Energy Conservation on a Budget

The United States, above all other nations, uses the most amount of energy per capita. Approximately five percent of the world's population lives in the US yet we are responsible for approximately one quarter of the world's energy usage. This fact lead the government to take action. Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 USC Sec. 6912 01/03/05) was implemented as one of the latest attempts to regulate energy consumption. Although the government is taking some measures for energy conservation on a national scale, we can do many things to conserve energy on our own.

Many college students believe that the government needs to take the biggest role in regulating energy and that making any drastic changes, by the public itself, involves making significant financial investments. This is a misunderstanding about energy conservation. There are simple ways, with little or no monetary investment, for a college student to conserve energy by adapting their habits, better uses of daily appliances and heating/cooling systems, and adding insulation to living spaces.

The heating and cooling systems, of the average home, consume approximately 56% of its overall energy. This makes insulation of living spaces and proper use of the heating and cooling units by far the most important energy conservation step. Although most of the insulation is installed at the time of construction there are ways to cost-effectively add to the overall insulation of your living space. Adding caulking to doors and windows is fairly cheep and can substantially decrease air draft. Some surprising places to add valuable insulation are the electric outlets on the walls. According to the Department of Energy, these two cheep additions in insulation can amount up to 30% in energy savings.

Furnaces/Air-conditioning units and some other home appliances can be set up in a way to make them more energy efficient. Addition of a programmable thermostat controller, for example, reduces the fluctuations of temperature. This reduction in temperature fluctuation drastically reduces the amount of work the heating/cooling system has to perform which in turn amounts to significant energy savings.

Making these changes would be a great first step however the most influential are the changes with our daily habits. Remembering to turn off unneeded appliances and lights, using public transportation, and using proper heating and cooling of our living spaces would be the best ways to conserve energy and save money. We all can make a difference and here is how!