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Reduce home energy usage

Energy conservation is the idealistic or economic practice of reducing the use of energy. Individual consumers can do numerous things to conserve energy and reduce home energy costs. Adopting just a few of these strategies can make a measurable difference in your overall energy usage, and the energy demands of the planet.

General tips

• Choose energy-efficient home appliances, which have been designed with energy conservation in mind. In the United States, Energy Star is a government program to promote energy-efficient consumer products. The EU energy label is a similar European Union program.
• Choose natural gas furnaces, water heaters, stoves, and clothes dryers. Natural gas is significantly more efficient than electricity derived from fossil fuel sources, for heating purposes.
• Try to use natural ventilation and only use your heater when temperatures drop below 15°C(68°F), and try to only use cooling devices when temperatures get above 30°C(78°F).
• For tips on reducing transportation-related energy usage, see How to reduce transportation fuel costs.

Reduce heating costs

• Operate your furnace efficiently:
• Install a programmable thermostat and set it so your home will not be heated as much when you are away or asleep.
• Check your furnace's air filter monthly - replace/clean as required. (more often if there is a lot of dust or pet dander in your home's air).
• Get furnace serviced annually, check for slow gas line leaks- especially at the meter and pipe junctions
• Do not obstruct or close heating or air-return vents by placing furniture or other items in front or on top of them.
• Insulate and weatherize your home effectively:
• Ask your local utility to inspect your home to ensure that you have adequate insulation installed. Some may provide incentives for this checkup.
• Seal off rooms that are not in regular use and close heating vents.
• Carefully hold a smoking combustible material (such as an incense stick) near the frames of exterior doors and windows. If the smoke moves toward or away from the window, an air leak is likely. A thin shred of paper or string may also be used if a combustible smoking material is not available, though it may not work as well.
• Replace old, leaky windows (especially single-pane glass) with newer double or triple pane, gas filled, low E windows.
• Install heavy curtains over windows. Use them at night, let the sun in during the day.
• If you have basement windows that are never opened, consider replacing them with glass block, which is more insulating than a window. Keep at least two basement windows in place, however, so you can vent the basement if needed.
• "Reuse" heat:
• Leave hot water in the bathtub or in cooking pots instead of draining it immediately. This allows the water's stored heat to dissipate into your home rather than being lost down the drain. You can also leave a hot oven slightly open after it's use to heat the home.
• If you have an electric dryer, you may vent it inside occasionally. The vented air will be very moist, so track humidity levels; if the humidity is high for extended periods you may encourage mold and mildew growth. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU VENT GAS DRYERS INDOORS due to carbon monoxide present in the exhaust.
• Use thick blankets so you can keep your home's air temperature lower at night. Wearing a cap on your head at night can enable much lower temperatures.
• Turn down the temperature on your water heater to 120°F and drain the silt occasionally with a water hose. Be sure to check and replace the anode rods periodically as well.
• Replace your water heater with a gas tankless water heater, which heats water on demand rather than storing heated water. Solar hot water heating also has tax credits available.
• Wear several layers of clothing.
• If you live alone and/or in a large home, it may be more efficient to keep your overall house temperature low (55 to 65°F) and use an electric space heater to heat the areas you use most often. For example, if you work from home, keep a heater near your desk. You could even carefully use a hair-dryer to preheat your bed in seconds. You can utilize the concepts of personal heat.
• Purchase a radiant-type glowing heater to heat only yourself in the bathroom in the morning to eliminate morning whole-house heating time.
• Protect your home from cold winds using windbreaks or other energy-efficient landscaping methods.
• Choosing a smaller home and eschewing unnecessarily high ceilings reduces the amount of space your heating system will have to heat.
• Choose an apartment or condominium rather than a free-standing house. These dwellings share walls and therefore have fewer exterior walls.

