ANSWERS: 8
  • Turn off the lights, take shorter showers, get energy saving appliances, and keep your thermostat at a warmer temp when running the air conditioning and at a cooler temp when running the heat, better yet, don't use it at all on nice days...
  • lie around and watch the tv (turned off) all day... seriously, turn off unwanted electricity...even at the wall. fix all dripping taps use a/c sparingly only do a wash when you have a full load, and recycle the final rinse water.
  • Heating and Cooling Tips Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer. Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed. Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes. Bleed trapped air from hot-water radiators once or twice a season; if in doubt about how to perform this task, call a professional. Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiators. Turn off kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing; when replacing exhaust fans, consider installing high-efficiency, low-noise models. During the heating season, keep the draperies and shades on your southfacing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows. During the cooling season, keep the window coverings closed during the day to prevent solar gain. ------------------------------------- Water Heating Tips Install aerating, low-flow faucets and showerheads. Repair leaky faucets promptly; a leaky faucet wastes gallons of water in a short period of time. Lower the thermostat on your water heater; water heaters sometimes come from the factory with high temperature settings, but a setting of 120°F provides comfortable hot water for most uses. Take more showers than baths. Bathing uses the most hot water in the average household. Insulate your electric hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the thermostat. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations. Insulate your natural gas or oil hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the water heater's top, bottom, thermostat, or burner compartment. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations; when in doubt, get professional help. Insulate the first 6 feet of the hot and cold water pipes connected to the water heater. If you are in the market for a new dishwasher or clothes washer, consider buying an efficient, water-saving ENERGY STAR model to reduce hot water use. See Appliances for more information. Install heat traps on the hot and cold pipes at the water heater to prevent heat loss. Some new water heaters have built-in heat traps. Drain a quart of water from your water tank every 3 months to remove sediment that impedes heat transfer and lowers the efficiency of your heater. The type of water tank you have determines the steps to take, so follow the manufacturer's advice. ----------------------------- Install tight-fitting, insulating window shades on windows that feel drafty after weatherizing. Close your curtains and shades at night; open them during the day. Keep windows on the south side of your house clean to let in the winter sun. Install exterior or interior storm windows; storm windows can reduce heat loss through the windows by 25% to 50%. Storm windows should have weatherstripping at all moveable joints; be made of strong, durable materials; and have interlocking or overlapping joints. Low-e storm windows save even more energy. Repair and weatherize your current storm windows, if necessary. Warm Climate Windows Keep Heat Out In the summertime, the sun shining through your windows heats up the room. Windows with spectrally selective coatings on the glass reflect some of the sunlight, keeping your rooms cooler. Warm-Climate Window Tips Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day. Install awnings on south- and west-facing windows. Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows to reduce solar gain. -------------------------------- Indoor Lighting Tips Look for the ENERGY STAR label when purchasing these products. Turn off the lights in any room you're not using, or consider installing timers, photo cells, or occupancy sensors to reduce the amount of time your lights are on. Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it. For example, use fluorescent under-cabinet lighting for kitchen sinks and countertops under cabinets. Consider three-way lamps; they make it easier to keep lighting levels low when brighter light is not necessary. Use 4-foot fluorescent fixtures with reflective backing and electronic ballasts for your workroom, garage, and laundry areas. Consider using 4-watt minifluorescent or electro-luminescent night lights. Both lights are much more efficient than their incandescent counterparts. The luminescent lights are cool to the touch. Use CFLs in all the portable table and floor lamps in your home. Consider carefully the size and fit of these systems when you select them. Some home fixtures may not accommodate some of the larger CFLs. Recessed downlights (also called recessed cans) are now available that are rated for contact with insulation (IC rated), are designed specifically for pin-based CFLs, and can be used in retrofits or new construction. Take advantage of daylight by using light-colored, loose-weave curtains on your windows to allow daylight to penetrate the room while preserving privacy. Also, decorate with lighter colors that reflect daylight. If you have torchiere fixtures with halogen lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchieres. Compact fluorescent torchieres use 60% to 80% less energy, can produce more light (lumens), and do not get as hot as the halogen torchieres. Halogen torchieres are a fire risk because of the high temperature of the halogen bulb ---------------------------------- Driving Tips Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions. Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking) wastes gas. It can lower your highway gas mileage 33% and city mileage 5%. Avoid high speeds. Above 60 mph, gas mileage drops rapidly. The fueleconomy.gov Web site shows how driving speed affects gas mileage. When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces wear. Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas. Use air conditioning only when necessary. Clear out your car; extra weight decreases gas mileage. Reduce drag by placing items inside the car or trunk rather than on roof racks. A roof rack or carrier provides additional cargo space and may allow you to buy a smaller car. However, a loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by 5%. Check into telecommuting, carpooling and public transit to cut mileage and car maintenance costs. --------------------------------- For more info on energy saving go to: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/driving.html
  • I use wood i find in parks or where ever for the fire place and in general just dont waste water or electricity. For Eg: If you have free utility doesnt mean you need to keep the Air condition/Heater on when your go out.
  • adequate insulation, flourescent light bulbs, energy efficient heating devices, energy saving appliances, turn the lights off when you leave a room, curtains open in daytime and no lights on, special energy saving flushing mechanisms in toilet tanks, energy saver low flow shower heads, ceiling fans to circulate air instead of using more heat in winter time, do laundry late at night when usage is low nationally, hang your clothes to dry instead of conventional dryer, oil or gas powered hot water tank, solar panels and wind generators for energy instead of non-renewable energy resources...with enough wind-power you can metre it and sell your excess back to the power company...will be a credit on your bill (a friend of mine actually does this).
  • turning off the lights when you walk out of a room is the easiest way i think.
  • A great way to save energy is to by energy efficient lighting. Not only will the lights last longer but you notice you a decrease on your electricity bill. At www.csnlighting.com you can shop an extensive selection of energy star rated lighting. I highly recommend it!
  • We were able to cut our cooling costs by 50% by putting solar screens on the windows on the East and West sides of our house.

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