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fixing the electricity bill

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Looks live I've shaved $20 off my monthly electricity bill with just two changes. I've started turning off my aging 2009 Mac mini every day, instead of leaving it in sleep mode. I've also replaced four (and just four) GU10 light bulbs in our kitchen with LED equivalents.

Toronto Hydro now tells me that we're going reach an estimated $120 in the current billing cycle. Which, once I exclude the three days we were out of the house, probably translates to $126 in terms of full-time occupancy. Compared with the previous cycle, at north of $170, and I've saved at least $20 per month in two steps. The reduced availability of my Mac costs me nothing, and that the LED bulbs are actually brighter than the incandescents they replace. Those bulbs cost about $17 each, but we'll be more than halfway there in a single two-month cycle. I'd say these changes were long over due. Next up: putting the other two laptops in the home on a timer, and depowering the Internet modem during the weekday.