Ideas for saving energy

I know this is an older thread.. but I just found it.

couple of the things Im in the process of implimenting...

on my colubrids racks... Im putting the t-stats and flexwatt on timers.... that way there is a nighttime drop... down to ambient temps of the room (so for 8 hours... no electric usage)

Im also working on getting the funds to take my 2 reptile rooms and 2 walk in closets off the main HVAC system... and set them up on their own. About a week ago... I had to turn on the AC... not because it was uncomfortable in the house.... it was HOT in the reptile room... thus I needed to cool it off.

We have a portable building that I set up for a herp building. I spent the extra cash and effort to insulate it well, including covering the interior walls over the insulation with thick construction grade plastic. I also modded in skylights. When the sun is up, no need for lights since its as bright inside with the door open or closed as it is outside.

We have all our heat tape on t-stats , 99% belly heat that runs less than the 1 rack that is back heated. During breeding season we turn off the cage heat for 8 hours a night. We are also working on redoing our heat tape to run lower wattage heat tape to get the results we want but not running 20 watts per foot if we don't have to.

The room is cooled by a window ac and all gaps were filled with expanding foam and room heater is set 2 degrees cooler than the ac so they don't overlap during those funky weather times of year. Any and all gaps were filled before insulating and the herp ac comes on less than the house ac units.

Another thing I do is plan the heat on my racks for even rows ... i.e. 10 level baby rack get 5 pieces of heat tape instead of 2 or 1 so I can unplug what I don't need.

My snakes get light from the window and that's it. I had lights installed when I got my cages from AP.com but I noticed when they were on my snakes went hiding. When I leave them off they tend to still hide but do come out a little more. I leave all my lights off and pretty much only turn them on for display when people come over.

Heat, I close my ac vent during the day and open it up at night. The room gets to 82F or so. (no added heat in the summer)

I replaced my AC unit with A TRAIN 21seer and have seen my bill drop. I'm also waiting on GE's Hybrid Water Heaters later this year.

http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=2901

I've done all the light bulbs, Prius 08 etc... Next I'll tap into the neighbors electric line lol! J/K

Remember saving money on your electric bill doesn't have to stop there. The point is to save money, by a Prius or something like it. That has saved me a lot so far. The money I save on gas can be used towards other things like more snakes!