With the rising cost of energy cost, here are some easy to do tips to help lower your energy bill.
- Keep furnace filters clean. It is good practice to change or if re-usable, to clean filters once every 3 months.
- Check with your utility company for rebated whenever you install energy-saving equipment.
- Add more energy-efficient insulation to your attic, preferably with a resistance rating of R-38 or higher. Also if your home is an older home consider having insulation blown in the walls.
- Turn down your home thermostat two degrees and save about 24 -kilowatt hours a month. It might not sound like much, but it adds up.
- Buy a programmable thermostat, especially if your home is vacant most of the day. Set it to turn on a half hour before anyone arrives home. Today there are smart controllers, which learn your habits and will automatically adjust bases on previous inputs.
- Adjust your thermostat to a comfortable temperature and wait. Turning your thermostat up or down dramatically wasted energy and increases your heating costs.
- Lower you hot water thermostat 10 degrees, but no less than 120 degrees. You’ll still get all the hot water you need and save about 25-kilowatt hours a month.
- Fix leaky faucets. One drip a second is approximately 20 kilowatts a month.
- Invest in weather-stripping kits if you’ve got drafty doors, and windows.
- Trade your standard incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs for LED bulbs. They are more energy-efficient, last for years, consume little power and generate little heat.
- Turn off your computer when not in use, or use the energy-saving sleep mode.
- Seal energy leaks. Caulk over cracks and small holes around windows and exterior walls. Look carefully around plumbing pipes, telephone wires, dryer vents, sink and bathroom drains and under counter tops.
- Participate in your power company’s special energy-saving program. Some programs shut down electric appliances for short bursts of time during peak hours. You hardly notice the difference at the time, but you will notice a difference when you get your bill.
- Buy major appliances that sport the “Energy Star” sticker. That shows the appliance meets or exceeds standards set by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
- When it’s time for a new furnace, I recommend a furnace with an efficiency rating of 95%.
- Consider a front-loading washing machine. They use 50 percent less water than top loading machines.
- When building a home or replacing a roof, select a roof based more on energy efficiency than how it looks. Light-colored roofs, such a white, galvanized metal or cement tile, do the best job of reflecting the sun, and cool quickly at night.
- If not already equipped consider double pane insulated windows with wood or clad frames.
- If there is a basement, insulate the rim joists along the exterior perimeter, the walls with basement wall insulation and replace windows with sliding vinyl clad double pane insulated type windows.
- If there is a crawlspace, encapsulation is the best thing you can do for that space. Not only will it keep moisture out, but it will also keep heat in, and during cold months you’ll certainly appreciate those warm floors.