Flex Your Power has some great no cost heating and cooling tips that can help you reduce your energy bill for the rest of the year:
- Check the settings on the room air conditioner. Make sure the “fresh air” vent on the air conditioner is closed so you are not cooling outside air.
- Close drapes, blinds and shades to keep sun’s rays out of the home during the warmer months.
- Close drapes, blinds and shades to help retain heat at night or during unoccupied periods.
- In the winter, reverse your ceiling fan motor so that the blades push air up toward the ceiling, where hot air normally rises. The fan will drive the warm air back down around the edges of the room, which can result in more even heating. Better heat circulation will help combat the problem of sweating windows that some homes experience in the wintertime because of condensation on the glass.
- Set the temperature lower in the winter when your home is unoccupied. Use a programmable thermostat to automatically lower and raise the temperature according to your settings.
- Set the thermostat as low as comfortably possible in the winter. The less difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall heating bill will be.
(Found via Lifehacker.)
These tips are particularly important as I read that only 12% of US homes are energy efficient. From Green Wombat:
Home may be where the hearth is but it’s also where 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are generated in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So depending on your perspective, it’s either heartening or appalling that just 12 percent of new single-family homes built in the United States in 2006 qualified for the EPA’s Energy Star high efficiency designation.
Wow. I don’t own a home, but it’s something to keep in mind as I consider buying one next year.
Resources:
- Heating & Cooling Tips, from Flex Your Power
- Only 12 Percent of New U.S. Homes are Energy Efficient, from Green Wombat
