Can Saving Money Save the Planet!

Jun 24

When trying to save money, sometimes it helps to start small. I’m often thinking about ways to combine two of my passions, saving money and reducing waste. If you are looking into making your home more energy-efficient check out this green home government program that could give you a $5000 grant. One of the first ways I looked at to save money and the planet was utilities.

Utilities

Before you go replacing your washing machine, fridge, and furnace with the latest eco-friendly versions, you might want to take a look at your utility bill. It seems like the utility companies decide how much to charge you based if Mercury is in retrograde but there’s a method to their madness. Below is a chart of my utility bills comparing two months in different seasons of 2020-2021.

Heating

As you can see from these charts the most expensive component of my utility bill was the Natural Gas (NG) Delivery Fee.

December I used 4.79 GJ of NG
May I used 2.56 GJ of NG

My May usage was only 53% of what I used in December, yet my bill was nowhere near lower by that much. That’s because the transmission and admins fees are pretty close to constant so the amount you can save is limited. However, there are still some ways to save money on NG. One of my favourites is with a Nest Learning thermostat. The Nest learns when you are home, away, or sleeping and adjusts the temperature accordingly so you don’t waste heat. You can also add a sensor if the temperature varies between rooms. Another feature of the Nest is that you can adjust the temperature of your house from anywhere in the world that you have internet. How did we live without that? Check out this Nest article to see how much you could save. You can buy a Nest here (paid link). There are other less expensive smart thermostats out there you can get. Just make sure they can automatically lower the temperature when no one is around. It might be a good idea to replace your furnace but you will have to check if the large upfront capital cost is worth it in terms of savings.

I chose my townhouse situated between two other townhouses because I can use their heat and insulation properties to lower my heating bill. Also, my place has a basement that never gets hot so I don’t need air conditioning.

Electrical

The next most expensive part of the bill is the Electric Delivery Fee.

December I used 230.00 kWh of electricity
May I used 210.00 kWh of electricity

Considering most of my electric bill is made up of the Electric Delivery Fee if I used no electricity I would still have to pay around $25 a month. Changing all your light bulbs to LED could be good for saving the planet but won’t save you much money. I recommend only replacing incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs after the incandescent are burnt out. The other simple solution is to turn off lights when you’re not using them. So how would solar panels make sense then? The reason solar panel can save you money is if generate more power than you need you can sell it back to the grid. Plus as time goes on the price of electricity goes higher. Many places have excellent government rebates for installing solar systems. One disadvantage of my townhouse is you can’t install solar panels. See this link for some interesting facts about solar panels.

If you do want to change to smart LED bulbs that you can turn on when you come home and turn off when you leave, you can use HUE bulbs. These can save you money if you’re someone who always leaves the lights on. You can buy a bridge here to start. Then you can buy extra bulbs to 2 packs here. These bulbs work using your wifi network. They are more expensive than regular bulbs in the beginning but you can make sure you never leave a light on again. Also, they are dimmable so you can set alarms and have them gradually come on to use them as an alarm.

Another simple way to save money, if you do use air conditioning, is to close the blinds during the day so the sun’s heat doesn’t get trapped in your house.

Water

If you look at my water bill you’ll see something bazar… The drainage actually costs more than the water itself. I might save more if I dumped all my water into my neighbours’ yard. But that would be frowned upon.

December I used 4.1 m^3 of water
May I used 8.1 m^3 of water

I used double the water between these two months but it wasn’t double the cost. The water delivery and drainage are made up of mostly static fees. The most realistic way to save money on water would be to recycle gray water so you don’t use as much drainage. Low flow showers and toilets are good for the environment but they won’t save you much money. Simple things like turning off the tap when you brush your teeth are still the best option. Also, use cold water when doing laundry.

Utilities Summary

There are some good ways to save money on Natural Gas and Electricity. You’ll have to check for yourself but it’s unlikely you reap the rewards of replacing perfectly good working appliances with slightly more energy-efficient ones. Or doing something less convenient and comfortable to try and save energy.

Just for fun, I did a study of what my May’s utility bill would have been if I use no natural gas, electricity, or water but still had them hooked up. See below.

Bill for May with Static Fees Only

Actual bill = $214.50
No utilities uses = $145.54

Therefore the absolute best-case scenario I could have saved $68.96 in May. It’s definitely not worth going to extremes to save that low of an amount.

Simple Ways to Save

One of the best ways to save money and the planet is to replace single-use items with reusable ones. For instance, silicon zip lock bags may cost more, to begin with but if you never have to buy plastic zip lock bags again that works out to pretty good savings. You have to wash them after each use but they are dishwasher safe.

Any products such as Swifers may be convenient but a regular broom or vacuum can do just as good of a job without having to buy replacement parts. For most kitchen spills you are better off using a cloth and washing it instead of a paper towel.

Another item that costs a lot and is horrible for the environment is K-cups. These may seem small and harmless but according to The Story of Stuff Project 75 million K-cups are used in the US every day. Instead, you can buy reusable K-cups and fill them with your own delicious coffee. You have to wash them but you have to wash your coffee maker once in a while too. The best part is if you pre-fill them with coffee they’re just as fast to use as traditional K-cups.

Matthew Sookraj