In part 1, Patti shares with us why local communities need to energy efficiency. It’s not only good for climate change, the electric grid but also lower all of our utility bills. This is part 2 of our interview with Patti where we cover how reducing energy bills is much better than dieting to lose weight. You do get to have your cake and eat it, too. Patti lastly shares a few bill cutting tips she practices herself.

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TRAVIS:  Oh, interesting. To help people understand what’s really going on is a big part of it–to make it accessible. I talk to other people about climate change and energy efficiency over the past 10 years. I think the image that comes to people’s mind is energy efficiency sounds like dieting. It sounds like: “Oh, man, I got to give up a lot of good stuff to cut calories.” How do you see it, and how do you get people to do it and not think of it as dieting?

PATTI SEXTON:  Yes, that can have a negative connotation. However, I try to explain to folks that really it is improving their quality of life. Because if we can have the same lifestyle in terms of the things that we enjoy, we can still watch TV and enjoy all our kitchen tools and having the right temperature during the hot summers or the cold winters. Energy efficiency is not meant to deprive ourselves of having those benefits. But really, it’s to make sure that we’re not wasting … We talk about water waste a lot, and people can identify with water waste very easily because they understand that a leaking tap that’s running all the time, or having sprinklers when you turn it on and it’s just gushing out instead of putting out a spray or using drip irrigation.

PATTI SEXTON:  People understand that. Many folks understand that they can have the same kind of leakage going on in their homes when it comes to electricity, that we can have appliances and electronic devices that are being left on. Even if we think that they’re turned off, they could still be leaking what some people would call a vampire load, because it’s still sucking electricity. Many are totally unaware that we’re wasting energy that way.

PATTI SEXTON:  It’s really good to be able to identify what those things are. Then people can make a decision on that particular item. Is it worth leaving on a particular device like a cable box all the time or is it worth the convenience of having a printer left on and in sleep mode just to be able to print five seconds faster than turning it on when you need it? Folks can then make informed decisions on what makes sense for them.

TRAVIS:  I see. Let me see if I can understand. To you, energy efficiency is less like dieting where you constantly give up the best things you like to eat because they usually taste the best and are the most filling. It’s more like what you were saying before, more like cutting waste without giving up anything. Something like that?

PATTI SEXTON:  Exactly, right. It’s getting the best of both sides. Still, you can enjoy what you want. But you’re not over-consuming and getting very little benefit from what is being used in excess.

TRAVIS:  It reminds me more of exercising. The benefits of exercise is well known now across the board. But then if you ask me to go jog for an hour every day, I’m dragging my feet because it just sounds like pain. But then if you ask me to go play tennis for two hours, or go play basketball with my nephews, I’m all down for that, and I sweat just as much. I find that so much more enjoyable. It doesn’t even feel like exercise.

TRAVIS:  Maybe the way that you approach energy efficiency is closer to that. You’re trying to get the same benefit without sacrificing—without it being painful.

PATTI SEXTON:  That’s exactly right, Travis. It’s really that you get the benefits and it’s enjoyable. The other part that’s enjoyable to a lot of folks is that the lower energy bills. Because instead of having to spend those dollars on wasted energy, you’re saving those dollars so you benefit both from having a good quality of life in your home by using the energy that gives you benefits. Before, you’re not spending the dollars that don’t give you benefits. It’s a win-win on both sides.

TRAVIS:  That sounds good to me. While we’re talking about those things, Patti, what are some of the things that you do yourself for energy efficiency, or just to use energy without wasting it and without compromising your lifestyle? Would you like to share with us as tips?

Easy Tips for Saving Energy and Cutting Bills

Patti shares these tips that she practices herself:

• Turn off the lights when I leave the room
• Put water heater on vacation mode when on vacation
• Turn A/C off when away from home for a while
• Use curtains and windows along with the sun

PATTI SEXTON:  Okay, sure. I look at energy savings or energy efficiency, there are three different levels. One is, the home itself. How is it built? Does it have air leakages? Are the windows double pane? And all of that stuff. I’ve done some of those things, and definitely my home is a lot more comfortable and doesn’t lose as much of the warm air in the wintertime or the cool air and the air conditioned cooler air in the summertime. That’s great.

PATTI SEXTON:  But one of the things that I do ongoing–and this is my version of a hack– is to turn off the lights when I leave a room and when I am not using it. But specifically, there are three things that I do when I am going away for a few days. If I’m going to take a trip and it’s going to be more than two or three days, I always set my water heater to the vacation mode. There’s some people that have no idea that their water heater has a vacation mode.

PATTI SEXTON:  I basically turn it, so that while I’m gone, the water tank is not heating up. It still has the hot water that’s in it that’s slowly cooling off. But it doesn’t heat up while I’m gone. I put it in the pilot or vacation mode. Of course, I do have to remember that when I get back, I have to put it back to the normal mode so that the tank will heat up. When I want to have a shower, or I have hot water again.

PATTI SEXTON:  But that can actually save a lot of wasted energy. Because no one is using hot water when the house is empty. The second thing that I do is when I’m going to be away for a few days, I will do the same thing to the HVAC system. I’ll shut that off so that again, the house is not heating or cooling while I’m not there. I actually will do that for even shorter trips, if I’m going to be away for a day or two. Then I will set the HVAC to off. That will save unnecessary waste because I don’t have any pets at home that will be uncomfortable if I were to not heat or cool the home. That’s great.

PATTI SEXTON:  Then the third thing I do … The summertime here can get really quite warm. The daytime heat, I try to avoid that getting into the house because at nighttime it cools off very quickly. In the early morning, the house is really nice and cool. What I do is I’ll close the windows and drapes so that when it starts warming up the solar heat gain doesn’t get the house uncomfortably warm.

PATTI SEXTON:  If I happen to be home, I’ll leave the shady side of the house with the windows open to still get the relatively cool air that is coming in. But the sunny side of the house, I definitely make sure that I close the windows very tightly and close the blinds or drapes. Then at lunchtime, at midday or early afternoon, then I’ll reverse it. The other side of the house becomes the sunny side. So, I’ll close that off. Depending on what the temperature is outside, I’ll either leave what was the sunny side of the house in the morning closed up, or I might open it up because now there’s enough cool air on that side of the house to come in. I find that to be really useful. I rarely have to use my air conditioner.

TRAVIS:  Wow, thank you for all that. That’s packed full of a really good tips for people. It’s really inspiring that you personally do these things. I find that a lot of the energy coaches that we’ve been talking to, they themselves do a lot of these, put these things into practice and know what it really means to save energy and do it in a way that is a painless for people. Thank you for sharing that.

PATTI SEXTON:  You’re welcome.

Continue to part 3 where Patti shares examples of really big unnecessary waste she has seen as an energy coach. Maybe you have one of these in your home?