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Consider these 10 steps for putting your home on an energy diet to help you can save money.
When you get fat, you go on a diet. With summer on the way, there's a good chance that your home's cooling bills are about to to get seriously bloated. The solution? Put your home on an energy diet. Just like you'd go the gym to work out problem areas of your body, let's work on problem areas of your home and reduce your energy consumption.
To make it easy, we came up with a room-by-room cost cutting approach. You'd be surprised at how simple it can be to save big.
And you may even get some help paying for these energy upgrades. President Obama recently announced $6 billion for the Homestar Program, designed to reward people who purchase energy-efficient appliances with immediate rebates, as part of a larger jobs program intended to put people back to work, particularly contractors. To entice people to hire contractors, the program would reimburse homeowners 50 percent on their energy-efficiency investments. It's also a way for the nation to reduce its energy consumption dramatically.
According to a study by McKinsey and Company, a nationwide weatherization of homes could reduce energy use by 23 percent in the coming decade.
But don't worry, we know it's your bottom line that matters most. So we talked to experts at Lennox, a home heating and cooling company, to help us get you on track. Click our gallery below to learn how to save in every room in your home.
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
Easy tip: Lower the temperature on your hot water heater from 145 degrees, which used to be standard, to 120 degrees. Cunningham swears you won't notice a difference at all, but you will see savings when you get your next bill, by as much as $36 to $61 each year. Another easy money saver? Wash your clothes in cold water. According to Lennox, you'll save about $40 in fuel that it takes to heat up the water you'd typically wash with – and another $34 each year just by cleaning out your dryer's lint trap, which increases the efficiency.
And get bonus green laundry tips here!
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
Take an energy audit of your doors and windows, especially if they're on the older side. Do you feel a cool breeze leaking in? Is the caulking around your windows cracking or peeling? "Then you may want to buy yourself a $2 tube of caulk and seal these leaks," says Bill Cunningham, a heating and cooling expert at Lennox. "That will save you 2 to 5 percent on your energy bills." Another trick: Open the shades and curtains; you'd be surprised how much the sun can heat up your home.
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
Before the first snow, walk around the perimeter of your home and examine the exterior walls for cracks. You should pay particular attention to areas where brick or siding fits against another material, since it can be easy to miss hidden cracks. Cunningham suggests an easy way to identify leaks: Hold a candle near the spot where you suspect there may be a leak. If the flame dances, you know you're in trouble. Still, don't fret. It's an easy fix. Again, just seal the leaks with caulk or weather stripping.
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
A recent survey of heating and cooling contractors nationwide revealed that 58 percent use programmable thermostats. Why? They know that these handy little gadgets control energy use and costs. Heat your home to 70 degrees in winter when you're home, and when you leave the house the thermostat will turn the heat down. Still, Cunningham says only 70 percent of people who have programmable thermostats use them. Using one on a regular basis leads to dramatic savings, he says.
Also consider a tankless water heater, to save even more energy.
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
It will cost you on the front end, but there are savings when you install a wood burning stove. Expect to cut your heating bills by about one-quarter to one-half. Plus, if you don't have a fireplace, you'll enjoy this new piece of décor immensely.
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
Do you hate the sound of your kitchen faucet dripping? Well, you'll hate it even more when you hear that its sending your money down the drain with it. According to experts at Lennox, "hot water leaking at a rate of one drip per second can waste up to 1,661 gallons of water" per year. It's a fix that the same experts say will save you $35 annually in electricity or natural gas. Another easy way to save on your energy bills: unplug. If you keep your counter free of small appliances, your kitchen will look neater – and you won't be draining unnecessary energy from outlets.
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
There are numerous energy-efficient showerheads on the market today, and experts say they're worth your consideration. Today's low-flow showerheads, which release 2.5 gallons per minute, waste a lot less water. If you couple that upgrade and limit your showers to 10-minutes each day, you'll save about $145 a year on electricity used to heat the water, says Cunningham. "Look for how these little things can really add up," says Cunningham. "It's not just about turning off the lights."
