OK, you probably already know that CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) save lots of watts while delivering comparable brightness, and though they might take some getting used to, you also might have come to expect that they are the future of residential lighting (I explained why LED bulbs are not, here). If you don't already use CFLs wherever possible, perhaps the prospect of putting money in your pocket might help you speed up the transition you know you'll make someday anyway.

I did a quick audit of all the light bulbs in my house - every bulb (garage, balcony, patio, closets, etc.) - counted up the combined wattage - then determined which bulbs I could replace. After spending about $140 on CFL replacements, and removing some dimmers attached to ceiling floods (I miss you, dimmers, but I know you waste too much electricity and don't work with my new bulbs!), a sum of the wattage afterwards showed that I had cut my total potential usage (if I turned on every bulb simultaneously) from 2,795 watts down to 1,279 watts (a 54% drop). When taking into account the CFL replacements for only the lights I use most often, the reduction was actually around 65%!

Estimating that lighting contributed to about half my normal electricity usage (before the bulb replacements), and that the lighting cost equalled, on average, about $30 per month, at 50% savings, I should be able to pay back the cost of the bulbs in about 9 months, years before they start burning out. As the bulbs get cheaper and energy prices continue to rise, though, the payback period will only decrease.

Your neighbors have solar-powered LED Malibu-type "landscape lights" driven into their front yards. Heck, probably a quarter of the people on your street do. On store shelves from your grocery store to Target, there are a dozen or more types and designs to choose from, and prices sure have come down in the last two years.

Arg. Yet people are still buying them in droves - isn't there a better solution? Traditional Malibu lights are bright with their halogen bulbs and relatively inexpensive, but if you're like me, you're looking for an elegant solution that uses less electricity. A set running all night every night could cost $50 or more per year to power.

It seems there is a better way. If you don't mind stepping back 30 years in terms of an entire afternoon required to install a proper set of Malibu lights, there are some great new products on the market that hit the spot.

Option 1: If you have existing, traditional Malibu lights installed, replace their bulbs with new LED bulbs.
Replace the halogen bulbs with adapted LED bulbs for a lifetime of bright light. Sites like SuperBrightLEDs.com (and eBay of course) sell replacement LED bulbs for your existing fixtures. Pull out the old bulb, plug in a new LED bulb, and you're all set. They offer a variety of colors too (including warm white, which is much less garish than "cool white"), and are powered by more current and proper voltage for the LEDs to shine their brightest. Caveat: Manufacturer recommends you test your existing DC power supply first to ensure it's not delivering greater than 12VDC. If it is, you'd want to replace it with a regulated 12VDC supply.

Option 2: Purchase a new wired system that uses LEDs out of the box
Manufacturers have started to produce wired versions of traditional lights that employ LEDs as the only source of light. Parts can be purchased as a set or a la carte, and the cost is surprisingly low. I haven't been able to track down photos or links yet, but I'd seen a nice selection at Lowes stores last week. Even the 12VDC power supply is only around $15.00. They market the product as "Run the set for $5 a year" which sure sounds like it will pay itself back in only a few years. Caveat: The ones I've seen only have "cool white/aka blue" LEDs in them, so if you're looking for "warm white" like I am, you can:

1. wait till they are manufactured, or
2. buy warm white LEDs from eBay and replace them in the fixtures yourself, like I'm planning on doing.

FastCompany published a great article in its Sept. '06 edition about the energy-saving effects of Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL's). You probably know what they are, but do you realize how far they've come and more importantly, how immense their impact can be?

"If every one of 110 million American households bought just one [CFL] and used it to replace an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads."

And according to Chevron, this one bulb in every home would save 500 pounds of coal and over a 1/2 ton of CO2 emissions (per bulb, per home)!

Pass the word - Lead the pack of those you know - speak out about CFL's and other easy ways to save energy.

Second in our energy analysis series is TiVo (Series 2). According to BusinessWeek, Nielsen (the TV ratings company) says that 11% of U.S. households (or 1.2 million) have a DVR unit. The most popular DVR unit in use today is TiVo.

Most people don't turn off their DVR, and that's fine because it only reduces power usage by 1 watt! Although the lights go out on the front of the box, the "computer" is still running and hard drive spinning. So you won't save any real power unless you unplug it.

So, some sellers on eBay are marketing these new 120v LED light bulbs (which are comprised of a cluster of dozens of individual LED's) for home use. Wow - bright light, only a couple watts, and a bulb that lasts virtually forever - what more could you want? Though expensive ($16-$25 per bulb), these sound so promising as to be the "next generation" of bulbs - surpassing even CFL's (Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs) in terms of bang for the buck.

The three major problems of LED bulbs:

1. More expensive. As you can see above, the LED bulb is substantially cheaper to operate than the incandescent for the same amount of light (no surprise there) but about 3x the cost to operate vs. a fluorescent;
2. Odd color. The color produced by LED bulbs is not "warm" - many people describe it as "too blue." While white LEDs are becoming more natural in color temperature, they have a long way to go. CFL's are much easier to adjust to;
3. So many bulbs! LED bulbs produce (depending on type) from around 35 to 105 lumens per bulb. A 60w incandescent or 13w CFL produce over 800 lumens. That's a ratio of 10:1 on average. I don't know about you, but my closets and hallways have 1 or 2 light sockets, not 10 or 20. When you consider that you'd need to use 10 LED bulbs to replace each incan or CFL, the problems are, for most of us, insurmountable! I mean, where are you going to put all those bulbs?

So, to sum it up, don't expect these bulbs to outperform CFL's in terms of initial cost, light output, or efficiency. Perhaps someday, advances in LED technology will change this. But don't place a big order for replacement bulbs for your house just yet.

First up in a series is this 26 c.f. (cubic foot) side-by-side refrigerator made by Frigidaire. The manufacture's EnergyStar card says that this model should use about 727 kWh per year (using temperature settings from the factory, which weren't changed in our test). Actual usage? Around 876 per year. Hmm. I'm assuming this discrepancy is based on either unrealistic usage in the manufacturer's tests (like never opening the door), or it may be the fact that our test was run during the summer, and we're not accounting for seasonal changes in needed power. When winter rolls around we'll readdress this and see if that's the case.

For now, let's talk about the results of the Kill-A-Watt energy analysis test performed on this product.

What can we do with this information? A couple things:

• Consider energy usage when shopping for a fridge. Look at the EnergyStar rating and estimated cost per year, and choose an EnergyStar model with relatively low consumption. For example, most of today's mid-priced 26c.f. side-by-side refrigerators use between 618 and 727 kWhs per year.
• Use a fridge thermometer to ensure you're not over-cooling your fridge or freezer and wasting extra energy.

This site will show you easy ways to reduce your energy consumption for a greener lifestyle. I'll show you how much televisions, lights, refridgerators, computers, TiVos, and more cost to operate... but since it doesn't do any good to explain how much it costs me, we'll need to determine your energy costs and use those in our calculations.

In the right column of every page on this site, you'll see the kWh Calculator. Calculating your electricity costs will show you how much (in dollars and cents) it costs to run various products reviewed on this site - based on your real costs - by the hour, day, week, and year!

So, gather one or more of your recent power bills. It's best to combine all the amounts from two or more bills to smooth out the cost a bit.

If you don't want to do this or don't have your bill handy:

Follow the steps below to do the calculations:

1. Look for power usage on your bill. It should be marked "kWh." Average usage is 350-750 kWh per month. Enter this number into the "# of kWh" field in the Calculator.
2. Add up all the costs of the power. Energy, Transmission, Distribution costs, taxes and surcharges all count. Even though some costs are fixed and some vary with your usage, this will still get you a somewhat accurate number for our calculations. Enter the sum in the "All costs" field.
3. Click the "Calculate" button. Your cost per kWh will immediately show. This will be saved for future sessions as long as cookies are enabled in your browser. If you're on a product review page, just reload the page, and any place we've calculated costs will show them based on your entries.

I’m going to show you great, easy ways to lower your electricity bills on this site. But first, we need to understand what parts of your bill can be lowered before we get into the how to lower it.

So, how are we going to find opportunities to cut down our electricity usage?

Behold P3 International’s Kill-A-Watt electricity analysis device. It’s designed for anyone to use and sells for less than $30 on Amazon or eBay. I own one, and have been putting every electical item I can find through the test. I’m going to share the results with you over time on this site. And not only will I tell you how much power things like refridgerators, computers, televisions and TiVo’s use, but also how much that power costs in dollars and cents - based on YOUR utility bills. (Read how this is done)

What motivates you to do something? Power? Wealth? Serving your family, or just a good challenge? Everyone has their own reasons. What about taking care of the Earth? This could be driven by your morals, your health, or for the benefit of future generations.

What if I said that helping the environment could make good fiscal sense as well? If I could show you ways to save money by making small, practical changes in your life, might that prompt you to take action now?

Well, that’s what this site is all about. With this first post, GreenIsCheap.com is officially launched. The point is to show you many ways to greenify your home or workplace while saving money - often large amounts - through the application of practical ideas, technology, and creative thinking. I hope you’ll put the results of my research and case studies to use in your life. It can be exciting - addicting, almost, to see how small changes can have huge impacts - on your utility bills, on your conscience, and especially on the environment.