Energy Conservation Tips
Can Cut Your Utility Expenses

Home Energy Audit

We have numerous energy conservation tips to cover but one of the best ways to get started with any improvement you're contemplating is to first have a home energy audit performed by a professional.

They will provide an evaluation of your home and make recommendations as to what type of improvements are best for your house. The auditor will rate your homes current performance as it relates to energy usage in all categories and provide you with a report.

Along with this comes a detailed list of what can be done to make your home more efficient. The audit cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000. depending on the scale of the audit and the equipment used. Check your local area for reputable contractors.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Installing compact fluorescent light bulbs is one of the easiest ways to save money on energy. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs’) have come a long way since their introduction over 20 years ago.

The Incandescent light bulbs we are so familiar with have a small filament that heats up to produce the light. Over 80% of the power used to operate an incandescent bulb generates heat with the balance being light. This is very inefficient!

The CFL’s contain a ballast that ignites a gas contained in a coiled tub which is a lot more efficient. They are now more reasonably priced and last up to ten times longer than regular incandescent bulbs. Take note that only certain CFL’s have dimming capabilities.

Today, fluorescent lighting can provide a light similar to their incandescent cousins and using up to 80% less power and in the long run will have you saving energy at home. On top of that, there are a large amount of different designs of bulbs available. As a result, using the CFL's ranks very high on our list of home energy saving tips.

Electronic Vampires

What is an electronic vampire? They are appliances and equipment that use electricity on a continual basis even though they are not providing a useful service.

Things like DVD players, receivers, TV’s, Ipod charger, cell phone charges, battery chargers, answering machines, computers, printers, copiers, stereos, power tools, fax machines, routers, shredders, and other electronic components that usually have a standby light visible.

These devices only use a small amount of watts per day but since there is a proliferation of them in our homes, costs are starting to add up and our efforts at saving electricity are being foiled by these devices.

The best way to get rid of these "power leeches" is to unplug them or turn them off when not in use.

Of the total power used to run home electronics, 40% is consumed when the appliances are turned off! One of our energy conservation tips to stop this energy usage is to pull the plug on so-called energy vampires.

If you have a grouping of electronic components together you can plug them all into a power strip that you can turn on and off at your leisure. One of our energy conservation tips that might put some green back into your pocket!

Sleeping Computers

Computers allow you to put them to sleep or they go to sleep on their own as programmed. Even though the computer is asleep, it is still using a significant amount of power.

It’s a good idea to shut the computer down when you go to bed at night in order to save power. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you are not going to be using your computer for more then three hours then shut it down.

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