Home Energy Conservation Tips - 10 Bright Ideas to Make Your Home Energy Efficient

Paint the walls of your home a light color. Dark colors tend to absorb light, requiring you to use more energy from light bulbs to achieve the same effect.

Not only to light colors on your walls help conserve energy in your home, they also make your rooms feel brighter and more cheerful!

A dishwasher that is 90% full uses 4 units of electricity. If it is only 50% full, it still uses 3 units of electricity. Fill the dishwasher to save on your electric bill.

Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings:
All New Listings of the Most Efficient Products You Can Buy

Alex Wilson and John Morrill have assembled a comprehensive guide to energy-saving techniques and devices with two goals in mind: save consumers money and save Earth in the process. Wilson and Morrill offer consumers the latest techniques for making their homes more efficient, comfortable, and cheaper to live in, and they supply energy ratings for appliances, light bulbs, water heaters, windows, heating systems, and more. The language is clear and entertaining; you needn't to be a technician or an engineer to understand the suggestions and analyses. Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings will prove incredibly useful for people who are about to build a home or remodel, or who simply want to get the most bang for their buck and not waste energy or foul the environment

Review
"Not only does the Guide rate the brand of major home appliances and fixtures for energy efficiency, it also shows how to insulate, landscape and maintain your home in the manner that will make your wallet and your planet greener."
-E Magazine

Buy a water heater blanket and keep your water heater insulated. You'll save $40 per year. Doesn't that just make you feel warm all over?

M-D Building Products R-5.0 Water Heater Insulation Blanket #04671

Water heater insulation blankets are designed for gas, oil or electric heaters. White vinyl backed fiberglass blanket. Includes adhesive tape for easy installation. Easy to install with scissors, measuring tape and pencil. Fits up to 60 gallons. R-5.0 insulating value.

-- Reduces energy cost
-- Easily installed
-- R-5.0 Insulating Value

Replacing a single incandescent bulb with an energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulb (one of those "squiggly bulbs") can save up to $50 over the bulb's lifetime.

Now THAT'S a bright idea!

60-Watt Replacement 4 Pack Mini Spiral Compact Fluorescent Bulbs, Uses only 13-Watts

Did you know that if every U.S. home swapped out just ONE incandescent bulb for a compact fluorescent "squiggly bulb", the energy saved would be enough to power 2.5 MILLION homes!?!

Save on energy costs with a bright, low-wattage fluorescent light bulb. Conserve energy by replacing any 100-watt incandescent light bulb with this 23-watt fluorescent bulb that emits the same amount of light! This 1600-lumen bulb is the same size as standard light bulbs, easily fitting in small lamps, recessed lighting fixtures, or anywhere else you usually install an incandescent bulb. The 23-Watt Mini Spiral Fluorescent Light Bulb features excellent color rendering and excellent light distribution as well as a double coating for higher lumen maintenance. A built-in soft-start circuit ensures a longer bulb life: Built to last 10,000 hours, this fluorescent light bulb has an average life span of more than 10 times that of standard 1,000-hour incandescent bulbs.

Up to 16% of your heat can escape through unprotected windows. Close your drapes at night or install insulating shutters to retain heat. If you have a large expanse of glass that doesn't receive direct sun, keep the drapes closed as much as possible.

75% of electricity used by home electronics is consumed while "off". By using a power strip and switching off when not in use, you lessen CO2 emissions and reduce your energy bill.

When choosing your next washing machine, pick one with a front-loader. Front-loader models use 25% less energy than a standard model.

Also, simply switching from a hot/warm cycle to a warm/cold cycle when washing laundry can save you 10 cents a load. That adds up when you think about how many loads of laundry you do a year!

Don't forget to look for the Energy Star before making those big purchases!

Whirlpool Duet Sport Series WFW8300SW 27" Front-Load Washer with 3.4 Cu. Ft. Capacity, 7 Wash Cycles, 6-Point Suspension System & Flexible Installation

Introducing the Whirlpool Duet Sport washer.
It's time to get serious about conserving not only space, but water and energy too.This washer combines a contemporary front-load design and large capacity with the flexibility of a compact frame. Enjoy this front-loading washer's deep cleaning performance and save as much as 2/3 the water and energy consumed by traditional top-loading washers. The Duet Sports fabric care system combines two powerful technologies combine for one powerful clean. The Anti-Escape valve ensures the maximum concentration of detergent, while the Care Control System keeps temps optimal for detergent enzymes.

