...cooling your house or apartment. Among the simple, and free, ways to improve efficiency: Move furniture away from air registers so that heated air can circulate freely. On sunny, chilly winter days open the drapes or curtains on the south and west side to take advantage of passive solar heating. Adjust your thermostat before leaving for work. You can cut your heating and cooling costs by 10 percent by adjusting the thermostat 7-10 degrees for eight hours a day. A programmable thermostat makes this easier. Installing a programmable thermostat is a low cost way to cut energy costs and there are others: Check your air filter monthly and change it if it looks dirty. Change it every three months — at least. A dirty filter makes your heating/cooling system work harder. Sealing and insulating your air ducts provides big bang for your buck, even if it is not the best way to spend a Saturday. Your tax dollars paid for a do-it-yourself guide to sealing and insulating air ducts that can be found on the Energy Star website. Hot water Heating hot water for baths, laundry and dishwashing gobbles up about 18 percent of the energy used in a typical household. If you have an electric hot water heater, it uses more than twice the energy of any other appliance in the house. Taking cold showers will cut your energy use, but here are some more pleasant ways to save: Changing your water heater thermostat from 140 F to 120 F or lower may save you more...
Words: 495 - Pages: 2
...Short-term Goals The first short term goal that I would advise the couple to set is improving the outlook of their house. This would include buying equipment that they do not have but they need them. These items include things such as furniture and electrical appliances. They would do a research on the prices of the gadgets in the market and thereby be able to note the specific target in terms of money. They would then set the amount that they should save monthly towards the furniture and electrical appliances (Hallman & Rosenbloom, 2003). The couple should also target at clearing all their financial debts. They should set aside a specific sum of money monthly to pay these debts. After clearing their debts they should then save up money, which they can use, in case they face a financial problem. This would help them avoid getting into debts in the future (Hallman & Rosenbloom, 2003). They should also save for their annual vacation. This should be done throughout the years since each year they will be saving for that year’s vacation. Each month therefore after deciding the place they will go for vacation and the length of time, they will then do a research on the costs they will incur and divide it amongst the 12 months in order to have a clear figure of the amount they will need to save monthly (Hallman & Rosenbloom, 2003). Furniture1. 4 Dining chairs - save $100 monthly...
Words: 634 - Pages: 3
... For example, if your general area of interest is social security, a possible research question might ask, “How can low-income families save more money if the United States had a reformed social security plan that includes personal retirement accounts?” As you develop a research question, keep in mind that you will need to research sources to support your topic. Do not pick a one-sided question that will limit your research. Instead, develop a research question that lends itself to further exploration and debate—a question you genuinely want to know the answer to. Try to pick a research question that is neither too broad (covering too much) or too narrow (covering too little). It should be broad enough to be discussed in a short research paper. Part 1: Complete the Research Plan |What is your general topic or area of interest? | | | |Renting a house vs. Buying a house | | | | |What is it about your general topic of interest that interests |Will you save more money renting a house or buying a house? | |you? | ...
Words: 794 - Pages: 4
...Murder in House “The Tyrant” is not Justified in Utilitarianism For decades, the “Trolley Problem” has been used to shape our understanding of what is morally right and wrong, how we act, and how we should act. Judith Thomson, a philosopher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was able to coin the “Trolley Problem” and create the famous “footbridge” and the “switch” scenarios. In the “switch” scenario, as you are walking, you hear a trolley approaching five workers on the tracks; you are too far from the workers and would not be able to warn the five workers before the trolley reaches them. However, you happen to be standing next to a lever switch that you can pull to redirect the trolley to a different track where there is a man standing there but pulling the lever would save the five workers and also kill one man. What...
Words: 2697 - Pages: 11
...income. Results: She has to pay back this loan in order that she will have sufficient disposable income that can be saved to acquire assets Time: Paying $7,720 annually will mean she will complete the student loan in a little after 6 years. b) Buy a house and save for children’s education Specific: Alice needs to buy a house and save for her children’s education Measurable: Presently she saves $400 annually. Saving this amount annually cannot enable her to buy a house and save money for her children’s education. It will be difficult to accomplish this goal. She will have to have more income to accomplish this goal. Achievable: It will be possible for her to buy a house and save for the education of her children if she increases her income. Alice is already paying her student loan, and when she finishes payment, she will have more income to save for education and buy a house. Saving enough money for her children’s education will what Alice has to look into seriously as she will need more income to do that. Results: Alice buying a house will enable her family have accommodation and get out of rents. Saving for the education of her children will better prepare them for college. Time: She has to buy a house after paying off her student loan and has to be saving for the children’s education. c) Accumulate assets Specific: Alice has to accumulate assets Measurable: She has to reduce her...