Reduce cooling costs

• Many of the steps you can take to reduce heating costs, such as insulating and sealing your home, will also reduce air conditioning costs.
• Use fans instead of air conditioning (Fans make the air feel about 4 degrees cooler).
• Turn fans off when no one is directly in the air stream of the fan. Fans do not actually cool the air; they help your skin to evaporate water more quickly, which cools you.
• If you have more than two window air conditioners, it is usually more energy-efficient to install a central air conditioner.
• Pay attention to efficiency ratings when looking for a new air conditioner.
• Size your system properly. Calculate the heat loads.

Free online calculator.Northern Air Conditioning Orange County NY

• If you have a portable air conditioners, be sure that it is vented outside. If it is vented inside, you are actually heating your home.
• In geographic areas where summer nighttime temperatures fall below 75 F, open windows and use window fans to pull cool outside air into your home. Depending on the layout of your home, it may be best to only open certain windows and position fans so outside air is pulled in on one side of the house and interior air is pushed out on the other side of the house. It may be a wise choice to install a whole-house fan, which pulls air through your home and pushes it out through your attic. Choosing a whole-house fan.(DRY CLIMATES ONLY!)
• Install awnings over windows and close window blinds or curtains to keep direct sunlight out.
• Plant trees near your home. Choose locations that will shade your house during the afternoon. Even trees not directly shading your home will reduce local air temperatures.
• Drink plenty of fluids to help your body cool itself.
• Keep closets doors closed. This can save you up to 5% in heating/cooling and air costs alone.

Reduce lighting costs

• Take advantage of sunlight and leave lights off during the day. If possible, adjust your daily routine to align your waking hours with sunlit hours.
• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs in place of conventional incandescent light bulbs. A CFL uses approximately one-fourth the wattage of an incandescent bulb producing a similar level of illumination, and they last 8,000 to 10,000 hours. The savings in electricity typically amounts to over $30 per replaced bulb. Replace your most-used bulbs first for maximum savings.
• Install motion-detection switches or timers for outdoor lighting rather than leaving lights on all night.
• Install dimmer switches for incandescent light fixtures so you can use less light when less is needed. CAUTION: Most CFLs and other fluorescent bulbs are not designed for use with a dimmer.
• Replace incandescent night lights with LED or eletroluminescent (Indiglo™, Limelite™, etc.) lights.
• Don't use excessive holiday lighting.
• Dust light bulbs occasionally (with the power off) to increase light levels.
• Use limited, focused lighting when performing a task in a small area instead of lighting the entire room.
• Choose light fixtures that require fewer bulbs, or unscrew some of the bulbs in existing fixtures.

Reduce water usage

• Install water-saving showerheads, faucets, and toilets.
• Fix leaky pipes and plumbing fixtures in your home's plumbing system. Toilet tank leaks are easily detected by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water reservoir. If the water in the toilet bowl becomes dyed, water is leaking from the tank and the valve should be repaired or replaced.
• Lower the water level of your toilet's water reservoir. Be careful not to lower it to the point that it does not flush adequately. If your toilet's flush mechanism does not allow an easy way to lower the water level, place a plastic or glass jar filled with water into the water tank, clear of the flush mechanism, to displace water. Do not use a brick in your water tank, as it can break down and cause plumbing problems.
• Take showers instead of baths.
• Take shorter showers.
• Use the light cycle when using a dishwasher on dishes that aren't extremely dirty. Try the same when using a washing machine.
• Install a water softener if your water is "hard".
• Water outdoor plants early in the morning or late in the evening to reduce the amount of water lost to evaporation.
• Invest in a water barrel - use for watering plants, washing the car.
• Use a public swimming pool instead of purchasing your own.

