The Energy Efficient Home
High energy use not only has environmental impacts but it can hit you personally in the pocketbook. Here is a list of helpful suggestions that can help you reduce energy consumption in your household:
- Minimize hot water use by taking shorter showers and washing your clothes in cold water.
- Use your dishwasher and washing machine only with full loads.
- Dry clothes in the sun (check your covenants, clotheslines are prohibited in some communities).
- Try setting your water heater at 120 degrees.
- Close doors to seldom used rooms and turn off heat or air conditioning in these areas.
- Clean or replace heater and air conditioner filters regularly. Keep outside vents free of leaves or debris that may clog vents.
- Use kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans sparingly. These fans can blow away a house full of heated or cooled air in an hour.
- Keep your fireplace damper closed unless you have a fire going. An open damper can let as much as 8 percent of your heat go out the chimney. The warmth from a fire on the hearth generally doesn’t radiate through the house; the heat gain is confined to the room with the fireplace. In fact, a considerable amount of heated air from other parts of the house can go wastefully up the chimney when a fire is going.
- To lessen heat loss when you use your fireplace and the furnace is on, lower the thermostat setting to 50 or 55 degrees. Some warmed air will still be lost, but the furnace won’t have to use as much fuel to keep the rest of the house at its usual temperature.
- Close all doors and warm air ducts to the room with the fireplace, and open a window near the fireplace half an inch to an inch. Air needed by the fire will be provided through the open window, and the amount of heated air drawn from the rest of the house will be reduced.
- When the heat is on, set your thermostat at as low a level as you feel comfortable. You save for each degree you lower the average temperature of your home.
- Keep windows near your thermostat tightly closed; otherwise it will keep your furnace working after the rest of the house is heated to the desired temperature.
- If you have oil heat, have the firing rate checked periodically.
- Dust and vacuum radiator surfaces frequently. Dust and grime impede the flow of heat.Keep draperies and shades open in sunny windows; close them at night.
- For comfort in cooler indoor temperatures, use the best insulation of all–warm clothing.Keep your cooling system well-tuned by a professional service person.
- Set your air conditioner thermostat as high as you still feel reasonably comfortable.
- Don’t set the thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. Your house will not cool any faster.
- If you have window air conditioners, turn them off when a room will be vacant for a few hours. You’ll use less energy cooling the room down later than if you had left the unit running.
- Use a fan in conjunction with your window air conditioner.
- Don’t place lamps or TV sets near your air-conditioning thermostat. Heat from these items is sensed by the thermostat and could cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.
- Keep out daytime sun with blinds or shades.
- Keep lights off in vacant rooms.
- Use large appliances in the early morning and late evening.
- Open the windows and use a fan on cooler days.
- Dress appropriately for the warmer indoor temperatures.
- Use cold water rather than hot when running the garbage disposal.
- Boil water in a covered pan; the water boils faster when the pan is covered.
- Keep range top burners and reflectors clean so your stove operates at peak efficiency.
- When using an oven or an electric burner, turn it off a little while before the cooking is done. The oven or element will stay hot after you turn it off.
- When you have a choice, use the range top instead of the oven.
- Scrape dishes before loading them into the dishwasher so you won’t have to rinse them.
- Don’t use the “rinse hold” on your dishwasher for just a few soiled dishes.
- Let your dishes air dry.