Words: 977 - Pages: 4
...Demand Paper A good that I have experienced purchasing, which has factors of supply and demand is a new house. One factor that can determine the supply and demand ratio, which can lead to an increase or decrease of price is the area that the house is purchased in. I live near a large college, Virginia Tech, which employs and educates thousands of individuals. The factor of this situation is the closer to the college an individual chooses to live, the more expensive products will cost to live there. If Virginia Tech's athletic program made a turn for the worse, then that could downsize the amount of people in this area, which would decrease the need of housing in the area. Second is the economy, with the ups and downs of the economy, individuals are afraid of making drastic change involving money because of the scare of losing his or her job. Basically with this situation, someone that has a good job and good credit can determine certain outcomes by buying a house at a better price because others are scared to. A motivated seller will not hesitate to sale a house to an individual that offers a fair price for a house that has set on the market for a time period. This type of situation generally drops the demand factor, which decreases the value of the product. There are a couple substitutes that can establish a comfortable market value for a house around the area I live. If an individual wants to live in this area but cannot afford the housing prices in...
Words: 720 - Pages: 3
...convenient for people to shop at. Most people do not even have to shop at other stores because Wal-Mart has everything. It’s also convenient because it is right around the corner from a lot of customers houses; they don’t have to travel far to find a Wal-Mart store so they save gas. People already know that Wal-Mart has the lowest prices so they don’t have to search for stores with low prices. The items sold are good quality as well as cheap. What more could someone ask for. Wal-Mart is a world leader in logistics and promotes greater efficiency between its suppliers. Bob McAdam who is the Wal-Mart vice president states in the video, “We are raising the standard of living through lowering the cost of goods for people.” He is saying that Wal-Mart is good for Structural functional theory is when society is a complex system of interconnected and interrelated social structures each having a function and working together to promote social stability. One hundred million people shop at Wal-Mart every week. Wal-Mart is very convenient for people to shop at. Most people do not even have to shop at other stores because Wal-Mart has everything. It’s also convenient because it is right around the corner from a lot of customers houses; they don’t have to travel far to find a Wal-Mart store so they save gas. People already know that Wal-Mart has the lowest prices so they don’t have to search for stores with low prices. The items sold are good quality as well as cheap. What more could someone ask for...
Words: 1849 - Pages: 8
...Courage is the strength to do things that you fear. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is packed full of examples of courage and bravery. Some subtle some very direct. One of the many examples being Boo Radley's house. Many of the direct examples of courage was seen there. Harper Lee uses courage to create rising action and to develop or further a character's motives and beliefs. Like in the beginning of the book they showed Dill running to Boo Radleys gate and touch it at a time when most of the children in the neighbourhood feared him. Atticus and the entire court scene was also filled with courageous acts even if most were subtle and not easy to spot at first glance. Boo’s house even went though a few phases that we saw that greatly influenced others view on the house and of Boo himself. In the book almost all examples of courage was done to progress or tell the reader something about that character from totally changing...
Words: 782 - Pages: 4
...Recycling, water filters, and even electric cars are great ideas that have helped our society out in this going green era. While we have come up with great new innovative ideas to help our world save energy, what if we have over-looked one of the most simple and the most effective way to save energy. What if it was as easy as flipping a switch? Saving energy has never been so easy and as effective as the fluorescent light bulb. Now what makes Fluorescent light bulbs so good? Is it the fact that your standard Incandescent light bulb is just so bad, or is there really something else to this bulb? I say its a little mixture of both. The standard 60 watt incandescent light bulb is what most house holds are using now. Little do they know about 90% of the power consumed by an incandescent light bulbs is emitted by heat rather then by visible light. For a few months out of the year this could be a great help during the bitter cold and trying to keep your house warm. But let’s flip the script and what about the summer. When you’re trying to keep your house cool. The bulb then is wasting energy by its self then making it warmer in your house which makes your air conditioning work harder. All said and done your wasting energy and money because of a simple light. And all this is said if only the bulbs make it a full year. Most Incandescent light bulbs typically have a lifespan of around 900 hours. To put that into perspective, you'll be able to turn the bulb on for around five...
Words: 596 - Pages: 3
...Goals Essay When planning for my life journey, I have found that setting goals assist me in making successful decisions. It’s especially helpful when I work on succeeding in long term, short term, and lifestyle goals. One of my long term goals is to save up for a trip to New York with my friends. I plan on achieving this goal by first making sure I can have time off from Christmas to New Year’s. Then have enough money to have fun by 12/20/14. Finally the last thing to do is reserve 4 plane seats and 2 hotel rooms. My second long term goal is to build a house the way I want it. My first step would to have the job I need in order to afford the money to make the house. My second step would be having enough money in order to completely build the house. My last step would be to sketch out and pick where the house will be located and how it looks inside and out including every room. My last long term goal would be to save for retirement. I would need to figure out how much I would want to save up. Then I would have to calculate how much hours or years I would have to work in order to save the amount I would need to have saved up in order to survive. Lastly make a BUCKET LIST (: . I also have short term goals. My first short term goal is to get and A in English class all through high school. I need to make sure I turn in all missing and current assignments. Do all my homework. Take lots of notes & do good on tests. My next goal is to graduate high school. I have to pass...
