| Frugal $ense: Skip the dryer, save some energy |
| By Sheyna
Steiner • Bankrate.com |
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Appliances suck up a lot of electricity, and that costs money, not to mention the energy used to generate that electricity.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 39 percent of the total energy consumed in America goes to the generation of electricity -- including natural gas, coal, oil and nuclear energy.
Saving power on an individual level decreases the amount of electricity that needs to be created, in turn mitigating the harmful effects of these processes on the planet. With the exception of alternative power generation technologies such as wind and solar power, the process of producing electricity has serious environmental consequences.
That's why Betsy Kiger, winner of the Frugal $ense
contest for last month, says to save it. Congratulations, Betsy!
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| Frugal $ense winner: Betsy Kiger, of Arlington, Va. |
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Betsy Kiger, of Arlington, Va., won $100 for submitting the following tip:
Save electricity and water
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Bankrate: How did you come up with your tip?
Betsy: It sort of evolved. Initially I was living in a house with a very damp basement and I needed to get a dehumidifier for the room. The guy at the hardware store recommended the Energy Star brand so I got that. I like to hang dry my clothes anyway, and they were in the basement and the dehumidifier was right there so I started using them together. I was pouring about 2.5 gallons of water out a couple of times a week. And I'm not a super "green" type of person, but I thought I could think of something better to do with the water.
Bankrate: Why go through the trouble of hanging your clothes out to dry?
Betsy: I have the space
where I live and the dryer can be very hard on certain types of
fabrics and they can shrink, so I prefer to hang dry everything.
Bankrate: Have you ever added up how much money you save by not using the dryer?
Betsy: I don't know that it would be a ton of money per se, but I guess whether it's money or water or electricity, I just kind of believe in conservation or not wasting things.
Bankrate: How else do you save energy?
Betsy: Little things, I'm one of the people that save the water from the shower while it's heating up and when I need to print something, I use both sides of the paper. So it's little things like that that add up.
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