11 Ways To Achieve Home Energy Savings

You may be surprised to learn how easy it is to make your home more energy efficient. Drastic reductions in electricity costs can be accomplished through very simple changes, most of which you can do yourself. Why bother? Here are a few good reasons:

• It saves money.
• It reduces your impact on the environment, pollution & climate change.
• Federal, state, utility and local jurisdictions all offer financial incentives.

So now that we’ve covered the WHY, here’s the HOW:

1. Use Your Energy Responsibly
   Appliances and electronics account for about 20% of household energy bills in a typical U.S. home. The following tips will reduce the amount of energy that your electronics and appliances will require:

• Put lamps in corners – the light reflects off the adjoining walls, which makes the room lighter and brighter, even with lower watt bulbs, or dimmer settings.
• If you’re not in the room, turn off the light!
• Turn fans on when you enter and off when you leave.
• You heard it as a kid and now say it to your kids, “Don’t stand there with the refrigerator door open.” Take containers out of the fridge to nibble and pour drinks on the counter.
• Use a power strip or the “All Power” button. Don’t just turn off the TV, but also the cable or satellite box, the surround sound, the DVD player, the gaming console, etc. (you shouldn’t cut power to TV’s 100% & doing so to a satellite box means reacquiring a signal).
• Use the dishwasher – studies have shown that newer model dishwashers use about 1/3 less hot water than the average hand washer.
• Use efficient “Energy Star”-rated appliances and electronics. These devices are approved by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• Refrigerators and freezers should not be near heat sources. A stove, dishwasher, heat vents, direct sunlight, etc. will all force you fridge or freezer use more energy to remain cool.
• Computers should be shut off when not in use. Some studies report that computers account for as much as 3% of all energy consumption in the United States.
• Laptop and cell phone chargers consume energy whenever they are plugged in, even if they are not charging. So, if they are not connected to your electronics, chargers should be unplugged.

2. Use Alternative Ways to Cool Your Home
   Here in SW Florida, as much as half of the energy used in your home probably goes toward cooling. The following are a few ways that your energy bill can be reduced through adjustments to the cooling of your home:

• Use ceiling fans and floor units in place of (or in conjunction with) air conditioners. You’re A/C unit requires a large amount of energy, but that can be reduced by adding fans. Moving air feels cooler than it actually is, so you can turn you’re A/C up or off while using fans (just be sure to turn the fans off when you’re not in the room).
• Replace air conditioner filters every month. Clogged filters strain your system.
• Consider using 5 inch thick filters (you may have to retro-fit the filter housings).
• Set thermostats to an appropriate temperature. Specifically, they should be adjusted at night and when no one is home. About 2% of your bill can be saved for each degree that the thermostat is raised for at least eight hours each day. A programmable thermostat can make these adjustments automatically.
• At night, curtains drawn over windows will better insulate the room.

3. Wrap Your Old, or Install a New Water Heater
   Fiberglass Insulation Blanket – this is a simple addition that can cut heat loss during colder months and save you 4% to 9% on your water-heating bill.
   Air Source Heat Pump Water Heater – The efficiency and performance of today’s air-source heat pumps is one-and-a-half to two times greater than those available 30 years ago. Unlike conversion from a fuel, an air source heat pump water heater moves heat from one place to another, rather than converting it. They pull heat indoors from the outdoor air.
   Tank-less Water Heaters – On-demand (tank-less or instantaneous) water heaters provide hot water only as it is needed. When a hot water tap is turned on, cold water travels through a pipe into the unit. Either a gas burner or an electric element heats the water. As a result, demand water heaters deliver a constant supply of hot water.  Unlike storage water heaters, tank-less heaters heat water directly without the use of a storage tank, and therefore don’t produce the standby energy losses, which will save on energy costs. PLUS You won’t ever run out of hot water, and will never have to wait for your storage tank to fill up. To help determine if this is a good option, check out Is a Tankless Water Heater Right for You? from House Logic.

4. Replace Incandescent Lights
   Your household probably dedicates about 11% of your energy budget to lighting. Traditional incandescent lights convert approximately only 10% of the energy they consume into light, while the rest becomes heat. New lighting technologies have greatly improved emergency consumption. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), can reduce energy use required by lighting by 50% to 75%. Advances in lighting controls offer further energy savings. Dimmers can reduce the amount of emergency lights use, while motion sensors controls can shorten the time that lights are on while not being used. Dimmers are more common in high-traffic areas, while motion sensors work best in small spaces such as your laundry room or closets. However, consider motion sensors in kids’ playrooms and bedrooms as well, since most kids aren’t so conscience about hitting the switch. Here are a few facts about CFLs and LEDs:

• CFLs use 75% less energy and last about 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.
• LEDs last even longer than CFLs and consume less energy.
• LEDs have no moving parts and, unlike CFLs, they contain no mercury.

