Conservation & Efficiency

The very best form of renewable energy is the energy that you don't use. Conservation means using energy more carefully, and through changing your actions and habits using less energy. Efficiency means accomplishing the same purpose while using less energy. Examples of conservation include wearing a sweater while turning down the thermostat or turning off the lights when you leave a room. Examples of efficiency are insulating your home, upgrading your refrigerator or driving a hybrid vehicle.  

Before you invest in a solar energy system you should do as much as possible to reduce your consumption through conservation and efficiency improvements.

We also suggest two tools that can help you keep track of how much energy you use.  

The Energy Detective™ (TED) is a whole-house electricity metering system that allows you to see how much electricity your home uses in real-time and daily or monthly increments. You can see what you are consuming in Watts, or what you have used over time in kilowatt hours or dollars. Installation involves placing clip-on current measuring sensors on the main wires bringing power into your home, wiring the meter into a single circuit breaker and mounting the meter inside the main panel. The remote display communicates with the meter through an electronic signal that is sent through the house wiring. You simply plug the display into a receptacle in the house and it receives metering information from the current sensors in the electrical panel.  

The Kill A Watt™ meter is a device for measuring power and energy requirements for one 110V device at a time. You simply plug the device into the Kill A Watt and plug the meter into the wall. The meter shows Watts, Amps, Volts, Hz and kWh since the load was plugged in.