Do It Yourself Home Energy Audit

Winter is here. Much of the country is experiencing windy bitter cold days that can sap the energy right of not only you – but your home as well! But on the bright side, you can actually take advantage of these frigid days to conduct your own DIY home energy audit. And it can cost you nearly nothing once you know where to look!

Continue reading Do It Yourself Home Energy Audit

Solar Generator – Battery Bank & Solar Panel Expansion

This is an update to our DIY How To series on How to Build a Large Solar Generator.   In this follow up post, I will show you how we can use the quick connects designed into our solar generator to expand both the solar charging capacity, as well as the battery bank for increased run times.

A lot of the feedback was asking how to expand the solar generator to an even bigger capacity system. When I designed the base unit, I wanted it to be very easily expandable using quick connects. There are two areas where we can easily do that with our system:

Continue reading Solar Generator – Battery Bank & Solar Panel Expansion

Installing Heat Control Solar Window Film

We recently moved into a new house, which has quite a few windows. We also have had a very warm June and early July. As a result our house has been pretty warm and uncomfortable lately. Especially since I prefer to use the AC as little as possible… usually meaning none!

I am a big fan of upgrades that will reduce our energy footprint, and especially ones that have a lasting effect of several years or more. I began researching window films that I could install myself, and eventually decided to give the Gila Heat Control Residential Window Film a try. It is available on Amazon, in several sized and varieties. I opted for the 36″ x 100′ foot roll in the Platinum color. The manufacture claims an impressive reduction in cooling costs of up to 50%. They also state it rejects up to 99% of UV, and 67% of glare. I also found that the vast majority of customer reviews were very pleased with it, some stating that it has held up well even after 10+ years of use.

Continue reading Installing Heat Control Solar Window Film

Prepping 101

Prepping is a nickname for the act of preparing.  Preppers is a label used to describe those who like to prepare for the unknown. This post will give a broad overview of the various components to a good, versatile survival plan, and hopefully start the wheels turning on your own preparation plans. A good strategy will also be beneficial to you and your family during everyday life, as well as actually save money.

Continue reading Prepping 101

Boosting the Efficiency of Your Clothes Dryer

I am constantly looking at ways to save money. Increasing energy efficiency is a win-win, so long as it does not cost me more than it saves in energy costs.

A modern clothes dryer is one thing that has always bugged me, especially in the cold winter months. First there is the obvious waste of energy in that all of the heat it generates is getting ducted directly outside. And the primary cost of running a clothes dryer is the large amount of heat it requires, and that heat energy goes literally out the window after just a quick pass though the clothes.

But it gets even worse than that. The dryer also acts as a large fan blower, and since the interior air being sucked into the dryer is being pumped outside it is as bad for your homes efficiency as leaving a window wide open. Any air that exists the home must be immediately replaced with outside air leaking back in, or else your house would be under vacuum. So not only are you wasting your energy on all the heat the dryer actually generates, you are also drawing cold air in from outside, just like leaving the window wide open. In the middle of the winter, that’s not good. Continue reading Boosting the Efficiency of Your Clothes Dryer