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Everyday Simple Changes for Winter Savings
- Lower your thermostat. Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter. For every degree you lower the thermostat, you can save 3% on your heating bill. Turn down your thermostat 5 to 10 degrees at bedtime.
- Open curtains and other window treatments on your west- and south-facing windows during the day to allow sunlight to naturally heat your home; close them at night.
- Take showers instead of baths. Bathing uses more hot water in the average household - up to 25 gallons. A five-minute shower uses less hot water and could add up to substantial savings over time.
- Keep warm air inside. Make sure all windows are closed tightly and locked. Raise shades and open curtains during the day. Close shades and curtains at night.
- Don't like coming home to a dark house on short winter days? Instead of leaving lights on, put timers on a few of the lights in your home, or install motion detectors and daylight sensors. Motion detectors on exterior floodlights improve your home security at a lower operating cost.
- Seal holes and cracks around windows, doors and walls. You can save 10% or more on your energy bill by reducing leaks with caulking or weather stripping. Close off vents or registers in rooms that you are not using and close the door.
- Keep the garage door closed if the garage is attached to the house.
- Remove furniture or items which block vents supplying and returning air to the furnace.
- Increase insulation in the attic, crawl spaces, and basement. Since heat rises, adding a layer of insulation to your attic is one of the most cost effective ways to conserve heat.
- Clean or change your furnace filter so that your furnace doesn't have to work as hard.
- Your mother was right. (“What do you think — we own the power company?!”) Turn off everything not in use: lights, TVs, computers, video games, video recorders, stereo.
Purchasing the "Right Products" can save you "Big Money"
- Let a programmable thermostat “remember for you” to automatically coordinate the indoor climate with your daily and weekend patterns. This reduces heating costs by some 10 percent when you’re home, and saves energy when you’re not.
- Consider replacing a faulty or inefficient HVAC system with a unit that has earned the ENERGY STAR. Installed correctly, these high-efficiency heating and cooling units can reduce heating and cooling costs by up to 20 percent.
- Fire hazard. Popular halogen torchiere lamps are relatively inexpensive to purchase but are expensive to operate and can cause fires. Consider safer, more efficient Energy Star torchiere lamps instead.
- 4 for the planet. Replacing four 75-watt incandescent bulbs with 23-watt fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) that use about two-thirds less energy and last up to 10 times longer saves $190 over the life of the bulbs. If all our nation’s households did the same, we’d save as much energy as is consumed by some 38 million cars in one year.
- Cut your energy bills by 30 percent. Look for the Energy Star label, the symbol for energy efficiency, when replacing your heating and cooling systems – as well as appliances, lighting, windows, insulation, and home electronics. Find retailers near you at www.energystar.gov.
- Refinancing your home or obtaining a home equity loan to remodel? The big news is home decorating and remodeling. Consider wrapping in energy-efficiency home improvements to your refinancing package. Interest could be tax deductible, and you could reduce your monthly energy bills comfortably.
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