Let’s be lazy. Celebrate mistakes we haven’t made.

This article was first published in the Skaha Matters Newsletter

Let’s be lazy by rejoicing over the energy efficient steps that you didn’t take. Here are three that are,
in fact, bad ideas:

“Smart” powerstrips (also known as “surge protectors”)

I have now tested a wide range of “energy efficient” advanced powerstrips and not only have they not saved me any energy, they make a lovely sound hitting the bottom of a dumpster. A plain, ordinary, single-switch powerstrip can be a valuable energy efficiency tool. You can use it to plug in a lot of electronics and know that they are off with a single switch. Energy efficient powerstrips take this one step further. For Type A strips, each outlet comes with its own switch. Type B has a “master outlet” that controls the other outlets -- if the master is not drawing power the slave outlets won’t provide power. Type C turns off power to appliances that have a sleep mode.

I plug in things that need to charge - smart phones, laptops or things that need to work without fussing -- baby monitors, wireless printers, etc. Six hours later nothing has charged. Type A results in user error -- I turned on a different outlet than the one I plugged into. Type B results in trying to charge something in a dead slave outlet.  Type B and C can disagree with your Apple Watch how much current is “on”. The second problem is that Type C “smart” powerstrips pit your 2012 powerstrip against your 2020 smart appliance. Your powerstrip is going to outlast many phones and the phones have developed better and better mechanisms for handling charging, power, and sleep modes.

Closing registers in your house

I love watching currents in the air and currents in water. The result looks more like art than engineering. There is both pattern (think Gulf Stream) and chaos. The HVAC system in your house is complex in the same way. It was carefully designed by people experienced in the trade.  We’ve all encountered homes with a carport, garage or porch that was turned into an extra room and that room is always too hot or too cold. Closing and opening vents with the idea that you are going to save energy is a bit like taking a broom to incense smoke. The system wasn’t designed to operate with half the vents closed.  Allison Bailes describes in detail a kickstarter project called E-vent which allows you to open and close vents in your house with your smartphone. Allison does a great job explaining in detail why you don’t want to start tweaking the HVAC by opening and closing vents.

Replacing windows

Some house components have evolved in the last forty years. Lightbulbs and refrigerators come to mind. But windows are not one of the items that have improved by a factor of ten. Replacing windows can be very expensive and while modern windows are about twice as efficient as older single pane windows, they only hold a 15% advantage over adding storm windows. In fact, some builders feel that windows built before 1960 are better made and last longer -- they are made of hardwood and contain less plastic.  This is not to say that you should ignore your windows -- caulking (between the rail and pane) and insulation and sealant (between the casing and the wall) is well worth the minor cost. Infrared photos show a surprising amount of leakage around standard windows.



Articles and cartoons on Teaspoon Energy by Kristy Dyer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License You may reprint this as-is for free.