Ways to Save Energy
How To Cut Your Energy Costs Today
We all want to escape high energy bills. Choosing the right service provider and rate plan for your specific needs only represents the start of energy conservation at home. By making just a few of the following changes around the house, you can significantly lower your monthly energy bill – while making your home more comfortable and environmentally friendly as well.
- Look for the ENERGY STAR seal when you buy home appliances. Appliance models bearing this seal are specifically designed and rated to be highly energy efficient.
- Apply weatherstripping around the edges of your doors and windows, and check the areas around pipe penetrations for opportunities for inside air to escape. Simply caulking around your doors and windows can translate into significant savings over the long term.
- Set the thermostat on your furnace to 68 degrees or lower, and the thermostat on your air conditioning at 78 degrees or higher (as your health permits, of course). Consider upgrading to a programmable thermostat that allows you to automatically adjust the temperature at set time intervals.
- Choose compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) over incandescent light bulbs.
- Replace old leaky windows with new dual pane, high performance windows.
- Repair or replace leaking pipes, dripping faucets or otherwise faulty plumbing. As your hot water heater must run to warm this water, steadily leaking faucets can add up to high energy bills.
- When you aren’t using your fireplace, close the damper. Try not to use your central heating system and fireplace simultaneously.
- If you use space heaters, use them wisely and carefully. Modern space heaters use a lot of power, and the energy necessary to run several of them simultaneously will probably exceed the energy necessary to simply run the furnace. (While natural gas and kerosene heaters don’t use electricity, they present real fume and fire hazards. Save them for your next family camping trip!)
For more tips on how to save energy at home, contact our offices.