Energy Saving Tips
Energy Links
(These pages are maintained by other sites and will open in a new window)
- Vectren Energy Recommendations
- Richmond Power & Light - Energy Star Info.
- D.O.E. (Department of Energy) E.E.R.E. Tips
- "Carbon Footprint" Calculator (BP)
- Automobile Energy Saving Tips
Free - Things that cost nothing and save cash.
- Turn down water heater thermostat to 120 degrees. (Seek professional assistance if you are not familiar with adjusting this setting on your water heater.)
- Turn off lights when leaving a room.
- Set thermostats to 68 degrees F. in winter when you're home and down to 62 degrees F. when you go to bed. (Programmable thermostats do this automatically - see below.)
- Use energy-saving settings on washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, water heaters, computers, televisions, DVD players, CD players, and VCR's etc.
- Clean your refrigerator's condenser coils once a year.
- Repair leaky faucets and toilets (five percent of water "use" is leakage.)
- Move furniture away from the air registers, allowing for the free flow of cooled or heated air.
- Use cold water rinses whenever washing clothes. About 80-85 percent of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water.
Things that will pay for themselves in lower energy bills in less than a year.
- Install a water-saving 2.5 gallon-per-minute showerhead. ($15)
- Install water-efficient faucet heads for your kitchen and bathroom sinks ($2 each).
- Install a programmable thermostat. ($25-50)
- Plug air leaks a small animal could crawl through in the attic and basement, and replace and re-putty broken window panes (about $20).
- Clean or change the air filter on your warm-air heating system during winter and on air conditioning units in the summer ($2).
- Install an R-7 or R-11 water heater wrap on units older than 10 years ($12).
- Insulate the first three feet of hot and inlet cold water pipes ($6).
- Install a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb in the fixture you use the most ($3). Increasing your lighting efficiency is one of the fastest ways to decrease your energy bills. If you replace 25% of your lights in high-use areas with compact fluorescents, you can save about 50% of your lighting energy bill.*
Source: Rocky Mountain Institute (amounts are approximate costs for the products).
*Switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs can greatly reduce energy usage. CFL's are mainstream and can be purchased at most "do-it-yourself" stores and supermarkets. CFL's screw in just like "regular" incandescent bulbs. Realize immediate savings, especially in the winter when the nights get longer. CFL's cost no more than a large bag of Doritos - place one in the shopping cart each trip to the store - you can have a 100% compact fluorescent house in no time. CFL's also last much longer than standard bulbs.
