18
Ways To Save Energy
by
Frank G. Ross
High energy costs
can have a significant impact on the average household budget. Here
are some easy to do tips to help lower your energy bill.
1. Have a home
energy audit done every couple of years to find ways to cut costs.
Evaluating how much energy your home consumes and determining what
measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient is the
first step to saving energy and money. The audit will bring to light
the areas where your house is losing energy. Audits also assess the
efficiency of your home's heating and cooling systems. You may also
discover ways to conserve hot water and electricity. You can have a
professional energy auditor carry out a thorough audit, or perform a
simple energy audit yourself. Home Energy Saver’s do-it-yourself
web-based energy audit tool can be found online at http://hes.lbl.gov/.
2. Check with your
utility company for rebates whenever you install energy-saving
equipment. For example, Rocky Mountain Power offers cash back when
you purchase a qualifying
clothes
washer,
refrigerator,
dishwasher,
room A/C unit,
water heater,
or
lighting.
3. Add more
energy-efficient insulation to your attic, preferably with a
resistance rating of R-21 to R-30. It’s a little known fact that the
majority of homes built before 1980 are under-insulated. Which means
heat can escape through the ceiling, past the roof and into the
atmosphere. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, adding
insulation to the attic is one of the easiest and most
cost-effective ways to help cut heating and cooling costs. And it
will make your home more comfortable. As a general rule, if you have
less than 12 inches of attic insulation, you probably need more.
4. Keeping the
temperature setting on the thermostat a few degrees cooler can lower
your heating bill and you can still be comfortable. It's a matter of
personal preference but setting your thermostat to 68°F can help you
save energy.
5. Install a
programmable thermostat. Why
heat the house when nobody's home? A programmable thermostat can
automatically lower your home’s air temperature when you're at work
or snuggled under your blankets at night. By simply turning your
thermostat back from 72°F down to 65°F for eight hours a day, you
can save as much as 10 percent on your annual heating and cooling
costs and easily recoup the modest cost of the thermostat.
6. Turn on the
humidifier. In the summer, humidity can make the air feel “muggy”.
But increase humidity in your living space in the cooler months and
the additional moisture will increase the “heat index” inside your
home, making 68°F feel more like 76°F. Place a portable unit in
frequently used areas such as the bedroom and living room if your
furnace doesn’t have a built-in humidifier. Ideally, the relative
humidity in the home should be between 20 to 40 percent. As the
outside temperature falls, lower the percentage to prevent
condensation from forming on windows.
7. Improve the
energy efficiency of your heating and cooling systems by as much as
10 percent. Simply clean air registers, baseboard heaters and
radiators as needed, and change forced air heating system air
filters monthly.
8. Invest in
weather-stripping kits if you've got drafty doors, and windows. The
exterior of your house is your first line of defense against drafts,
so it's important to caulk, seal and weather-strip around all seams,
cracks and openings. Be sure to pay special attention around windows
and where siding or bricks and wood trim meet. You can also reduce
drafts from the inside by caulking, sealing and weather-stripping
around windows and door frames, and near electrical boxes and
plumbing penetrations.
9. Lower your hot
water thermostat to 120 degrees. You'll still get all the hot water
you need and save 25-kilowatt hours a month.
10. Fix leaky faucets. A dripping faucet can waste 6 to10 gallons of
water per day. Repairs can be as simple and inexpensive as replacing
a worn-out washer.
11. Install energy-efficient showerheads and faucet aerators. They
reduce the amount of water released by up to 50 percent, with almost
no noticeable difference in pressure.
12. Insulate hot and cold water pipes. If pipes are exposed beneath
your home or in an unheated garage, insulate them with special
pipe-insulating foam. This will help keep cold water pipes from
freezing and hot water pipes hot.
13. Trade your
standard incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs. The
savings add up most in frequently-used light fixtures (those
operated more than three hours per day). Compact fluorescents draw
about one-quarter the energy of an incandescent bulb and last 10
times longer.
14. Buy major
appliances that sport the "Energy Star" sticker. Just by taking a
look at an appliance’s Energy Guide Label, you can calculate what a
particular appliance is likely to cost to operate in your home over
the life of the appliance. Except for ovens and ranges, all major
appliances come with an Energy Guide Label, which estimates its
energy use under laboratory conditions.
15. Consider a
front-loading washing machine. They use 50 percent less energy and
one-third less water. Plus, they remove far more water in the rinse
cycle, and that translates into big savings in dryer time.
16. Let the sun
shine in. What sun there is on winter days can fill your
home with the warmth of its rays when you raise the blinds and
shades on windows on the south and west sides of your house. And if
you (like half of American homeowners) have single-pane windows,
consider replacing them with double-pane windows for greater
efficiency.
17. Cover your window air conditioning unit. It's no secret that
it's important that your air conditioning unit must fit tightly in
the window to reduce cooled air loss in warmer months. But because
air travels through your window air conditioning unit, it's
important to keep it covered in the off-season to prevent cold air
from entering the house in cooler months. If you have an
evaporative cooler, it helps to cover it as well.
18. Professional inspections and system tune-ups: having a
professional inspect and tune up your heating and central air system
can help save on operating costs and extend the equipment-life of
your system. A check-up is recommended every year for heat pumps and
every five years for other systems.
The newly updated "Energy Savers" book from the Department of Energy
(DOE) features more than 100 energy saving project ideas. Visit
www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips to order your copy or view it
online.
Frank Ross is a Certified Utah Home Inspector for Pillar to Post
Professional Home Inspection and a full member of the National
Association of Certified Home Inspectors and a member in good
standing with the Utah Better Business Bureau. Readers may contact
Mr. Ross at (435) 867-6400 or
frank.ross@pillartopost.com
or
www.pillarposthomeinspection.com
