Energy Saving Tips

To really add the value of energy efficiency to your home, follow these three steps: 

1. Tighten the House’s Thermal Envelope

The thermal envelope includes the roof, walls, windows and doors, insulation, caulking, and weather-stripping.  In other words, every item that separates the inside from the outside.  Each of these items directly affects the house's heating and cooling loads--as well as its comfort, quiet, and overall value. 

Some tips:

• Properly insulate your house.  The U.S. Department of Energy can tell you the most economic and effective level that's right for your Zip code 
  
  
• Install double pane windows—heat escapes through a single pane of glass almost 14 times faster than through a well-insulated wall.
  
  
• Adding a storm door will create the same insulation effect between the doors.
  
  
• Caulk and Weather-strip:  Poorly caulked and weather-stripped doors and windows can cause as much as 40 percent of a home's heating and cooling dollars to leak out.

2.   Specify High-Efficiency Appliances

During the past 30 years, home appliances have steadily become more energy efficient.  Examples include a microwave oven, which uses 90 percent less energy to cook a meal than a conventional gas oven; compact fluorescent light bulbs, which can offer light similar to incandescent bulbs, but use 75 percent less electricity to do so; and, refrigerators, which can now use less than half as much electricity as those built in the 1970s.

Some tips:

• Did you know that heating and cooling your home uses more energy and drains more energy dollars than any other system in your home?  Typically, 44 percent of your energy bill goes for heating and cooling.
  
  
• All the appliances you plug in account for about 20 percent of your household's energy consumption, with refrigerators and clothes dryers at the top of the consumption list.


• Today’s refrigerators consume less than half as much electricity as those built in the 1970’s.
  
  
• A microwave oven uses 90 percent less energy to cook a meal than a conventional gas oven.
  
• About 80–85 percent of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water.  Use cold water rinses whenever you can.
  
  
• Increasing your lighting efficiency is one of the fastest ways to decrease your energy bills.  If you replace 25 percent of your lights in high-use areas with compact fluorescents, you can save about 50 percent of your lighting energy bill.

How the household uses its electric appliances and equipment will finally determine its energy efficiency.  There is a houseful of energy-saving tips, many of which are simple, low-, or no-cost, and will help consumers gain greater control over their electric bills.

Some tips:

• You can save as much as 10 percent a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back 10 percent to 15 percent for 8 hours.  You can do this automatically without sacrificing comfort by installing an automatic setback or programmable thermostat.
  
  
• Change or clean the heating and cooling systems filter every month or two, depending on how dirty it gets.  You should be able to see light clearly through the filter.  If not, it needs to be changed.
  
  
• During the day in the winter, keep curtains drawn and shades pulled over windows facing north.  In the summer, close curtains over windows facing south.
  
  
• Move furniture away from the air registers, allowing for the free flow of cooled or heated air.
  
  
• Place the thermostat on an inside wall, away from windows and doors.  Drafts will cause the thermostat to keep the heating or cooling system running, even if the rest of the house is comfortable.
  
  
• During hot summer days, close cooling vents in unused rooms.  Also, when using window air conditioners, don't forget to close doors to unused rooms.
  
  
• Seal any ducts—the network of tubes in the walls, floors, and ceilings, carries the air from your home's furnace and central air conditioner to each room—if they run through the attic or in a crawl space underneath your house.

You have a free resource to turn to for help in making your home more energy efficient—your electric utility company.  Every electric company now offers advice on using energy wisely.  Many also offer assistance in the following areas: whole-house energy audits, incentives on efficient appliances, and information on using electricity more efficiently for particular areas of the home.