Energy Saving - Home Buying Tips
Energy costs are often overlooked initially by home owners. If you live in a typical U.S. home, your appliances and home electronics are responsible for about 20 percent of your energy bills.
Combine the financial costs with the environmental effects caused by our homes and it's clear there are incentives to reduce energy usage in most residences.
So how can you do it? Here's a few easy ways to drop your electric bill each month and also be a little more "green".
Drop that Energy Bill
Laundry - Dry towels and heavier cottons in a separate load from lighter-weight clothes. Clean the lint filter in the dryer after every load to improve air circulation.
Computer - Turn off your personal computer when you're away from your PC for 20 minutes or more, and both the CPU and the monitor if you will be away for two hours or more. Automatic switching to sleep mode or manually turning monitors off is always the better energy-saving strategy when compared to screen savers.
Heating/Cooling - Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed. Use fans during the summer to create a wind chill effect that will make your home more comfortable. If you use air conditioning, a ceiling fan will allow you to raise the thermostat setting about 4 degrees Farenheit with no reduction in comfort.
Landscaping - Plant trees to shade your home, reducing your cooling costs in the summer months. Typically, newly planted trees will begin shading windows in their first year and will reach your roof in years 5-10.
Lighting - If every household replaced just three 60-watt incandescent bulbs with CF bulbs, the pollution savings would be like taking 3.5 million cars off the road! Know that the most energy-efficient CF bulbs carry the Energy Star label, the imprimatur of the government-backed energy efficiency program. We invite you to learn more at FightGlobalWarming.com