Customer Reviews

Cut Your Energy Bills Now: 150 Smart Ways to Save Money & Make Your Home More Comfortable & Green

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Detailed with lots of photographs for the average person. Systematic for doing a thorough tightening up of your home or office. Does not include a HERS energy audit or a Dulley Energy Efficiency Index inventory, but pretty much include most other things.

This book is the best value out there. Because it explains in simple, easy to understand terms the most essential aspects that every person who lives in a dwelling should know about the way our choices about energy affect our homes. Get a copy for all your friends and they will thank you for years to come!

With so much emphasis on energy saving and global warming these days, this book is a great reference for the average homeowner. Written in simple terms with easy-to-understand graphics, anyone can easily understand the causes of heat loss and cold air infiltration, and the solutions. Bruce Harley shows once again why he's one of the foremost experts in building science and energy conservation in America.

In standard style, Amazon shows how much we save on the purchase price. For the 'The Home Energy Diet', that is only the beginning. Bruce Harley has provided an easy-to-understand practical approach by organizing this book as a descriptive and highly illustrated list of 150 ways to reduce energy costs.

Chapter 1 is titled, 'Think of Your House as One Big System'. The first item on the list is to understand your energy costs by reviewing your utility bill energy usage and cost history over the last year. Three charts are included that show the difference in average annual energy expenses by categories (heating, air conditioning, water heating, refrigerators, other appliances & lights) for cold climates, hot climates, and the national average.

Keep in mind that return on investment (ROI) should constrain what to install, what to replace, or what habit to change to reduce energy consumption. The question to ask is: What is the expected payback time from reduced energy consumption to recover the cost of this energy-saving investment? The shorter the time, the better. For me, less than a year is desired. I don't want to wait ten years to break even.

Chapter 2 has easy fixes to reduce the energy costs for operating small appliances and lighting. One important aspect of this chapter is measuring plug-in appliances for wasteful energy usage during non-use or standby modes of operation. For me, the garage door opener wasted the most electricity in this plug-in category.

Chapter 3 addresses energy costs for large appliances which account for nearly 40% of all home electric use nationwide.

Chapter 4 describes several techniques to reduce energy costs for providing hot water to a household.

Chapter 5 focuses on heating and cooling with a great list of ideas (e.g., install a set-back programmable thermostat, place a temporary seal around the fireplace flue during the summer, install ceiling fans, install a whole house fan, provide shade for the windows, clean/replace filters, replace the A/C with a higher SEER model).

Chapter 6 describes how to find and fix places in the house where air leaks. For houses located in colder or hotter regions, finding and sealing these leaks provides a huge energy cost savings.

Chapter 7 deals with insulation. Insulation is the single most important factor in energy cost savings and comfort. This problem is especially evident in older houses.

Chapter 8 shows how weatherstripping around windows and exterior doors provides the best ROI.

One tip not mentioned is usage habits. Smart way 151: Energy loss is sometimes due to old wasteful habits (e.g., leaving the front door open while checking the mail or getting groceries from the car).

This is a very practical hands-on 120-page book on implementing changes to reduce energy costs.

This book covers the basics of energy conservation pretty well. If you want to save money on energy and you put 30% of what this book describes into practice you will definately see a savings.

The author could have done a better job of rating the difficulty of the upgrades. I think organizing the upgrades in order of difficulty and cost would make it an easier read and more people would impliment the solutions.

To be truely green it would have to be available on the Kindle. So I deduct 1 star.

I bought this for a gift for my friend who is always interested in learning about where to cut energy in her home. She has found it very informative and I have as well. Its an easy ready and although some areas do not pertain to everyone you will find some helpful hints....something to throw on your coffee table if you have company...trust me, someone is always interesting in finding a way to cut their electric bill.

I have read many books in the past that describe ways to cut energy costs. This book has some of that same infomration, but it also includes new information I had not seen. Best of all, the information is laid out in a very easy to follow, logical manner. I was able to create a list of itmes I would need to accomplish each task. Very helpful!

This book is a solid starter for sure. Honestly it is worth the $$ if you follow the advice. Note it is short and sweet on a lot of topics.

Great overview of advertising. The author created a magazine of very basic information. Yes you can spend lots of money and cut your energy bill but not all of us want to spend more than we can save. Also, the author presents different options on approaching insulating a crawlspace but fails to point out the long term health damage of combining all his suggestions together. Remember that breathing is needed in life for both humans and your house.

Overall it is worth a 15 minute read and then toss it. No reason to save this book for future reference. Wish I never bought this book, since it was a waste of energy simply to produce, ship and recyle this item.

I would recommend this book to all who do not understand that appliances use electricity and insulation when installed properly is a good thing.