Save Energy!

Cut back on your home’s energy
with these easy-peasy tips: 

The best way to lighten your home energy load is to prepare your house for the dark days of winter and long days of summer with a couple easy and inexpensive fixes.

1. Wrap hot water pipes with foam insulation. The insulation can be found at your nearest local hardware store and only costs about $20 for a pack. A pack will cover about half of your basement pipes. Insulating just the hot water pipes will conserve energy and improve hot water temperature in upstairs bathrooms.

2. Replace your furnace air filter. If you have central air the air filter should be changed every month or every three months if you use pleated air filters. A clean air filter will not only improve the air quality, reducing air borne allergens, but also improve airflow and reduce furnace wear and tear.

3. Clean your dryer vent. Not only does a clogged and dirty dryer vent waste energy and increase drying time, but also a clogged dryer vent is very dangerous and could cause a house fire.

4. Clean under your refrigerator. Similar to your dryer vent, although very unlikely to cause a house fire, cleaning under the fridge helps the appliance cool more efficiently, which helps save on your electric bill

5. Lock your windows. Not so much an inexpensive fix, but a locked window creates a tighter seal and maximizes the windows efficiency, especially helpful in the summer if you run an air conditioner during the summer and in the winter helps keep the warm air inside.

6. Choose blinds wisely. Rooms that get direct sunlight should have heavier blinds so that the sun doesn’t work against your AC in the summer, and rooms with indirect sun should have lighter blinds to maximize the natural light.

7. Switch to fluorescent light bulbs. They last from 8-10 times longer, use about 75% less energy, and produce 90% less heat while delivering more light per Watt.

8. Install dimmer switches. These save you energy and money, in addition to extending the light bulb’s life expectancy. They cannot, however, be used with fluorescent light bulbs.

9. Compost.

Air dry clothes and dishes whenever possible.