Courtesy of Susan Hindman

Temperatures are going down, so your awareness about ways to save money on energy needs to go up. Every year brings new concerns over high energy bills, so here are some tips to help you hold down costs.

Heat

• Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable when you’re home (health permitting). By resetting your thermostat from 72 degrees to 65 degrees for eight hours a day (for instance, while no one is home or while everyone is tucked in bed), you can cut your heating bill by up to 10%. In warmer climates, you can set the thermostat back to 55 degrees or even turn it off at night or when leaving home for an extended time. People in colder climates should not do this, as frozen pipes may result.
• Install a programmable thermostat. These can be set to automatically adjust to your daily routines.
• Replace or clean furnace filters once a month during the heating season. Dirty filters restrict airflow and make your furnace work harder, which increases energy use. Also be sure to maintain and clean heating equipment.
• Seal up leaks. Caulk leaks around windows and doors. Look for places where you have pipes, vents, or electrical conduits that go through the wall, ceiling, or floor. Check the bathroom, underneath the kitchen sink, pipes inside closets, etc. If you find a gap at the point where the pipe or vent goes through the wall, seal it up. For small gaps, caulk works best; for larger gaps, head to the hardware store for products such as weather-stripping. Leaky ducts can be sealed with mastic metal-backed tape or aerosol sealant. A simple solution is to place tightly rolled towels along the bottom of windows and doors.
• Check the insulation in your attic, ceilings, exterior and basement walls, floors, and crawl spaces to see if it meets the levels recommended for your area. If your ceiling has little or no insulation, consider increasing your insulation to up to R-38, which can reduce heating costs by as much as 25%.  

Water

• Reduce the hot water temperature. Set your water heater to 120 degrees. If you’re leaving town, turn it down to a lower setting.  
• Insulate the water heater and hot water pipes. If the water heater and hot water pipes are warm to the touch, insulation could reduce heat loss and water heating costs. Pipe insulation is available from your hardware store. Wrap the hot water tank with jacket insulation, but be sure to leave the air intake vent uncovered if you have a gas water heater.
• Shorten your showers. Showers account for two-thirds of your water heating costs. Cutting your showers in half will reduce this by 33%.
• Install low-flow showerheads. These showerheads and faucets can drastically cut your hot water expenses, saving water consumption by as much as 10%.
• Use cold water to wash your clothes. Cold water reduces your washer’s energy use by 75%.

Appliances

• Consider new Energy Star appliances. The best indicator of a water heater’s efficiency is the energy factor (EF). The higher the EF, the more efficient it is. Consider replacing your gas water heater with a newer model if yours is more than 12 years old. If your furnace is over 15 years old, newer Energy Star–rated models are about 15% more efficient than standard models. An Energy Star refrigerator uses about 20% less energy than a standard new refrigerator, and 46% less than one made in 1980. An Energy Star washing machine uses nearly 50% less energy than a standard washer.
• Use appliances efficiently. Do only full loads when using your dishwasher and washing machine. Avoid using the heat-dry, rinse-hold, and pre-rinse features on the dishwasher, to save on energy consumption. Be sure to clean your clothes dryer’s lint trap after each use. Use the moisture-sensing automatic drying setting on your dryer if it has one. If your oven door seal is dirty, gently clean it with kitchen degreaser, to ensure it retains heat when baking.
• Clean the refrigerator. When the fridge has doors that don’t seal properly, dirty coils, or thick frost in the freezer, it uses more energy to cool the inside. Clean the seals to remove grease or dirt. Use a hairdryer to heat up the seals until they conform better to the door. To clean coils behind the fridge, use a vacuum cleaner attachment. The refrigerator temperature should be set between 34 degrees and 37 degrees and the freezer between zero and five.
• Do not resort to using a grill or camp stove for heat! Such equipment is designed to be used only outdoors and presents safety hazards when used in any enclosed or partially enclosed setting. Besides being a fire hazard, they can produce high levels of carbon monoxide, which you cannot smell or see but can be fatal.

Around the House

• Let the sun in. Open drapes on south-facing windows when it’s sunny, and let the sun heat your home for free. At sundown, close them to retain the heat. For windows that don’t receive direct sunlight, leave the drapes closed during the day to provide insulation. Up to 15% of heat can escape through unprotected windows.
• Rearrange your rooms. Move your furniture around so you are sitting near interior walls; exterior walls and older windows are likely to be drafty.
• Keep the fireplace damper closed when not in use. Before closing the damper, make sure that you don’t have any smoldering embers. Traditional fireplaces are an energy loser, so it’s best not to use them because they pull heated air out of the house and up the chimney. When using the fireplace, turn down the thermostat and open a window near the fireplace to prevent warm air from being pulled from other areas of the house. If you decide not to use your fireplace at all, you can block off the chimney with a piece of rigid insulation from the hardware store that fits snugly into the space (dampers don’t shut fully without some leaking).
• Don’t forget to turn off kitchen or bathroom ventilation fans. In just an hour, all the heated air in your home can be drawn out through an exhaust fan.
• Don’t waste energy. Turn off lights in unoccupied rooms. Unplug that spare refrigerator in the garage if you don’t need it. Keeping those extra drinks cold adds up to 25% to your electric bill.
• Replace leaky windows with high-efficiency Energy Star windows. It can reduce your heating and cooling costs by up to 15%.

Electronics

• Put your computer and monitor to sleep. Most computers come with the power management features turned off. On computers using Windows, open the power options and set the computer to go to sleep if you’re away from your machine for five to 15 minutes. On Macintosh computers, look for the setting in the control panel called Energy Saver and set it accordingly. When you’re done using your computer, turn it off (see next tip). Do not leave it in sleep mode overnight, as it is still drawing a small amount of power.
• Plug “leaking energy” in electronics. Many new TVs, VCRs, chargers, computer peripherals, and other electronics use electricity even when they are turned off. Although these “standby losses” are only a few watts each, they add up. If possible, unplug electronic devices and chargers that have a block-shaped transformer on the plug when they are not in use. For computer scanners, printers, and other devices that are plugged into a power strip, simply switch off the power strip after shutting down your computer.
• Replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs, especially in high-use light fixtures. These fluorescent lights use 75% less energy than incandescent lights.

To see a chart comparing standard appliances with energy-efficient ones—how much energy each uses and how much it costs to operate each—read Xcel Energy’s publication “60 Simple Ways to Save Money.”