Reduce household waste

• Do not purchase products with excessive or unnecessary packaging.
• Purchase products in the largest size practical so as to reduce the product:packaging ratio. However, do not purchase products in larger quantities than you will actually use, and be aware that having a larger quantity on hand may cause you to use more of the product than you would have ordinarily used.
• Use and reuse gift bags in place of gift wrap.
• Bring your own bags or boxes along when shopping to carry your purchases home.
• Put off purchases whenever possible. You will often find that you didn't really need the item.
• Use rechargeable batteries instead of conventional batteries.
• Compost

Reduce electricity usage

• Turn off all electric appliances (lights, computers, televisions) when they are not in use. Computer printers and photocopiers are typically high energy users.
• Watch TV with the light off.
• Set your computer to automatically shut off the monitor and switch to standby mode (if available) after a certain number of minutes of disuse. Choose a flat panel display instead of a conventional CRT. Adjust your display's brightness to the sorrounding light conditions (less brightness is needed in dark rooms).
• Purchase a laptop and use it as a replacement for your desktop computer. Most laptops are optimised for energy efficiency and don't need an uninterruptible power supply, since the battery can be used during thunderstorms and the like.
• Use products with the Energy Star logo (or similar). In particular, recycling and replacing old refrigerators with an Energy Star-approved one can save a few hundred kilowatt-hours a year. Replacing old refrigeration and air conditioning units (even if they are still functional) with more efficient ones is often an economically and ecologically sound decision.
• Consider installing and using a clothesline for drying clothes. Each load not dried in an electric dryer saves 3 to 5 kilowatthours.
• Unplug appliances that will not be used for an extended period of time; many devices, especially consumer electronics, use a small amount of electricity even when they are switched off, due to indicator lights or listening for remote-control signals. Direct current converters, which are typically used to connect small consumer electronics devices to household power, lose a significant amount of energy as heat, even when the device is not plugged into the converter.
• Set your furnace/AC fan to "auto" rather than "on" so it will not run when the furnace/AC unit itself is off. The fan uses a significant amount of electricity.
• Your refrigerator is probably among the biggest energy users in the home. Take special care to operate it efficiently:
• Clean the condenser coils on your refrigerator to keep them operating efficiently.
• Reduce the number of trips you make to the refrigerator/freezer and do not leave the door open unnecessarily.
• Refrigerator/freezer configuration affects the unit's efficiency. Bottom-freezer models are generally most efficient. Top-freezers (the most common configuration) are reasonably efficient. Side-by-side models are relatively innefficient. Chest freezers are generally more efficient than conventional front-opening models.
• Small refrigerators are often less efficient than larger models because they usually have less insulation or a less-efficient compressor.
• Keep your refrigerator/freezer reasonably well stocked so that less cold air is lost when the door is opened.
• Cover beverages and moist foods to keep the humidity level in the refrigerator lower. Dry air is easier to cool.
• Keep your refrigerator's temperature above 36°F and below 42°F. Keep your freezer's temperature at about 0°F. A good gauge of freezer temperature is ice cream. If the ice cream is too soft, lower the temperature; if it is very hard and difficult to spoon, raise the temperature.
• When cooking:
• Turn off your electric oven or stove shortly before the end of the required cooking time; the heating element will still be hot enough to finish the cooking process.
• Cover pots to reduce heat loss.
• Do not heat a small pot on a large burner.
• Microwave foods when possible. However, microwaving liquids or foods with high moisture content is usually less energy-efficient than heating it on a stove.
• Thaw or partially thaw frozen food in the refrigerator prior to cooking.
• Replace drip pans periodically. Dirty drip pans are much less reflective than new pans and cannot reflect as much heat back up to the pan being heated.
• Avoid opening the oven door unnecessarily. Instead, view the food through the door's window and use a timer to help you determine when the food will be fully cooked. Most foods are fully cooked when the fragrance of the food begins to fill the room from within the oven.

Residential Ventilation Issues

Proper ventilation in the attic:

• Keeps the house cool in the summer. (Attics radiate heat downward in the summer when they are hotter than the living area.)
• Keeps the attic cold in the winter, which can prevent ice dams.
• Allows moisture to escape from the house. Some warm, moist air will always find its way into the attic, so ventilation is essential. This is important year-round for preventing mold and rot, but it is especially important in the winter, when the moisture is more likely to condense.

Be aware that increased ventilation decreases the effectiveness of any insulation that is a poor barrier to air infiltration, such as fiberglass batts. The increased ventilation will create low pressure areas, so that the house will push conditioned air through the insulation faster than it normally would.

