Frat House Energy Saving Tips?

[ISUmatt]

I live in a house of 33 or so people and next year we got stuck paying utilities (granted, our monthly rent was lowered $40), and our house manager and executive VP are looking for some ways to lower our utilities so we're not stuck paying more than $40 per person (which would come out to about $1300 per month). We had heard something along the lines that our water bill alone was almost a grand, and I can only imagine what the electricity bill was.

One of the problems is that we have central air but it's no good, so basically every room (about 13 rooms in the house) have their own air conditioners, which drains electricity like crazy. It would be ideal to be able to charge each person per unit (their own room) instead of the house as a whole and averaging it out to each person, regardless of how much they specifically used, but that can't happen.

What are some easy but practical things we can do (meaning something we don't need our realty company to sink a lot of money into and take forever; more along the lines of things we can do ourselves)... we've already had our realty company put in low-flow shower heads and those toilets that are supposed to save water. There are also light timers in the bathroom that go up to half an hour. Aren't there specific light bulbs that use like 1/2 as much electricity as normal light bulbs?

[KSUViolet06]

I'm curious as to how you ended up paying utilities out of your pockets. But anyway...

Some common sense things:

*Remind people to turn off lights/TV/etc when not in their rooms.

*Leave the lights off in common areas if there's no one in them.

*Don't let the water run while brushing your teeth.

*If you have laundry facilities, try to make sure you have a FULL load of clothes before you wash. Not a half load or just a few things.

*You could even go to the laundromat. It will cost you a few quarters, but it will save you money on your utilities.

*Don't stand with the fridge or freezer WIDE OPEN while trying to figure out what to eat.

*It's a little extreme, but you could impose a time limit on showers (10 minute max).

[EE-BO]

Use fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs.

Look into ways you might be able to set your water heater to limit hot water usage (keeping in mind that those who take 6AM showers for 30 minutes could screw over others who get stuck with cold water.)

Depending on your area- influenced by state law and whether you are in a deregulated municipality with regard to electric utilities- you might be getting charged a higher rate for electricity that you use in excess of a basic amount.

It is not uncommon, in a 1 bedroom apartment, to pay- say- 6 cents per kWh for your first 500 kWh of usage. Any extra usage can cost 1-2 cents more per kWh!

So if someone is running their window AC unit to keep their room at 60 degrees in the summer, they may well be spending as much money as 5-6 other people keeping their room at 72 degrees.

Another big one is windows. Make sure there are good blinds or curtains to cover all windows with sun exposure. That can make an enormous difference.

Consider charging some extra money to those with mini-refrigerators in their rooms. Those use a lot of power too.

If you have free washing machines, switch out to machines that charge money. Another appliance that uses a lot of power.


Finally- look into the cost to fix your central AC. You still need it for common area rooms, and if it is running inefficiently it could be costing you a fortune to give little benefit.

It may be expensive now to fix it, but it can save a bundle in the long run. So I would suggest you have a contractor test it and help you determine the up front cost to fix it versus the savings over the next 3-5 years of use.

On a final note- make sure every single thermostat for the central AC, and maybe even common area water supplies are somehow locked or secured with limited access to house managers and/or chapter officers. Someone fooling around with those things can get very expensive very fast.

Hope this helps.

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

You only pay $40? Wow. That's not bad for power (I know it all adds up, but if you live in an apartment you pay at least twice that).

-Never leave a light on.
-Use fans instead of air conditioning.
-Turn down the heat at night. They can wear layers and use blankets. I put mine between 60-65 at night. (But I do live in Alabama, so where you live makes a difference as to what you can get away with and not be hating life.)
-Never leave a tv on.
-Wash clothes at the laundromat, or combine loads. Avoid washing things unless they're actually dirty (stink, have spots, have been worn for weeks without washing).
-Sound system? Game system? Limit the allowed amount of time.
-Find a way to lock up your heat/cooling system so that people can't run it on their own...which will probably lead to an increase somewhere.
-Have your air system checked if you think that could be a problem...if it's not running correctly that could cause problems.
-Never run the dishwasher unless you have every dish you can possibly fit stuffed in there. (Or, of course, wash dishes by hand.)
-Turn off computers that aren't in use.
-DOn't leave chargers plugged in and running at all times.

[ISUmatt]

No, we don't only pay $40. Basically alumni own the house but they contract out one of the local apt rental companies to manage the house, so they collect per-person rent which INCLUDES utilities but also upkeep the house. They have been losing money on the house because the utilities have been so high. So our individual monthly rent next year is $40 cheaper per month than this year (so we save that $40 on rent overall) which will definitely offset most, and hopefully all of the cost, but obviously that $40 is just going back into utilities. The only diff is that the rent doesn't cover all utils.

Mini-fridges: Everyone has one, literally one for each person. Our "kitchen" is pretty much for show; no one uses the main fridge.

Washing machines: Our washer/dryers are 50c each. The realty company takes that money now but next year we will be getting that money.

Showers/Water: There's never enough hot water as it is. Limiting showers would help but probably no one would enforce it. Especially someone like me who wakes up around 10 and showers . Although perhaps we could put something on the faucets like in public restrooms that you have to push down and it slowly releases? Although I think our realty's guy main problem was the water bill.

