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Saving Energy At Home
Weatherstripping
If you live in an older home, you may be able to lower your heating costs by as much as 40% just by spending a few hours of your time, or spending a few hundred dollars to hire a professional weatherstripper. Weatherstripping involves using caulking, foam tape, and specially made products to seal cracks where warm air can escape your home. This are often found around windows, doors, baseboards, and electrical outlets. A guide to weahterstripping can be found here.
Hot Water Tank
Your hot water tank should have an easy to adjust thermostat on it. This controls how hot the water in the tank is heated up to. Setting it to a lower level results in less energy being used to maintain the heat level. To save the most energy set it to 120F, but no lower, or else bacteria can build up in the tank. Of course, lowing the temperature setting will cause you to run out of hot water more easily, so this tip is unsuitable for some households.
Installing low flow showerheads, as well as low flow heads in faucets, can also decrease your water bill a lot. These heads reduce water consumption by about half, compared to a typical standard unit. They can also allow you to run out of hot water less often when you have your tank’s thermostat set lower.
Clothes washing and dish washing machines also use a lot of hot water, but new energy efficient units use only half as much as older units. A front loading clothes washer also uses almost 40% less electricity than a top loading unit because it can mainly rely on gravity to toss the clothes.
The average home spends $290 a year on hot water, but a home that follows the above tips should only spend about half as much.
Ceiling Fans
Moving air feels cooler than it really is. It causes the heat that is radiating off your body to be swept away faster, making the air seem a few degrees cooler. A ceiling fan uses a small fraction as much energy as an air conditioner, and can make you just as comfortable on a moderately hot day. Save the air conditioning for the scorching days, and you might save a couple hundred dollars a year on electricity.
Lighting
Possibly the most frequently mentioned way to save energy is to replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. The fluorescents may cost a lot more, but a fluorescent bulb that might cost $7 more should last 5-10 times as long and save $25-$75 worth of electricity in the process. Some may find their blue hue less cozy than the warm glow of an incandescent, but it does mean money is being saved.
Programmable Thermostats
If your furnace is often running while no one is home during the day or keeping your home warmer than necessary at night because you forget to turn your thermostat up or down, then you might be able to save 10% or so on heating costs with a programmable thermostat. A programmable thermostat can be set to lower the temperature while you’re at work on weekdays and during the night every day of the week.
Heating Systems and Insulation
Heating and air conditioning accounts for half or more of the utility costs in most homes. Investing in high efficiency heating systems and increasing insulation can greatly reduce theses costs. A high efficiency furnace can use up to 40% less energy than an older model, and newer air conditioners can use as much as 60% less electricity than older units. If you require both heating and air conditioning, then you should look into a heat pump system.
If you live in an area that gets quite cold in the winter, and you live in a house that is over 15 years old, then you probably could use more insulation. The easiest place to add insulation is the attic. You could try to do this yourself for cheap, and cut your heating costs by 15% or so. Adding insulation to walls and installing new windows can also reduce heating costs by a lot, but these improvements are so expensive that you’ll probably want to look into other things first.
My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.
~Erma Bombeck
Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets.
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