ecotetris

Be Cool

As fun as Tetris is, we'd also like people to spend a little time thinking about the electricity consumed by the lights they use. The EcoTips below were culled from a few sources, but especially from two pages maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy. If you are a Cornellian, we also encourage you to check out Cornell's Facilities Services “Find Facility Information” page, where you can look up lots of interesting data about the historical energy consumption of any building you might be interested in. Just search for the building you're curious about, go to its information page, and click on “Building O&M Costs”, where you can look up all sorts of data and generate charts.

EcoTips

EcoTips are those little snippets of of text that come and go next to the game board when you're playing EcoTetris. They are presented here in their entirety so you can read them without risking the devastating loss of an EcoTetris game.

  1. Did you know that a compact fluorescent light bulb can save over 2000 times its own weight in green house gases, use one-third as much energy as an incandescent bulb, and save you money?

  2. Did you know that turning off a 100 W light bulb for an hour could save nearly a pound of CO2, one of the most common green house gases, from being produced?

  3. If you're leaving home for as little as a weekend, remember to turn down the thermostat and unplug uneccessary appliances, like lamps and an alarm clock. This will save you money, and help your electrical devices last longer!

  4. Did you know that in the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off? This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the power strip to cut all power to the appliance when not in use.

  5. When you do laundry, remember to clean your dryer's lint filter. This helps the dryer to be more energy-efficient, saving energy and drying your clothes better! A build up of lint can also be a fire hazard.

  6. ENERGY STAR labeled products can cut your energy bills by up to 30%, so spending a little extra for a more energy efficient appliance can be worth your while.

  7. Did you know that it is actually more energy efficient to leave fluorescent lights on rather than turning them off if you will be gone less than 15 minutes?

  8. If you turn down your thermostat down a few degrees when you go to bed and turn it back up when you wake up, you'll save money, and you probably won't even notice the difference since you'll be asleep and under the covers! Turning down your thermostat 5–10° can cut 5–10% off your energy bill.