Words: 330 - Pages: 2
...USING ELECTRICITY AT HOME Energy-Saving Tips and Safety Information Using Electricity at Home Introduction..................................................................................................................... 3 How to Save Energy and Money . ............................................................................... 4 Cooling........................................................................................................................ 4 Lighting......................................................................................................................... 5 Weatherizing................................................................................................................ 6 Electrical Appliances.................................................................................................... 8 Refrigerator/Freezer..................................................................................................... 8 Oven/Microwave.......................................................................................................... 9 Dishwasher.................................................................................................................. 9 Clothes Washer/Dryer............................................................................................... 10 A Quick Start to Online Resources........................................................................... 14 2 Introduction ...
Words: 2939 - Pages: 12
...Energy Efficient Buildings and Automobiles Lisa Stark February 19, 2012 Environment Science In today’s day an age researchers and scientists are trying to use what we known to help save energy in buildings and transportation. If you think about things builders need energy to build houses that we live in to keep a roof over our heads. People do not realize that we use energy to build houses oil is needed for the machines to run to help move the materials to help build houses. Coal is used in homes as well to help heat our homes in keeping us warm during the cold winters. We use petroleum to extract crude oil that we refine a mixture of a hundred different types if hydrocarbon molecules characterized by carbon chains of different lengths (Withgott and Brennan, 2009). Petroleum is used in everyday life because no matter what you look at in your home it’s made from petroleum. Also petroleum is also used in our automobiles this is how we get around from place to place. At the same time that we use these coal, oil, and petroleum products we are going to run out because they are non-renewable resources. Researchers and scientists are trying alternative ways to use less of these resources but at the same time still have the buildings and automobiles. The United States government implanted a plan to us conserve energy the best we can. One way was through automobiles by making the increase in the miles per gallon (Withgott and Brennan, 2009)...
Words: 565 - Pages: 3
...selected properties. Your assistant prepared a spreadsheet with some of the data from the files. You need to calculate the number of days that the houses were on the market and their sales percentage of the list price. In one situation, the house was involved in a bidding war between two families that really wanted the house. Therefore, the sale price exceeded the list price. a. Open the e01m3sales workbook and save the workbook as e01m3sales_LastnameFirstname so that you can return to the original workbook if necessary. b. Delete the row that has incomplete sales data. The owners took their house off the market. c. Calculate the number of days each house was on the market. Copy the formula down that column. d. Calculate the sale price percentage of the list price. The second house was listed for $500,250, but it sold for only $400,125. Therefore, the sale percentage of the list price is 79.99%. Format the percentages with two decimal places. e. Format prices with Accounting Number Format with zero decimal places. f. Wrap the headings on row 4. g. Insert a new column between the Date Sold and List Price columns. Move the Days on Market column to the new location. Then delete the empty column B. h. Edit the list date of the 41 Chestnut Circle house to be 4/20/2012. Edit the list price of the house on Amsterdam Drive to be $355,000. i. Select the property rows, and then set a 20 row height. Adjust column widths as necessary. j. Select...
Words: 521 - Pages: 3
...Pre-Buy Checklist Make no mistake about it, there's a lot to consider when buying a home, especially when buying a home for the very first time. It's natural to feel a lot of conflicting emotions; excitement, apprehension, fear, joy, and especially confusion. After all, this is a life-changing step you're about to take and you want to be prepared for it as best you can. A checklist of things to do before you buy a home is a good way to make sure you have all your affairs in order and are well prepared for what lies ahead of you. 1: Boost Your Credit. Obviously, the higher your credit rating, the lower your monthly payments will be, but it's also important to point out that you should avoid any major purchases before buying a home. Things...
Words: 348 - Pages: 2
...paper, I will discuss about a project that many people are familiar to: buying a new house. I moved to Columbus in 2001 to go to college, after renting for nearly a decade and living with roommates, I found a woman that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I had a good job and a good woman the only thing that was missing was somewhere to call home. We moved to a new area and we were trying to decide whether or not to purchase a new house, and if so, where should I buy it. I also considered if I should buy a preexisting new house or hire a builder for a new house. Every option had its own set of potential risks. If we continued to rent, we were really just throwing away money. If we purchased a house, could we afford it and were we buying the best house for me and my family? I approached it like any other project, with interviewing people, note collecting, collating, and interpreting the data. After reviewing my expenses and income and examining the tax advantages, I decided to buy a house but knowing that several risks may accompany my decisions, these risks rank from high probability – high risk to low probability – negligible risk. There are many risks in buying a new house such as: The opportunity cost of investing in an alternative investment is very high because of all the cash and future income stream is tied up into one asset a home, which may or may not appreciate. The house is an undiversified investment, so if the market tanks as it has, game over. Knowing...
Words: 1133 - Pages: 5