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Energy Tips
You can save money on your next electric bill by following these simple tips. Some are easy as changing a light bulb, while others require a little more time or investment. Below are several bullet point tips. Following those tips is a detailed description of the energy savings. You can also use our Home Energy Suite applications. These online tools can give you an in-depth analysis of your energy use and show you even more ways to save. Ways To Save.Save around $5 a year for every incandescent bulb you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb. Use low-watt LED night lights instead of standard bulbs. They are more efficient, cooler to the touch and last ten times longer. Turn off decorative outdoor natural gas lamps. Just eight such lamps use enough energy to heat an entire home for one winter. Change your furnace filter every month for a 5% annual savings. If your monthly electric bill is $100, that’s a $5 savings every month. Turn down your thermostat. You will save as much as 2% on your energy costs for every degree you adjust your thermostat. You spend about $50 a year on energy to cook food. Consider a cool pasta salad or other cold item for dinner and save. In the summer months, your savings are two-fold because you are not adding heat to your home that you have to compensate for with added air conditioning. Keep that fridge door closed! You spend around $64 a year on refrigeration. Lower your thermostat. A 10-degree reduction in your setting will save about 5% on your water heating costs. About 15% of your energy use goes to water heating. Shorten your shower! About 40% of your water heating costs is for showers. Other Water Heater Energy Facts: 40% of energy consumption is used in the shower/bath More than 25% of your home’s heat is lost through windows. Follow these tips to help save on heating and cooling costs. In the winter, draw your curtains at night to help keep the cold air outside and the warm air inside. During the day, open them so the sun can help heat your home. Make a list of obvious air leaks (drafts) concentrate your search around windows and doors. Reducing drafts by weather sealing can save anywhere from 5% to 30% per year in heating and cooling costs. Make sure you have at least 12-inches of insulation in your attic. And now the details…The typical home loses over 25% of its heat through windows. Since even modern windows insulate less than a wall, in general an energy efficient home in heating dominated climates should have few windows on the north, east, and west exposures. In cooling climates, its important to select east, west, and south facing windows with low solar heat gain coefficients (these block solar heat gains). In the winter months, close your curtains and shades at night to help keep the cold air outside and open them during the day to help on heating the home. In the summer months, be sure to close your curtains on the south- and –west facing windows during the day. Consider installing white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Good air-sealing alone may reduce the utility costs by as much as 50% when compared to other houses of the same type and age. Make a list of obvious air leaks (drafts). The potential energy savings from reducing drafts in a home may range from 5% to 30% per year. Check for indoor air leaks, such as gaps along the baseboard or edge of the flooring and at junctures of the walls and ceiling. Also, other easy places to detect air leaks is electrical outlets, switch plates, weather stripping around doors, attic hatches, fireplace dampers, and wall/window mounted air conditioners. Check insulation levels in the attic and basement. These are two of the biggest bangs for your buck. One foot of insulation in the attic is recommended for maximum cost effectiveness. In the basement check to see if insulation exists below the upstairs flooring or around basement walls in order to eliminate the basement zone from the heated portion of the home. If no insulation exists, heat loss can be considerable because there is no barrier between the main floor living area and below ground temperatures. Change furnace filters on a monthly basis. By replacing the filters on a monthly basis you can save as much as 5% on heating bills. On a $100 per month electric bill you’re looking at $5.00 per month savings or $60 per year from simply changing your filters monthly. Install a programmable thermostat to set different temperatures during the day and night. In the summer months program it to cool down at night and set higher during the day when nobody is home. In the winter months, set it for the opposite. Keep it cooler during the day while residents are gone, and warm it up again in the evening until bedtime. Consumers can expect to save about 2% on heating bills for every degree thermostats are turned down. Geothermal heat pumps (GHP) are the most efficient of all heating and cooling systems. They use 25% to 50% less electricity than conventional heating or cooling systems. According to the EPA, GHP’s can reduce energy consumption and corresponding emissions up to 44% compared to air-source heat pumps and up to 72% compared to electric resistance heating with standard air-conditioning equipment. Do you wonder how Geothermal heat pumps work so well? The simple explanation is, ground temperatures range from 45 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit depending on latitude. Like a cave, this ground temperature is warmer than the air above it during the winter and cooler than air in the summer. The GHP takes advantage of this natural occurrence by exchanging heat with the earth through a ground heat exchanger. Turn off lights when not in use. Install compact fluorescent lights in lieu of incandescent lighting. Fluorescent lighting produces four times as much light as incandescent bulbs while using less energy (KWH), plus they last 10 to 12 times longer. For example, if you use one (1) 100-watt standard incandescent bulb for 8 hours per day at 365 days per year at $.06 per kWh it would cost $17.52 per year. However, if you used one (1) 32-watt compact fluorescent for 8 hours per day at 365 days per year at $0.06 per kWh it would cost $5.60 per year. So, if you multiply that by fifteen (15) incandescent bulbs operating under these same circumstances it would cost an individual $262.80 per year versus only $84.00 per year for fifteen (15) 32-watt compact fluorescent lamps. Use low watt LED Night Lights instead of standard incandescent night lights. The LED night lights are considerably more efficient and cooler to the touch than their incandescent counterparts, while lasting 10 times longer. Turn off decorative outdoor natural gas lamps. Only 8 such lamps burning year round use as much natural gas as it takes to heat an average size home during an entire winter. Appliances and home electronics can contribute up to 35 percent of your electric bill. You can use this formula to estimate an appliance’s energy use: {Wattage x Hours Used Per Day/ 1000 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (KWH) consumption} 1 kilowatt (kW) = 1,000 Watts Some interesting numbers:
Depending on your usage, water heaters can contribute up to 10 to 15 percent of your electric bill. Good habits can reduce your electric bill with little or no investment when it comes to water heaters. Insulate the storage tank of you water heater. Be careful to avoid covering the thermostat. Review your instruction manual before attempting this project. Insulate the first 6 feet of the hot & cold water pipes connected to the water heater. Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120 degrees or to the lowest level that meets your needs. Each 10-degree reduction will save 3% to 5% on water heating costs. Keep showers to a minimum or don’t fill baths to deep in an effort to conserve energy. Air dry your dishes instead of using your dishwashers drying cycle.
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