Do It For You'
You may not have a "Smart House" as featured on SCI FI Channel's critically-acclaimed Eureka series. But you can have a "smarter house" than you do now.
Today's smart money-saving, pollution-reducing energy-efficiency technologies and products do the work for you -- in unobtrusive, behind-the-scenes ways -- while you enjoy lower home energy bills, are on the leading edge of technology, and doing the right thing for the planet and our nation's energy security.
So what's the story behind some of these easy-to-use yet smarter-than-average technologies and products that may look similar to inefficient products?
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CFLs - those swirly light bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) consist of a gas-filled tube, which glows with ultraviolet light when electricity from the ballast flows through it, causing a white phosphor coating on the inside of the tube to emit light. ENERGY STAR-labeled CFLs lower lighting costs by two-thirds, last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, light up immediately, and produce flicker-free, noiseless light. (Discover: energy-efficient lighting)
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Smart appliances. Gone is the agitator. Front loading horizontal access washing machines clean clothes by tumbling in a concentrated water/detergent mixture. They use less water and energy to get laundry as clean with less wear and tear. Their faster spin cycle wrings out more moisture, shortening drying time.
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Cheaper than hand washing dishes. Using an energy-efficient dishwasher is less expensive than washing dishes by hand AND conserves water and energy. New scouring technologies virtually eliminate the need to soak and scrub dishes by hand. Appliances with the ENERGY STAR label, the federal government's symbol of energy efficiency, cut related energy bills by up to 30%. (Discover: ENERGY STAR appliances)
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Smart electronics. In the average home, 40 percent of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off to power clock displays, remote controls, and more. Energy loss is equal to the output of 17 power plants. Electronics with the ENERGY STAR cut energy use by up to half on these functions. (Discover: ENERGY STAR electronics More at Consumer Electronics Association's www.mygreenelectronics.org)
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Programmable thermostats. Remember for you to automatically coordinate the indoor climate with your daily and weekend patterns to cut heating and cooling bills by up to 10% so that you are not wasting energy (and creating pollution) all day while the house is empty. "Smart" features include touch pad screen programming; voice and/or phone programming; hold/vacation features; and indicators for changing air filters and signaling malfunctions.
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Energy-efficient windows. Two or more panes of glass with air, argon, krypton, or other gases between the panes provide better insulation than single pane glass, reduce cooling and heating bills, and create a quieter home. Low-e coatings reflect infrared light, keeping heat outside in summer and inside in winter and also reflect damaging ultraviolet light, protecting interior furnishings from fading. (Discover Anatomy of efficient windows technologies and federal income tax credit.)
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