Genergy Reduction Tips |
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- Turn appliances off completely. Even on standby mode, you lose energy from any appliance that has any sort of power indicator light.
- Air dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher's drying cycle. If you’re really feeling energy efficient, hand wash the dishes, too.
- Purchase EnergyStar products whenever possible.
- Consider air-drying clothes on clothes lines or drying racks if possible.
- Consider buying a laptop for your next computer upgrade; they use much less energy than desktop computers.
- Even if there’s nothing connected to it, electronics chargers use up energy simply by being plugged into the wall. Save energy by either unplugging them or plugging them into power strips that can be turned off.
- Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use. Monitors still use a significant amount of energy even when they’re using screen savers.
- Wash and dry full loads. If you are washing a small load, use the appropriate water-level setting. Consider combining loads when drying, if you can.
- Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiators.
- Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
- Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed.
- Use fans during the summer to create a wind chill effect that will make your home more comfortable. If you use air conditioning, a ceiling fan will allow you to raise the thermostat setting about 4°F with no reduction in comfort.
- Insulate your hot water heater and hot water pipes to prevent heat loss.
- Insulate heating ducts in unheated areas such as attics and crawlspaces and keep them in good repair to prevent heat loss.
- Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows to reduce solar gain.
- Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day in the summer. Close your curtains and shades at night; open them during the day in the winter. Keep windows on the south side of your house clean to let in the winter sun.
- Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house.
- Close fireplace dampers when not in use. A chimney is designed for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes.
- Seal windows and doors tightly to prevent heating leaks and drafts during the winter and increased usage of the air conditioning in the summer.
- Consider using high-intensity discharge (also called HID) or low-pressure sodium lights.
- Use outdoor lights with a photocell unit or a motion sensor so they will turn on only at night or when someone is present. A combined photocell and motion sensor will increase your energy savings even more.
- Consider using 4-watt minifluorescent or electro-luminescent night lights. Both lights are much more efficient than their incandescent counterparts. The luminescent lights are cool to the touch.
- Consider three-way lamps; they make it easier to keep lighting levels low when brighter light is not necessary.
- Turn off the lights in any room you're not using, or consider installing timers, photo cells, or occupancy sensors to reduce the amount of time your lights are on.
- Consider light wall colors to minimize the need for artificial lighting.
- Installing a skylight can provide your home with daylighting and warmth. When properly selected and installed, an energy-efficient skylight can help minimize your heating, cooling, and lighting costs.
- If your air conditioner is old, consider purchasing a new, energy-efficient model.
- Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units but not to block the airflow. Place your room air conditioner on the north side of the house. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun.
- Don't place lamps or TV sets near your air-conditioning thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.
- Consider using an interior fan in conjunction with your window air conditioner to spread the cooled air more effectively through your home without greatly increasing your power use.
- Don't set your thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. It will not cool your home any faster and could result in excessive cooling and, therefore, unnecessary expense.
- Set your thermostat as high as comfortably possible in the summer. The less difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be.
- Take short showers instead of baths.
- Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120° F.
- Insulate your electric hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the thermostat. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations.
- Repair leaky faucets promptly; a leaky faucet wastes gallons of water in a short period of time.
- Turn off the water when you’re not using it, for example when you’re brushing your teeth.
- If heating a swimming pool, consider a swimming pool cover. Evaporation is by far the largest source of energy loss in swimming pools.
- Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable when home.
- Replace furnace filters regularly.
- Check the insulation in your attic, ceilings, exterior and basement walls, floors, and crawl spaces to see if it meets the levels recommended for your area.
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