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Written by Lindsay Allen
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Days of cranking the air conditioner and taking joy rides are behind us. With the cost of oil on the rise and the economic troubles Americans have been facing, we are all trying to cut costs everywhere we can.
Greg Guess, Assistant Director of Energy Efficiency and Conservation, says, “It’s time for an energy diet. You have to make a decision to cut back and do it.” Guess gave us some easy tips to get started. Here are some ways to save energy at home.
- Set your thermostat comfortably high for the summer. Setting you thermostat 5 degrees higher will save you about 10% on cooling costs.
- Use fans to spread the cool air throughout the house.
- Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. These use a fourth of the energy.
- Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.
- Plus home electronics into a power strip. Turn the power strip off when the equipment is not in use. TVs and DVD players in standby mode still use several watts of power.
- Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120 degrees.
- Wash clothes in cold water. 90% of energy use in a clothes washer goes to water heating.
- Look for home appliances with the Energy Star label. They are 40% more efficient and meet the guidelines set by U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As for the road, transportation accounts for 66% of all U.S. oil consumption. The weekly fill-up at the pump may be hitting your wallet hard, but there are some things you can do to stretch every gallon.
- Drive sensibly. Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid accelerating, and braking) wastes gas.
- Combine errands into one trip. Several short trips for a cold start can use twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.
- Replace clogged air filters to improve gas mileage by as much as 10%.
- Keep tires properly inflated and aligned to improve gas mileage by 3.3%.
- Clean out your car. Extra weight decreases gas mileage.
- Use air conditioning only when necessary.
- Use cruise control.
- Avoid high speeds. Above 60 mph, gas mileage drops rapidly.
Try these tips for just one month and see the difference in your utility bill and gas mileage. Contact us and let us know how much you saved! |
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Turn off your screen saver. Did you know the EPA has estimated that using a computer's "sleep mode" reduces its energy consumption by 60 to 70 percent and, on a large scale, ultimately could save enough electricity each year to power Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, cut electric bills by $2 billion, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of five million cars? A screen saver that displays moving images causes your monitor to consume as much electricity as it does in active use. A blank screen saver is only slightly better but that reduces energy consumption by a small amount.
The best screen saver is also the best energy saver: turn off your monitor when you're not using it. The next best idea is to use your computer's power management feature to automatically shut the monitor down when it is not in use.
Despite the rumors, leaving your computer on overnight is in fact less efficient that shutting it down and booting it up the next day. Turning off your computer will decrease the amount of energy it uses, reduces its mechanical stress, prolong its life. |
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