A clean lint trap and a full refrigerator have little in common to most people. But Damien Edwards sees money and energy savings in both.
Edwards, founder of Noble House Building Services in Brunswick, explained Monday that a clogged lint trap causes a clothes dryer to use more energy than if it were clean. And a partially full refrigerator uses more power than one well stocked.
Edwards was one of the panelists at the Go Green Energy Conference held at The Great Frederick Fair grounds on Monday, and offered tips on how people can make their homes more energy efficient.
"Get into the mindset that ‘I'm going to be an energy saver,'" Edwards said. "Adjusting your habits is the No. 1 way to start saving money."
Hosted by U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, the event was free for guests and for exhibitors. Bartlett (R-Dist. 6) of Buckeystown, hosted the event to raise awareness of the numerous ways residents can save money and get onboard with the green movement.
Dozens of exhibitors showcased their products. Booths featured information on a variety of topics, ranging from weatherization assistance programs to using home solar panels and wind turbines to offset energy bills. Some booths had visual aids to demonstrate the heat-reducing capabilities of window glass, or the amount of insulation provided by new foam insulators versus standard insulators.
Caroline Eader headed the booth for Waste Not Frederick, a volunteer-based organization that aims to educate people about reusable, recyclable and compostable materials and how to dispose of them in an environmentally sound and economically responsible way. She was mainly concerned with advertising alternatives to the proposed Frederick County incinerator.
"It's like gastric bypass surgery without doing our diet and exercise first," she said. "Let's reduce, reuse, recycle more before we start talking about [an incinerator] in our neighborhood."
Frederick Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger (R) spoke at the conference: "It's amazing the number of common sense things you can do to improve your environmental impact."
Holtzinger (R) outlined several city initiatives, including working with the county to improve recycling and cleaning local stream water.
Bartlett spoke about how important it is for residents to be eco-friendly.
"I was green before it was cool to be green," he said. "Thirty years ago I was building solar-powered houses here in Frederick."
E-mail David Koontz at dkoontz@gazette.net.
-Do laundry only with a full load; turn down the thermostat in the winter and raise it in the summer.
-Improve lighting efficiency by using compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use less energy and produce less heat.
-Maintain appliance efficiency by cleaning them. Just like a car needs routine maintenance to function efficiently, so do household appliances.
-Install low-flow shower heads to conserve water, reducing the amount that needs to be heated.
-Provide summer shade by keeping blinds closed on the south- and west-facing windows. Plant trees shading those sides of houses.
-Get a home energy audit, which will analyze the energy efficiency of your house and recommend measures to improve it.
Source: Noble House Building Services in Brunswick