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
Just like old cars are gas guzzlers, aging furnaces and hot water heaters are energy guzzlers. "Older heating systems typically consume more energy than newer units, which means higher utility bills for homeowners," says Ken Ely, a home heating expert at Lennox. Besides, older units are often repaired more often, an added expense. According to experts, the average lifespan for a heating and cooling system is 12 to 15 years. Even with routine maintenance, your aging equipment is probably increasing your heating bills. If you're not willing to pay for a new furnace, at least change the air filters. Why? Dirty air filters reduce air flow, which means the home heating system has to work harder, which is a bigger drain on your energy bills. Also consider adding a natural air purifier that uses plants to clear the air!
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
If you haven't already, climb into your attic and make sure that you have insulation up there. This sounds like a no brainer; what house doesn't have insulation? You'd be surprised. I lived in my house for two years before we had reason to climb into the attic. That's when we noticed we didn't have any insulation. No wonder why our heating bills were so high. The good news? It's one of the easiest way to put your home on an energy diet. "You can blow it in yourself," says Cunningham, referring to loose-fill insulation. "Just pick it up at Home Depot."
Heres How to Put Your Home on a Diet
This is an obvious one: Not only will replacing traditional bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs save you money -- about $30 over the bulb's lifetime -- but it uses 75 percent less energy. These bulbs also last 10 times longer, says Energy Star.
Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)
I like the idea of putting my house on an energy diet.
Replyhttp://www.homeimprovementtipsandsecrets.info
If you wash your laundry with cold water. You wasted water, energy and detergent. Reason being the cleaning agent (a part of the detergent) will NOT relaese unless the water temparture has 140 degrees. In hotels and restaurant by law the water MUST have 160 degrees. Cold water does not kill germs or desolve grease. Bleach ddoes not clean. All what blach does bleaches the dirt white.
ReplyThanks for the FYI. Glad you posted that, as well as the poster after you who said not too mention turning down the heat makes for germs/bacteria... I agree w/both posters, Thank you.
Anita Michigan
With a lower setting it increase power consumption since it turns on more often. Most water heaters are preset for the best economical performance.
This is lunacy! Whoever is reading this article should know that you should NEVER set your water heater below 140 degrees because it can become an incubator for 'unfriendly organisms'! Check with a real expert before you touch that dial!
ReplyWell, Tess, we poor people have been cleaning our carpets for years instead of replacing them; you act like you just discovered something totally new and unique! What Beverly Hills mansion did you grow up in?
ReplyWyatt is correct. Not a good idea to lower wter heqwter temperature. If you have a dishwasher you will not be properly sanitizing your dishes, and the soap is designed for 140 degrees or higher.
ReplyFix your Shingles to keep heat in?? Maybe to keep water OUT!!
Reply"All of the insulation in the world isn't going to keep air from escaping the roof." WHAT?!?!
Detergents do break down dirt,grease and do not have to be in hot water to release more chemicals.
ReplyTake your light colored car to a car wash.
When you bring it home mix up 6 oz of cold water and 2 drops of any liquid detergent.
Rub it around a small spot on the car and in a few seconds you;ll see a black soot type of dirt float to the surface.
Commercial places are required to use 140* temps but 120* is good for domestic use.
Try washing your hands in water that is 120*
we have 4 adults trying to take shower in the AM - with the lower temperature the hot water runs out unless the temp is turned up full - someday, a larger, more efficient water heater may be the answer - do not have the $1500 to do it now
Replyhave the other 3 pitch in with you for the H2O heater.you shouldn't have to foot it all yourself. or at least 2 people.
hard to make a wife and two kids in high school pitch in for something that is not broke -
we put a timer on the hot water heater,saved big money, electric bill dropped 50 per month.comes on at 5am to 9am and back on at 5pm to 9pm, get the 220 watt timer in home depot
ReplyAs a former High-Rise Safety Specialist, I would never consider dropping water temps that low
Replydue to bacteria rates throughout your plumbing , You're inviting catastrophic results, health wise.
Do you love your children? Keeping them healthy? And to save a buck? Sterilize your water,
don't warm it. Some muni's have tremendous bacteria levels, most are safer than bottled water.
Yes, tap water is usually safer to drink than bottled water, which is just filtered but not purified.
In the Deep South, you need a lot of insulation in your attic. A friend had 6 inches of fiberglass, which he increased to 18 inches. That is probably overkill, but he claims that he cut his summer electric bill by nearly 40%. If you can stand the look, a white roof makes a huge difference in attic temperature in the summer. It will be far cooler than even other light colored surfaces. Other than sealing air leaks, attic insulation is often the most cost effective energy saving investment you can make. It gets very hot and cold up there.
ReplyWhatever you do, get natural gas heat if you can. Forget electric heating, if possible. Electric resistance heating costs much more than gas. And heat pumps wear out your air conditioning compressor faster, because it is running winter and summer. Forget oil for heat. The price of oil will explode because of the 2.4 billion Chinese and Indians who all want to drive cars, like you do.
Put a fiberglass blanket around your water heater. Insulate the hot water pipes wherever you can get to them. You can cover the ducts in your attic with more insulation. When it is 130 degrees up there, a lot of heat can get into that duct. Winter is worse. Remember, the greater the temperature difference, the thicker the insulation must be to stop heat transfer.
Single pane glass windows are huge energy wasters, especially when it gets below 40 degrees outside. Think of a single pane window, like a wall of exposed ice, as part of your wall, when it gets below freezing outside. You won't regret changing them to insulated ones. Just the quiet is worth the money, if you live within 1,500 feet of a noisy Interstate, like I do.
If you live in a raised home, don't forget to insulate below the floor, even if it is above a basement. If it gets cold in that basement, heat will travel down there from your living area. The greater the temperature difference, the more it will cost you, if you don't do it.
Efforts to control climate change could greatly increase all energy costs in the near future. You want to be able to use as little energy as possible, yet still be comfortable. Also, sales of energy inefficient homes may be prohibited, or taxed, sooner than we might wish.
ALSO LOWERING YOUR WATER TEMP DOES NOT GET YOUR DISHES CLEAN OR DRY THEM IN THE DISHWASHER.....AND TO REWASH THEM BY HAND MAKES YOU USE MORE WATER ....
ReplyJust so you know, bed bugs are BACK. Only water temperatures over 130 degrees kills them and their eggs. This means you can wash your clothes in lower temp water and not kill bed bugs & their eggs. There is a reason our older generation built water heaters to get to temps of 130+ - they had to deal with bed bugs. For several decades we did not, but now we do and now there's no DDT to kill these critters as in the past. So as the professional pest exterminator is making bi-monthly trips to your house to spray them, you have to wash your clothes in hot water and use the dryer on EVERYTHING that can be put in the dryer. Otherwise, you will not be able to kill the critters. And for arguments sake, let's not go into "natural" bed bug treatments as many people are allergic to those "plant-based" and questionable result methods.
ReplyAll WASHERS have choice cycles . Hot or warm or cold Also can wash in hot and rinse in warm or cold. NO need to rinse in hot. The crud is gone in the first wash. BJ
ReplyBy lowering your temperature you increase the risk of bacteria/legionares, etc... dish washing requires a min. of 140 degrees to sterilize. most states require 140 degrees normal and 120 at tubs/showers for antiscald reasons. check with your local plumbing inspectors about codes and/or your local health dept, before lowering your water heater temp.
ReplyWash clothes in cold water?? if you do that you shouldn't even bother washing them at all then! Cold water will not get clothes clean and the only hope you have is that the water itself will wash away the bacteria, which it most likely won't. Only hot water and soap will kill the germs. You need to kill bacteria or fuhgeddaboudit. So this is bad advice. Better to spend a little more on on the gas needed to kill germs and you'll live more healthy because of it. When I wash my undies and socks I use really, really hot water.
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