Taking Steps Towards Energy Conservation

There are many steps that you can take to help protect the earth from the potential calamities of global warming and pollution.

You may not feel ready to install solar panels on your roof or buy an electric car but there are many small, low cost, low effort methods that will allow you to conserve energy on a day-to-day basis in your home.

Energy Conservation in your Home

 

Heat Conservation

  • • In winter naturally warm your home by opening your home to sunlight during the day and conserve that heat by covering your windows with well fitting, insulating shades or drapes at night.

  • • Use strong, tightly sealed plastic sheets or film on the inside of your window frames during the winter.

  • • Seal cracks, gaps and leaks that let air in from outside. There may be leaks around your chimney, around recessed lights if you have insulated ceilings and where your pipes enter through your walls. This can help you save 20% on heating costs. (Test areas with incense stick to see the smoke stream. If it is horizontal you found an air entrance.)

  • • Use caulk or weather stripping around doors, windows and fireplace hearth.

  • • Keep your fireplace damper closed when not in use. Close doors around where the fire is burning while opening a window very slightly to contain the heat and lower the thermostat when fire is burning

  • • If you don’t use your fireplace, plug and flue your chimney. Install tempered glass doors and a heat-air exchange system to blow warm air back into the room and use grates made of c-shaped metal tubes so that cool air flows into the fireplace and warmed air circulates back into the room.

 

Conserving Energy While Staying Cool

  • • Use ceiling fans rather than air conditioning as much as possible.

  • • Keep windows and doors shut and curtains and shades drawn when using fans.

  • • Seal cracks, gaps and leaks that let air in from outside. There may be leaks around your chimney, around recessed lights if you have insulated ceilings and where your pipes enter through your walls. This can help you save 20% on cooling costs. (Test areas with incense stick to see the smoke stream. If it is horizontal you found an air entrance.)

 

Saving Energy by Adjusting your Thermostats & Water Heaters

  • • Set your air conditioner 5 degree higher to save up to 20% in costs.

  • • When you are away or asleep turn your thermostat down 10-15 degrees and save up to 10% a year in costs.

  • • Turn your water heater down to the normal setting, which is typically 120 degrees when home and down to the lowest setting when you are away from home. (Water heating can account for 14-25% of your home’s energy consumption.)

 

Saving by Maintaining

  • • Keep your heating and cooling systems maintained and serviced.

  • • Replace your furnace filter regularly.

  • • Regularly clean the flue and vent of your wood-burning or pellet-burning heater and the inside with a wire brush.

  • • Keep your dryer’s outside vent clear and clean the lint filter with every load. (Moisture sensor dryers are very efficient because they automatically shut off when clothes are dry rather than after a set time.)

 

Energy Conservation with Lighting, Appliances, Accessories & Electronics

  • • Use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) rather than incandescent light bulbs. (This will save you 75% on lighting costs.)

  • • Turn off lights in rooms that are not in use and try to use desktop lamps or task lamps with CFLs instead of overhead lamps whenever possible.

  • • Use LED holiday lighting

  • • Use only ENERGY STAR qualified appliances for 40% better efficiency.

  • • Try to plug as many of your occasional and even frequent use electronic items into one surge protector and turn that protector off when you are away. Unplug individual electronics when you are at home but are not using them.

  • • Manage the power on your computer so that it takes up less energy when in use and remember to turn it off and plug it out when not in use.

  • • Fully load your dishwasher and washer and dryer with every use to avoid wasting energy and water.

  • • Use cold water to wash your clothes whenever possible.

  • • Install faucet aerators and low-flow shower heads to save water and heating costs. (You can save up to 50% on water heating costs and up to 50% on water use by using this tip.)

 

Extra Measures you can take to Conserve Energy

  • • Install high efficiency, double-pane ENERGY STAR qualified windows to help reduce heating and cooling costs by 15%.

  • • Install an ENERGY STAR qualified programmable thermostat that will pay for itself in less than a year.

  • • If your heating equipment is more than 15 years old, replace it with a new ENERGY STAR qualified system. (Take care to ensure proper sizing and installation.)

  • • Professionally seal your heating and cooling ducts and save up to $120 a year in coastal areas and $190 a year if you live inland.

  • • Measure your home’s insulation and insulate ceilings, walls, attics, floors, crawl spaces and basements if you have less than seven inches of fiber glass or rock wool or six inches of cellulose, R-22, in insulation.

Energy Conservation Resources


ENERGY STAR Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency

Database of Federal Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency