More Ideas & Tips

The unwanted escape of heated or cooled air is often one of the greatest causes of wasted heating and cooling energy.

Blocked intakes and vents cause electric fan driven systems to work harder and heating and cooling systems to work longer. Moreover, blocked intakes and vents can cause combustion systems to build up unsafe amounts of explosive or harmful gasses.

A programmable thermostat will reduce the amount that your heating and/or cooling system runs unnecessarily, such as when the house is predictably unoccupied or at night when occupants are asleep.

Traditional incandescent light bulbs consume a lot of electricity; wasting much of it. This is especially true in large homes, and in homes with large numbers of occupants. Newer bulbs, such as Compact Fluorescent Lights ("CFLs") consume one fifth of the energy used by traditional bulbs. Switching to CFL bulbs is one of the lowest cost ways to get huge savings on your electricity bill.

While light dimmers have a useful role setting the mood in a room, they also play a useful role in reducing the energy consumed by the lights under their control.

LED lighting makes more efficient use of electricity than all other forms of commercially available lighting methods, while offering superior functionality over other efficiency lighting (light-up time, color options, dimmable).

In certain situations, particularly in infrequently visited rooms, a light left on unnecessarily can remain on for some time. In these circumstances it is likely advantageous to install occupancy sensors, such that lights are shut off several minutes after a room is left unoccupied.

Outside pathway lighting may be well served by stand-alone, solar-powered light units. Such a system avoids any use of your utility supplied electricity.

Outdoor lighting is often used for security purposes, to illuminate the presence of unauthorized persons. To avoid the use of energy to light areas unnecessarily, it is likely advantageous to use motion detectors to turn on lights only when there is movement.

Several vendors offer systems that allow you to centrally control many of the energy-related systems in your home. With such a heightened level of control, such as shutting off pre-programmed sets of equipment when you are leaving your home or remote controlling equipment, it is likely that you will be able to reduce the wasted operating time of that equipment.