With insufficient ventilation:

• Attic heat can penetrate into living areas during summer.
• There will be excessive humidity, which can cause mold and eventually rot.
• Water vapor can condense and collect on insulation, on rafters, and on the underside of roof sheathing. This will reduce the effectiveness of the insulation and can greatly hasten the activity of mold and rot.
• Condensation and mold will also occur in the living area, especially on perimeter walls (because they are coolest) and where ventilation is poorest, such as in corners and around furniture.

You will need more ventilation than usual if:

• You live in a damp climate.
• Your house is in the shade.
• The crawlspace or basement has a dirt floor.
• There isn't much wind.
• You have a modern, super-tight house.
• You have a solid masonry house.
• You have a house with impermeable siding such as vinyl or aluminum.
• You do not have sufficient (or any) vapor barriers.

Most houses treat the attic and basement as unconditioned space. You can think of unconditioned space as outdoor space, minus the rain and snow. The unconditioned space surrounding the living area shouldn’t be wide open, but it shouldn't be sealed shut either. A good compromise is to have two foundation vents in the basement and two different types of vents in the attic. Vents should always exist in pairs (but not necessarily two of the same type) to allow for cross-ventilation. In an attic, one member of the pair should be low on the roof and the other member should be higher up, so that outside air is pulled through one and out the other. Natural attic ventilation through these vents is usually sufficient. Powered vents in the attic may interfere with proper furnace and fireplace venting.

Some ways to ventilate an attic naturally:

• Soffit vents.
• Ridge vents (you can cover the ridge vent with shingles).
• Gable vents.

Modern homes often incorporate all three types of attic vents, providing continuous cross-ventilation via multiple air pathways.

Make sure gable vents have screens to keep out insects and animals, and keep the screens clean to maintain proper ventilation.

Never close or block off the vents to a damp basement or crawlspace, except in extreme cold to prevent pipes from freezing. Closing the vents to a damp basement or crawlspace will cause mold, rot, and structural defects. Sometimes a basement or crawlspace will look bone dry but is transpiring moisture through the dirt floor at a rapid rate. To see if this is the case, lay down some clear plastic on the dirt floor for a few days and observe how much water collects on its underside.

If your basement or crawlspace is dry and has been dry for several years you can:

• Close the foundation vents in the winter to conserve energy, and open them again in the warmer months to allow interior moisture from the house to escape.
• Close the foundation vents permanently, install a polyethylene vapor barrier on the floor (just to be safe), insulate the basement or crawlspace walls, and part of the floor, if necessary, and include the basement or crawlspace as part of the conditioned space of the house. If you take this route you don’t need to insulate the floor above the basement or crawlspace, but it doesn’t hurt if the floor is already insulated. Keep an eye on humidity. There will be less condensation on walls and pipes, but possibly greater humidity because of trapped air, requiring increased ventilation in the upper floors and attic to compensate.

Advantages of insulating a dry basement and crawlspace and making them part of the conditioned space of the house:

• Decreased condensation, because walls are closer in temperature to the air inside the house, and because cold pipes are not exposed to outdoor air during the warmer months.
• Reduced energy losses from ducts passing through the basement.
• Reduced risk of pipes freezing in winter.

