This the first article of a two part series looking at the relationship between energy and pets. Nearly seventy percent of American households are home to a pet, resulting in a collective count of over 400 million fish, dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, and more. However, as much as we may Read more…
Note: This is a two-part series about reducing your summer electric bill. AskDrPower receives no financial incentive for references made to third-party services. They are there for your information only. In part 1, we covered the easy wins. In this article, we will go over options that require more time Read more…
Some of you might be asking what is a heat pump? It doesn’t sound like an air conditioner, but people are saying you can use one instead. Does a “heat pump” heat or cool a place? A heat pump can heat and cool a home. If you’re looking Read more…
In a nutshell, Demand Response (DR) is getting paid for using less electricity when others are pigging out. When everyone wants electricity at the same time, it’s called peak demand. Here is a definition from energy.gov. DR programs rewards those who respond during peak demand. That’s why it’s called “demand response.” Read more…
Idle load is what your home is costing you when no one is using anything. It’s called “idle” load because it’s the cost of your home idling. If you kept your car idling outside, it’s still using gas. Well, idle load is the electricity your home draws just sitting there. Btw, Read more…
This is part 3 of a three-part series about standby power. If you’ve been reading up on reducing utility bills, you might be hearing about terms like “standby power”, “vampire power”, “phantom load”, or “idle load”. In this article, we are going to clarify what all these terms are. If Read more…
This is part 2 of a three-part series about standby power. When consultants go out to help families reduce monthly electricity bills, one of the first things they check are devices that suck up standby power. They look for idle load or standby power because it’s an easy way to Read more…
This is first of a three part series explaining what standby power is and why people should first look at standby power (and idle load) as the easiest way to lower their electric bills. Your home may not be haunted, but it’s full of vampires and phantoms. I’m talking about Read more…