5. Seal and Insulate Your Home
   Sealing and insulating your home is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to make a home more energy efficient. A tightly sealed home can improve comfort and indoor air quality while reducing your utility bills.The following are some common places where leakage may occur:

• electrical outlets
• switch plates
• mail slots
• around pipes and wires
• window-mounted air conditioners
• attic hatches
• weather stripping around doors
• baseboards
• window frames

6. Insulate Windows and Doors
   About one-third of your home’s total heat loss usually occurs through windows and doors. The following are ways to reduce energy lost through windows and doors:

• Your cheapest and simplest option is to seal all window edges and cracks with rope caulk.
• Windows can be weather stripped with a special lining that is inserted between the window and the frame.
• Doors should be weather striped around the whole perimeter to ensure a tight seal when closed. Install quality door sweeps on the bottom of the doors, if they aren’t already in place.
• Replace jalousie and single panes with storm windows.
• Tint your windows with low E window film, which keeps solar radiation (heat) out.
• Existing windows with rotted or damaged wood, cracked glass, missing putty, poorly fitting sashes, or locks that don’t work, should be repaired or replaced.

7. Install Efficient Shower Heads and Toilets
   The following systems can be installed to conserve water usage in homes:

• Low-Flow Shower Heads – available in different flow rates, some even have a pause button which shuts off the water while you lather up.
• Vacuum-Assist Toilets – these have a vacuum chamber which uses a siphon action to suck air from the trap beneath the bowl, allowing it to quickly fill with water to clear waste.
• Dual-Flush Toilets – used in Europe and Australia for years, and now gaining popularity in the U.S. Dual-flush toilets let you choose between a 1-gallon (or less) flush for liquid waste, and a 1.6-gallon flush for solid waste. They can reduce water consumption by an additional 30%.

8. Use Day Lighting
   Day lighting is the practice of using natural light to illuminate the home’s interior. It can be achieved using the following approaches:

• Skylights – should be double-pane to ensure cost-effectiveness. Flashing skylights correctly is the key to avoiding leaks.
• Light shelves – passive interior or exterior devices designed to bounce light deep into a building. Standard light shelves can introduce light into a space up to 2½ times the distance from the floor to the top of the window, and advanced versions may introduce four times that amount.
• Light Tubes – use a special lens designed to amplify low-level light and reduce light intensity from the midday sun. Sunlight is channeled through a tube coated with a highly reflective material, then enters the living space through a diffuser designed to distribute light evenly.

9. Cook Energy Smart
   An enormous amount of energy is often wasted while cooking. The following recommendations and statistics will help you become a less wasteful cook:

• Be sure to use pot and pan sizes that match your stove top heating element or flame.
• Lids help contain heat and cook food more quickly.
• When using conventional ovens, food should be placed on the top rack. The top rack is hotter and will cook food faster
  (be sure to adjust temp &/or cooking time).
• Convection ovens use approximately 20% less electricity than conventional ovens. Fans force hot air to circulate more evenly, thereby allowing food to be cooked at a lower temperature.
• Microwave ovens consume approximately 80% less energy than conventional ovens.
• Pressure cookers reduce cooking time dramatically.

10. Alter the Way You Wash Your Clothes

• Never use the “half load” setting on your washer. Instead, wait until you have a full load of clothes.
• Don’t use high-temperature settings when clothes are not that dirty. Hot water uses far more energy than warm water, but it’s only slightly more effective for washing.
• Spin-dry clothes or wring them out before putting them into a dryer.
• If possible, air-dry your clothes on lines and racks.
• Clean the lint trap EVERY TIME you use the dryer. Besides making your dryer more efficient, you’ll be removing a fire hazard.
• Front load washers are generally more efficient than most top-load washers.

11. Install a Radiant Barrier
    A radiant barrier acts in much the same way tin foil acts on a roast. It prevents much of the heat from the sun from heating your ceiling while you are trying to cool your house.

• The most effective radiant barriers are heavy gauge aluminum foil that is perforated.
• This aluminum foil is stapled on to the bottom of the top chord of your attic truss.
• Air gaps are left near the soffit and near the top of the attic to allow the hot air to vent out of the roof.
• Radiant barriers are often the perfect answer to upstairs rooms that will not cool down.

A properly installed radiant barrier can result in a 5 to 10 % reduction in home energy usage.

If you take the initiative to make these changes, you will discover that the energy savings are more than worth the effort.