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

Originally Posted by ISUmatt

No, we don't only pay $40. Basically alumni own the house but they contract out one of the local apt rental companies to manage the house, so they collect per-person rent which INCLUDES utilities but also upkeep the house. They have been losing money on the house because the utilities have been so high. So our individual monthly rent next year is $40 cheaper per month than this year (so we save that $40 on rent overall) which will definitely offset most, and hopefully all of the cost, but obviously that $40 is just going back into utilities. The only diff is that the rent doesn't cover all utils.

Mini-fridges: Everyone has one, literally one for each person. Our "kitchen" is pretty much for show; no one uses the main fridge.

Washing machines: Our washer/dryers are 50c each. The realty company takes that money now but next year we will be getting that money.

Showers/Water: There's never enough hot water as it is. Limiting showers would help but probably no one would enforce it. Especially someone like me who wakes up around 10 and showers . Although perhaps we could put something on the faucets like in public restrooms that you have to push down and it slowly releases? Although I think our realty's guy main problem was the water bill.

That makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is EVERY person having a mini fridge...seriously...how much food/beer can you possibly need at one time? Maybe start using labled containers and the main fridge and at least limiting mini fridges to one or less a room, not one a person.

Enforcing all this would probably be too hard, yeah, but when it comes to money, most people will listen. Combining washer loads, dishwasher loads, limiting plugged in charges and fridges, turning off lights and computers...it all helps.

I think there are shower heads that help save water, and shower time could be limited. I'm sure there's SOME kind of way to limit showers.

[ISUmatt]

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

That makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is EVERY person having a mini fridge...seriously...how much food/beer can you possibly need at one time? Maybe start using labled containers and the main fridge and at least limiting mini fridges to one or less a room, not one a person.

Heh... you haven't been in our house. But I mean even back in the dorms everyone had their own mini fridges and that was even when they weren't stocked up with beer because it was too hard to sneak it in. But maybe it's something we could try.

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

Originally Posted by ISUmatt

Heh... you haven't been in our house. But I mean even back in the dorms everyone had their own mini fridges and that was even when they weren't stocked up with beer because it was too hard to sneak it in. But maybe it's something we could try.

Well as I see it, you have one of two options here:

1. Tell them to get over it, limit the fridges to one per room, and let roomates fight over it.
2. Tell them to man up and learn to drink liquor in order to get drunk, as a fifth of whiskey takes up less room than a case of beer.

[ISUmatt]

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

Well as I see it, you have one of two options here:

1. Tell them to get over it, limit the fridges to one per room, and let roomates fight over it.
2. Tell them to man up and learn to drink liquor in order to get drunk, as a fifth of whiskey takes up less room than a case of beer.

Haha, good call, but the question is - will not having those fridges save enough on electricity to cover all the damage done to the house when someone's downed a bottle of whiskey? Not that we're lightweights or anything.

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

Originally Posted by ISUmatt

Haha, good call, but the question is - will not having those fridges save enough on electricity to cover all the damage done to the house when someone's downed a bottle of whiskey? Not that we're lightweights or anything.

Good point. Ok, do this. Buy them each a fifth of their choice, then drop them in the middle of nowhere for the night where they can't break anything but themselves. Remove all fridges. That'll give you a night and then half a day of recovery to figure out what to do when they realize the fridges are gone.

[jadis96]

My school is having issues with cost of utilties too. We were told that it costs about 35,000$ a month to run our school so we are going through having an "energy nazi" check rooms and such on a regular basis. Yes, it's annoying, but it has made us all more aware, so maybe random checks of empty rooms with lights left on? I know we get an email once a month with a list of rooms where things were left on and embarassment factor alone makes us try to turn things off/ unplug them more.

Also, if your appliance has a light on it, it's using power. Unplug things like laptop/cell phone chargers and coffee pots when not in use. Those little things all add up.

[VandalSquirrel]

My local electric company will come and do a free inspection of your home to show you where inefficiences are. A coworker had one done to her home and other than the obvious things, like light bulbs and insulation, it was very minor and inexpensive things that made a difference. Caullking and weather stripping are both cheap, and even window coverings make a difference.

Also all those mini-fridges and other appliances can be a fire hazard, so that may be another good reason to limit them.

[ISUmatt]

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

That makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is EVERY person having a mini fridge...seriously...how much food/beer can you possibly need at one time? Maybe start using labled containers and the main fridge and at least limiting mini fridges to one or less a room, not one a person.

The problem is the main fridge is in the kitchen which there are tons of people in during parties. Not to say random people would come and eat random food during afterhours, but I wouldn't put it past some of them.

[shinerbock]

In the summer, open the windows and make pledges cool brothers with gigantic fans. In winter, turn off the heat and set a pledge on fire. Hope this helps.

[ForeverRoses]

If random people are in your kitchen during parties, consider putting a lock on the main fridge so only people who live in the house can access it.

Also, if you have the space, consider buying an additional full-size fridge or two for personal food. Just make sure the fridges are energy saver models. Then ban individual fridges from people's rooms. Then you can have the main fridge in the kitchen for "community food" and the other fridge (located maybe in a hallway alcove or a kitchenette area) for personal food. For those hiding alcohol, they will just have to get used to drinking it warm

Switch to the flurescent light bulbs.

Hang thermometers in each bedroom and set a rule that the window air-conditioners can only cool the room to a certain temp (such at 70 dregrees). Have the house manager do random inspections and have a fine system if someone is below the temp.

Limit the number of appliances that can be plugged in at any one time. Not only can it drain power, but it can be a fire hazard as well.

Use the fire hazard excuse whenever someone complains about the new rules!