Summer Energy Saving Ideas

Heating and cooling your home accounts for 50% of your electric usage. However, there are several factors that can affect how much electricity you need to comfortably cool your home, including: whether your house is well-insulated with the proper levels of weather stripping, caulking or storm windows. Do you have trees to shade your house in the summer?
The number of electric appliances you have, as well as how often you use them, will affect your bill. For example, do you: leave the lights, television, radio or other appliances on when not in use? Own more than one freezer? Leave the porch light on during the day?
In the average American home today, about 25% of the energy used is for water heating. How much and how often you use hot water affects how much energy you use. To use hot water most efficiently, try some of these ideas: take brief showers rather than filling up a spacious tub for a bath, repair leaky faucets immediately so they don’t drip, operate automatic washers and dishwashers only when there is a full load.
Did you know you can save about $60 per year by replacing just five regular light bulbs with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb? New CFL’s are available, offering long life, energy savings, color and brightness that can provide the same high-quality light as incandescent bulbs, but generally operate at temperatures of less than 100 degrees F. Plus they last 10 times longer than a standard incandescent bulb, which means replacing those hard-to reach bulbs less often!