Savings on your electric bill
Here's an idea to save money on your electric bills. Replace all of your light bulbs with the CFL (Short for Compact Florescent Light Bulb). These bulbs use less energy than regular bulbs. They cost more to purchase. But they pay for themselves in the long run. They not only use less energy, they also last longer. So you save 2 ways. 1 by saving money on your electric bill, and 2, by not having to buy light bulbs quite as often. These bulbs are able to last 3 to 7 years or more depending on how you use them. Use them especially in fixtures that use more than 1 bulb. They also come in all the popular shapes and sizes. Some and be used with a dimmer. They even have them to work in a 3 way light (One with 3 light levels). They even come in outdoor flood light style. They come in most the popular wattage also, i.e. 40, 60, 100, 150 and such. When purchasing these bulbs, look at the wattage they are equal to, not the actual wattage used. The actual wattage is what it uses. You would see on the package-Using a 60 watt as an example: 13 watts = 60 watts. I use these bulbs everywhere in my house and have saved lots of money on my energy usage for a family of 6. a 40 watt only uses 10 watts of power. the big 150 watt one uses only 44 watts of power. With the 60 watt equivalent they use only 13 watts of power, 60-13=47 watts less than a regular 60 watt bulb. That's almost half of the power used by 1 light bulb. In fact, for a 13 watt bulb to use 60 watts, you can burn 4 CFLS and still not use as much as a traditional 60 watt light bulb uses. Not only that, when you replace appliances, make sure you get new ones with the energy star label. CFLs are Energy Star certified.
Saving money with your electronic equipment
Another way to save money is to unplug your electronic equipment when you are not using it. With most new electronic equipment, especially those that operate with a remote control, even though they are turned off, they still pull power. Things such as TV's, stereos, and anything else with a remote control including remote controlled air conditioners require a small amount of energy to keep the remote control sensor operating to sense when you push a button to turn it on. If the remote control sensor didn't pull power, then when you pushed the power button to turn it on, nothing would happen. Not only that, things such as stereos, TV's, and anything with a memory which store preset stations and some use power to remember the last station you were on when you turned it off require a small amount of power to keep the memory intact. Some of these things also have a clock which will continue to operate even though they are turned off and you don't see any lights on. Its like when your car battery goes dead for no aparent reason, especially after it sits for a few days and even though you didn't leave anything on. Thats because things such as the clock, and anything that has a memory is pulling power from your battery to keep your memory intact and the clock running. Disconnect the battery for a few minutes in your car, your clocks will return to 12:00 and any memory settings you have will be erased. Your home powered electronic equipment tends to run on the same principles when they are off. So things you don't use as often, especially your air conditioners that you don't use in the winter time anyhow, unplug them. You would be surprised how much money you will save on your power bill.
A Couple Other Energy Savings Tips
When heating or cooling your home, use fans to help move the air around. This will allow you to turn down your thermostats. In the summer, using fans will create a wind chill effect which allows you to turn up the air conditioners thermostat. In the winter, use them to move the heat around. If you have a fire place or wood stove, use them to help the heat move from room to room. If you have a second floor, and use a fire place or wood burner, put a couple of registers in the floor to allow some of the heat to go into your bedrooms. If you have ceiling fans, these are really good for moving air conditioned or heated air around. Most ceiling fans have a switch which allows you to reverse the direction of the fan blades. Its usually a little black switch mounted on the side of the fan. In the summer, you want the switch set so the fan pushes the air down creating the wind chill effect. In the winter, reverse the fan so it pushes the air towards the ceiling. Since heat rises, this will push the heat down around the walls and back down to the floor. This will allow you to turn your thermostats down. Also, if your cold, put on a sweater or cover up with a blanket instead of turning up the thermostat.
Other Energy Savings Tips
Here are some other ways to help you save on your energy bills. Check around your windows and doors to make sure there are no drafts. The easiest way to do this is to look around your doors during the day. If you can see daylight around the door jam, chances are the outside air can get in. Thus making your heating or air conditioning system work harder. Check your windows also. Use a fan or hair dryer and blow it at the seams of the window. Have someone hold a ribbon or piece of paper on the other side. If the paper moves, the outside air can get in. Take your window air conditioners out in the winter if possible. You would be surprised how much air gets around one. If you must leave it in, make sure you insulate around it very well. Put a cover over the inside and outside of them also. Check around any outdoor light fixtures and power sockets. Sometimes air can get in behind them and into you home. Check around your light switches and outlets inside, especially the ones on the outside walls. Hold your hand next to one on a windy day. I bet you can feel the air coming in around them. Buy light switch and outlet gaskets to stop the air from getting in. They go behind the covers to keep out the cold air. Also by plastic plugs and put them in any empty plugs. Also check around pipes and anything that penetrates your home from the outside. Heating and cooling your home accounts for almost 1/2 to 3/4 of your energy bills. Also, have your heating or cooling systems checked, cleaned and adjusted for efficency once a year. Clean the filters in them once a month or more oftne in dusty conditions. If your heating system has a chimney and you can get at the pipe, purchase a heat exchanger. They go on the exhaust pipe and have a fan which blows the heat going up the chimney back into your home. It can reclaim almost 60% to 70% of the heat lost up the chimney. Even if it only blows into your basement, its better than loosing it to the outside. In the winter, redirect your dryer exhaust to blow into your home. Just make sure you stop up the dryer exhaust when you remove the hose. In the winter, we are trying to heat and humidify your home. This is a great way to do this while doing your laundry. Don't worry, they make a lint trap that can go on the end of the hose to stop the lint from blowing into your home. Even if it only blows into your basement, the heat radiates through your floors into the rest of the home. After you are done cooking or using your oven, prop the oven door open to allow the heat to excape into your living space. This goes for your microwaves also. When you are done vacuuming, leave your vacuum out until it cools. This way the heat radiates into the room and not into your closet. Open your blinds and curtains on a sunny day and allow the sun to shine in. This also helps on your light bill also so you don't have to turn on lights. Using the sun is FREE heat. I even put thing in the sun to absorb heat so once the sun moves around the house or goes down, the items radiate heat until they cool off. On your heating system, especially if its a hot water system, wrap the pipes leading to your radiators with piping insulation to keep the water hotter longer. Wrap the pipes from your water heater also. Make sure you put a short piece on the cold pipe leading into your system or water heater also. Feel the pipe feeding them when the water isn't used fo awhile. The cold pipe leading in is usually warm to the touch. I hope these tips help you save even more money. I know some of this requires you to spend some money. But sometimes you have to spend money to save money. But doing these things can pay for themselves in the longrun. Sorry this is so long. I wanted to try to give as many tips as possible.