--Anticipated Durability (Consumer Reports indicates Whirlpool has lowest repair-rate for front-loaders.
--Quiet.
--Super clean clothes.
--SGreen: consumes way less water and electricity than top-loaders

Check your furnace and AC filters regularly. Cleaning or replacing filters once a month during periods of high use will insure proper air flow, promote better health, increase efficiency, and save money too.


If you are concerned about air quality, consider a dust collector or air filtration system.

CrispAir Air Cleaning Light Bulb, 23 Watt, 6400K, Compact Flourescent

Did you know they make energy saving lightbulbs that clean the air in your home or office, too? The CrispAirTM Air Cleaning Light Bulb purifies the air by generating negative ions. These negative ions collide with airborne particles, which are large rafts for hundreds of toxic chemical and disease organisms. This process removes viruses, bacteria, odors, cigarette smoke, pet dander and other pollutants from the air we breathe. The negative ion functions as a remover of dust, bacteria, cigarette smoke, offensive odors and the positive ions generated from TVs, computers, and other electrical devices. The CrispAirTM Air Cleaning Light Bulb helps to balance the ionization in your home and office to help combat the positive ions that make us feel tired and irritable. This restored balance increases oxygen intake so we feel more alert and helps to relieve asthma symptoms, fatigue, headaches. The CrispAirTM light bulb is a compact fluorescent bulb and as such, uses about a quarter of the wattage to produce the same amount of light as an incandescent light bulb. In addition, since it lasts up to 10 times as long, it saves multi-bulb replacement costs.

--Cleans air by removing cigarette smoke, odors, dust, pollen, pet dander, mold and mildew.
--Removes harmful germs that aggravate allergies, asthma and bronchitis. Relieves headaches caused by computer use.
--23 Watt, 90 Watt equivalent. 110V, 1300 Lm
--Color: Daylight/6400K
--Life: 10,000 hours. Save up to 75% in energy costs

During spring and summer months, line dry your clothes instead of using a clothes dryer. This can save you as much as $75 a year.

Why pay for heat or AC you don't need? You can save energy and money by using a programable thermostat. It can reduce your energy needs from heat or AC when you are at work, away at vacation, or asleep.

Hunter 44550 Auto Save 7-Day Programmable Thermostat

Create the ideal indoor climate for a particular household's daily needs while conserving energy with this Energy Star-compliant programmable thermostat from Hunter. Users program for each day of the week, enabling the thermostat to automatically heat up at dawn on a cold morning or to run the air conditioner for longer hours over a summer weekend. By adjusting the thermostat to operate primarily when household members are home, the device reduces wasted energy and minimizes the size of the electric bill in addition to maximizing comfort.

"This is not a particularly expensive thermostat, but it might as well be because you get a lot more than you pay for. It was so easy to install that my not-particularly-handy husband was able to do it (he DID have to read the directions, but he did NOT have to ask for help). It works really well, we love the indigo glow, and the program is really easy to use and really convenient for people who don't work the standard 9-5 M-F that some thermostats limit their programs to. The energy-saver programs are also really nice. All in all, I think this was a great buy."

These were just 10 Simple Tips to Improve the Energy Costs in your Home. Needless to say, there is so much more that can be said about saving energy in our homes.

There are more great ideas and money saving techniques that can be used to really make an impact on your budget in the following articles and resources.

Home Energy Conservation

I came across a fantastic web site full of energy saving tips. Check out Mr Solar Energy

Energy Efficient Lightbulbs

Yes, those squiggly bulbs make a BIG difference! Changing out the light buls in your house to energy saving lightbulbs can reduce your bill to one quarter. Imagine that!

I found easy step-by-step directions to change out the lighting elements in your home... in one Saturday afternoon. This is one of the "easy" steps we can all take in the right direction. For more info, visit: Positive Energy Works

Did you know that toxic mold in your home is responsible for many nasty health issues? For someone living with an allergy to mold, living in a moldy environment can be misery!

While you try to make your home more energy efficient, why not make sure your home is healthy for you and your family, too? Consider mold testing..you might be shocked to find out what is growing in your home!

Need Clean Air in your Workplace?

Visit EnvironmentalCleanAir.com for innovative and affordable dust collectors, industrial vacuums, and smoke filtration systems.

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