Energy Conservation Helps you Go Green and Puts Money in Your Pocket
About 54 percent of the energy used in homes goes into heating and cooling. So obviously, this is where you can make one of the biggest savings on energy costs. There are a number of easy and inexpensive things that can be done, as do-it-yourself projects that will save hundreds of dollars per year. Homeowners can save money even while sitting on their couch.
Who doesn’t want to save money and conserve energy anyway? The sad thing is that most people use more energy for their home than they need to and pay more then they should. With better more-informed choices, home owners can spend less on energy costs and conserve energy in the process.
It’s simple, here are several energy saving ideas you can do just before you relax on your couch.
1. While you’re kicking back on the sofa, little leaks could be adding costs to your power bills. But you don’t have to take these hits to your energy budget sitting down. Swing into action and plug those leaks and stop those costs from getting out of hand with these quick fixes.
Caulking around window and door frames and caulking around base boards will reduce the loss of heated or cooled air from leaving your house. This strategy again will reduce the homeowner’s heating and cooling bill.
Another easy money saving strategy is to install weather stripping around your doors and windows. You can use a “V” seal type weather stripping around your windows with the opening of the “V” facing the outside of the home. This will reduce draft in the house and retard heated or cooled air from escaping the house. And the longer that heated or cooled air remains in your house, the less the cost to keep your house at the right temperature.
2. Lowering your thermostat a few degrees in the winter can save you a lot. An ideal temperature for your home is 68 degrees. This can save you between $10 and $30 per month on your heating bill. If you leave the house for a prolonged period of time in the winter, turn the thermostat down even more. You can save about 5 to 15% a year on heating bills by turning your thermostat down 10 to 15 degrees for 8 hours.
If you have an air-conditioning system, turn your thermostat up in summer to 78 degrees when you’re home and 85 when you’re not). By installing a programmable thermostat to make these changes in temperature according to your schedule can save you a lot of hassle and up to $115 annually on your energy bills.
3. In the winter, opening your curtains and shades during the day will let sunshine in and heat up your home. Closing curtains at night will prevent some heat from escaping and will reduce the chill from windows.
In the summer, keep curtains and shades closed in the day to prevent unnecessary heat gain (especially if you are not at home).
Also by positioning furniture correctly and by keeping other objects away from vents in your home you can keep the air flowing properly. Adequate, efficient airflow puts less strain on your heating and air-conditioning systems.
4. Removing the casings from the doors and window from the exterior walls and also the baseboards will expose small and sometimes seriously large gaps in the building insulation. You can expose these gaps by using a candle or a smoke pencil or even just by holding your hand over near the openings. Filling the lager gaps with fiberglass insulation and smaller ones with caulking will drastically diminish these uncomfortable drafts and reduce your heating and cooling costs. Then replace the casing and baseboards. This is not a small project but the costs are small and the savings can be big. If you take it one room at a time it really isn’t that bad.
5. Replace the conventional bulbs in 5 of your most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the ENERGY STAR and you will help the environment while saving money on energy bills. Research finds that if every household in the U.S. took this one simple action we would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars.
With the savings in energy costs attributed to these easy to do use strategies, you could probably buy a new couch. Do yourself a favor and save money, then grab a refreshment and sit and relax on your couch and let the work you’ve done save you money and the environment.
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ocha posted on July 13, 2009:
Caulking around the door and window seals is a fast and easy way to keep the cool air in during the summer and cold air out during the winter. This one step can save a lot on energy bills. Less energy used, less energy needed.
benkr posted on July 24, 2009:
While I think in the long run you may save money I don’t think it puts money in your pocket.
Denig posted on July 28, 2009:
Conserving is what going green is all about and conserving energy certainly is a part of it.
Will posted on August 10, 2009:
Conserving energy certainly can help us all. Every little bit helps.
Bemo posted on August 11, 2009:
you have a good blog here with a lot of great content thanks
Bien posted on August 12, 2009:
you have a good site and I think your ideas are definitely worth the read.
Amil posted on August 12, 2009:
I think you have some really good ideas here.
Odin posted on August 13, 2009:
I like it when someone puts money in my pocket. Are you going to?
Chipper posted on August 17, 2009:
I could use a little money in my pocket. Thanks for the ideas.
Bixy posted on August 19, 2009:
I like all you ideas here. good blog