Energy Saving Tips
With fall and winter right around the corner, most of us are bracing ourselves for higher energy bills; we’ll be using our electricity and natural gas much more during these months, so our utility bills will be on the rise. What can we do to minimize the effect on our pocketbooks.
Here are a few energy saving tips that I hope will help.
It isn’t all about turning up the heat…let’s start by talking about some of the things that waste energy in your home:
- Single Pane Windows: If you live in an older home, you may have single pane windows installed. It may be time to start upgrading to new energy efficient windows. A single pane of glass isn’t a lot of insulation between you and cold (or hot) weather, it’s been estimated that up to 40% of energy can be lost from single pane windows.
- Poor Insulation: Your home could be suffering from lack of insulation in the attic or poor or worn out weatherstripping around your doors. Check your attic to see if you should be adding more insulation to prevent one of the greatest energy wasters…heat escaping through the roof. (Maybe that’s where the saying comes from that “Energy prices are going through the roof”!) You should have equal to R-30 batts, if you don’t understand what that means, go to your local hardware store, they’ll be glad to help you. As far as the weather stripping around your doors go, it’s easy and inexpensive to replace, but can make a big difference in keeping the heat up and the cost down.
- The little power lights: We all have them in our homes, the little lights that mean your appliances, TVs, computers and other devices are on, but in “sleep” mode. Even “sleep” mode draws power…Powering these devices down when they’re not being used can help save energy.
- Incandescent Lights: If you are still lighting your home with the same bulbs invented in the days of Thomas Edison, it’s time to start replacing those bulbs with LED bulbs for energy savings.
- Old Appliances: Older refrigerators, washers and dryers are energy hogs. If it’s time to replace them, look for replacements that wear the “Energy Star®”.
Things you can do to save energy:
- Heating your home:
- Make good use of your thermostat: Program it for daytime and nighttime temperatures – about 68° during the day and about 65° during the night. If you’re leaving your home for any length of time, turn the thermostat down to at least your nighttime setting.
- Make sure your furnace is regularly maintained and change your furnace filters on a regular basis.
- Keep all furnace vents clear of objects.
- If you have a fireplace, keep the flu closed when the fireplace is not in use. If your fireplace is being used, you can turn down your furnace.
- Use the sun to help heat your home by opening blinds and drapes whenever the sun is shining, and close them once the sun has gone down.
- Avoid the use of portable heaters that are very expensive (and sometimes dangerous) to use.
- Use ceiling fans on low speed during the winter months, they will push the warm air down from the ceiling to where it can be of better use.
- Outside Lighting:
- We all like our homes to have outdoor lighting on at night, but running lights constantly can be costly. Two good energy saving ideas would be to install motion detectors or use timers to turn your lights off and on at the appropriate times.
- Hot Water: Heating water can be very expensive…
- Use cold water when doing the laundry, that alone can save you about 40¢ per load. If you feel you must use hot water, make sure you’re washing a full load of laundry.
- Take shorter showers. For those who like to “soak” in the shower, maybe you should use a timer. You can also install water saving shower heads.
- Make sure your pipes that are closest to your water heater are insulated for about 5-6 ft, and put an insulated wrap on your water heater.
- As with other appliances, using a water heater with the Energy Star® on it will help save you money.
- Adjust your hot water setting to 120°.
For all your window cleaning needs, Contact me for a Free Quote!
I may not be able to help save on your energy bill, but I’ll help you save on your personal time and energy.
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