Friday morning someone came to one of my classes asking for volunteers to sign up as merit badge counselors for a merit badge pow wow that was going to take place the next day. It was very short notice but I decided I should donate my Saturday morning to helping kids with boy scouts. I was a boy scout and had people donate their time to take us on campouts and teach us a lot of valuable things. The merit badge I signed up for was the energy merit badge. They gave me a booklet said good luck. I read the information they gave me and actually learned a few cool things.

First thing I learned is how to calculate if your house is wasting energy compared to the average household. Take the Kwh you use in a month and multiply it by 3413. Take the CF of gas you use in a month (the number on your bill times 100) and multiply that number by 1030. Add these together to get the BTU’s (British Thermal Units) you consume in a month and divide that number by the square feet of your home.
Example:
400kWH * 3413 = 1,365,200 BTU
1500CF * 1030 = 1,545,000 BTU
total energy = 2,910200 BTU
2,910,200 / 815 sqft = 3571 BTU/sqft

conservative: 5830-7830
average: 7170-10580
wasteful 9750-15830

Find out if you waste energy. To stop wasting energy make sure your windows and doors don’t have drafts, Make sure your attic has at least 1ft of insulation above your ceiling, turn your thermostat down at night and leave your water heater at 120 degrees. Drain about 1 quart from the bottom of your water heater 3 times a year. If you haven’t done it in a long time you may want to drain more. Energy prices are supposed to be going way up so hopefully these tips save you some money.