thermal curtains Archives - The Silicon Underground

Are LED light bulbs worth it?

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 11:00:56 +0000

I’ve been buying modern forms of light bulbs for almost 15 years now. So when someone asks me, “Are LED light bulbs worth it?” or “Do LED lights really save you money?” I can answer the question. I was more

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Wire a ceiling fan with light to one switch

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 11:00:49 +0000

People frequently wire a ceiling fan with a light to two light switches. That way they can control the fan with one switch and the light with the other. But what if the room has only one switch and you

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Enerlites HOSS: an occupancy sensor switch without ground

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 11:00:19 +0000

The Enerlites Top Greener HOSS is an occupancy sensor switch without ground wire requirements, and it’s pretty cheap too, at $12. A Lutron switch costs almost twice as much. But the HOSS does come with some compromises. The HOSS does require a neutral (white)

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My household’s energy usage dropped 19% in 2011

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:48:51 +0000

I got a letter from my utility company Saturday morning. Inside was a chart, comparing our household’s energy usage from 2010 and 2011. It dropped 19 percent. Considering our total bill for 2011 was over $900, that’s hardly chump change.

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Review: The Lutron MS-OPS2 occupancy sensor switch

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:53:20 +0000

I installed a Lutron occupancy sensor switch this weekend. It detects you entering the room, turns the lights on, then turns them off five minutes after it detects nobody is in the room. The timeout period is adjustable. It comes

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Spending money to save money

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:00:56 +0000

Last month our budget billing for our electric bill reset, and I got a pleasant surprise. The monthly bill is $7 less than last year. That’s $84 a year, which isn’t huge, but it’s significant–especially considering I never hear anyone

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Using child safety outlets to save energy

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 02:32:27 +0000

I got a new book recently about saving energy. I’ve read several of those, but this one had two tips I’ve never seen anywhere else: caulking baseboards and putting child safety covers on electrical outlets. It didn’t explain caulking the

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I got an LED bulb, and it is fabulous.

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 22:02:21 +0000

I half-heartedly checked Home Depot's web site today, and saw they had 429-lumen, 8.6-watt (40W equivalent) LED bulbs at my local store. Finally!

So when I had a chance, I drove over, plunked down my 19 bucks, and brought one home.

It's not perfect. But I like it an awful lot.

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Yes, thermal curtains work

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:21:04 +0000

At 93 degrees, it was the first big test of the year for the thermal curtains today. With the thermostat set at 77, the house is comfortable. Some parts of the house are never comfortable at that setting.

Add that to the list of things I wish I'd bought five years ago.

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Do thermal curtains work?

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:04:00 +0000

So the Stingy Scottish Miser Chronicles continue. Yesterday my wife and I went shopping for thermal (also known as blackout) curtains. I'd read about them in comments on financial blogs but never saw much else in the way of first-person testimony about them.

I figure one day's worth of experience with them is better than no information at all.

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