Residential ventilation checklist

• Vent sources of moisture directly to the outside. This is especially important for the bathroom, which normally produces more moisture than any other room in the house, and for the dryer, which produces more moisture than any other appliance.
• Do not vent moisture directly into the attic. The last thing you want to do is put warm, moist air into the attic. In cold climates this can contribute to icing and resulting leaks.
• A whole-house fan is acceptable because of its usual location, installed in the attic floor near a gable vent, and because it is not directly connected to a source of moisture. The whole-house fan can help to remove cooking odors and can cool the entire house when it is not hot enough to turn on the air conditioning. Use caution: natural-draft heating appliances could be adversely affected by too much exhaust - products of combustion could be drawn into the house.
• If you cannot vent the bathroom directly to the outside, install the vent up through the attic and down through a soffit vent. This will prevent water from dripping back down into the vent as it would if you installed the duct straight up through the roof. Wire the bathroom vent to a timer switch, so that people can turn it on without having to remember to turn it off.
• Always vent the clothes dryer to the outside with a smooth-walled (do not screw into walls of duct), metal (not plastic) duct that is as short as possible. To prevent a house fire check the duct for clogs regularly. Do not vent the dryer directly into the laundry room. This puts much too much moisture into the house.
• Kitchens should have a vent hood with an exhaust fan. The vent hood should have a back draft flap to keep out insects and cold air - but some cold air will inevitably seep in.
• Install ceiling fans to improve ventilation and distribute heat. To disperse heat properly run the ceiling fan in reverse so that it pushes warm air up against the ceiling and down along the walls, where people tend to sit.
• Do not block air intake vents for heating or air conditioning equipment. Blocking these vents will starve the equipment for air, causing it to run inefficiently.
• If your unfinished basement has windows, keep them closed on hot, humid days to prevent moisture from condensing on the walls continuously, all day long. Open the windows once the humidity drops below the natural humidity of the basement so that moisture doesn’t build up inside.
• People, in their zeal to do a good job, sometimes pack insulation into the eaves, blocking the soffit vents, because they don’t know that the vents exist or don’t know what they are for. If you are installing insulation in the attic for the first time do not cover the soffit vents with insulation.
• If your attic is already insulated on the floor make sure insulation is not blocking the soffit vents. This is more of a problem for loose-fill, since wind can scatter the fill around. To prevent loose-fill from scattering and covering the soffit vents, you can install baffles between the rafters. You staple the baffles to the underside of the roof sheathing, and the baffles maintain 2 inches of ventilation space next to the sheathing.
• Wind coming through soffit vents can also push batt insulation up off the floor, causing cold airflow against the ceiling and cold spots high up on exterior walls. Baffles installed near the eave should also prevent this problem by keeping the batts from flipping up and over.
• If you are going to install batts or spray foam between the rafters, you should extend the baffles all the way up to the ridge vent. This will keep the sheathing dry and prevent it from rotting invisibly behind the insulation.
• Likewise, when you insulate between the floor joists in the ceiling of an unconditioned basement or crawlspace, you should leave some space between the insulation and the sheathing (subfloor) to allow water vapor to escape.

Other conservation tips

There are many ways to conserve energy that will not economically benefit the consumer directly. However, many of these methods improve overall efficiency of the economy|efficiency of the economy, which can lead to economic growth.

• Rent or borrow items you will not use very often. This eliminates the significant amount of energy that goes into the manufacture and disposal of an additional item.
• Check books out from your local library rather than purchasing your own copy.
• Purchase used items when possible.
• Donate usable clothing and other items to charity rather than discarding them.
• Use "disposable" items (such as paper and plastic dishware and cutlery, or disposable cameras) sparingly. Opt instead for the reusable version.
• At public restrooms, use electric hand dryers (if available) instead of paper towels. The energy needed heat and blow air at your hands is far less than the energy needed to make and transport paper towels and haul waste away.
• Use a digital camera in place of a conventional film camera and get prints of only the best photographs. Use a printing service rather than purchasing your own photo printer.
• Use toilet paper, paper towels, and other products made of recycled materials.
• Ask your local energy utility about credits or rebates given for the purchase of energy-efficient appliances.
• Make an effort to defer electricity usage to off-peak hours. Reducing usage during peak hours (usually mid-afternoon to early evening on hot days) helps prevent the construction of additional power plants that would be required to keep up with demand during peak hours.
• If you plan to use air conditioning, cool your house early in the day and turn it off around noon, allowing the house to warm up throughout the afternoon.
• Do laundry early in the morning or late at night.
• Eat a "cold" non-cooked meal (sandwiches, fruit, etc.) or cook outside for lunch. This saves the electricity needed for cooking and/or the electricity needed by the air conditioner to cool the heated air.