I've been trying to adopt more mustachian habits since January, and here is what has happened to my energy usage. As you can see, my power company has this nifty tool to compare my usage to the people around me. By changing the following, I managed to use about half of what my neighbors do, and less than what the power company calls efficient!
1. Air dry clothes (I find myself using the dryer once or twice a month, working on that!)
2. A/C stays at ~78, heat is natural gas. I live in Missouri where the humidity gets unbearable in July and August, but I found that 78-80 degrees is actually doable if the humidity is below 70% or so. I also bought a window A/C unit for our bedroom. On humid nights I turn the central A/C off and the window unit keeps the room comfortable. I also take advantage of overnight temperatures with a window fan (for when lows get below 70). I find that doing this overnight and then sealing up the house in the morning holds a lot of the cool temperatures until mid afternoon. That has really cut down my A/C time.
3. Common sense usage. I'll do a check before leaving the house to make sure nothing is on. We pay attention to what electronics we are actually using vs just using as background noise. So instead of the TV on while cooking or cleaning, now we only use what we are using. We haven't made a direct effort to cut down on electronics or light usage, just common sense stuff.
