Charity (and Savings) Begin at Home
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With the recent calamities that hit the nation, it is starting to be difficult to be charitable to others while one is financially challenged on their own. There are ways, though, to address the situation, specifically by saving energy at home. Below are some 5 steps into saving energy at home.
1. Know what you are paying for. Do an energy audit of your home and understand what aspects of your home contribute to your monthly bill, and by how much. It can take as little as 5 minutes to know which appliance consumes the highest electricity. Check out this website: https://www.energycheck.ca/homecheck/consent.shtml to start your audit today.
2. Knock off the Top 3. After your audit, you will find that there are more than 5 aspects of your home that make up your electricity pie. If you take out the 3 biggest slices, this should account for almost 50% of your consumption. The objective is not to eliminate the Top 3, but to find energy saving opportunities in all of them. If this is the first time that you will do this exercise, there will be A LOT of opportunities. For specific ways of energy saving in every aspect of your home, check-out http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/mostenef.htm.
3. Then move-on to the Easy 3. While going through improvements for your Top 3, you may find that the changes needed may require a significant amount of purchase or a longer time for execution. If so, immediately plan for its execution and don’t be discouraged by not seeing immediate results. Big changes will take time. While waiting, there are quick fixes that you can do and the quick results may inspire you to patiently wait for the big bang. Try the following:
a.Replace all the bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs. CFLs are 66% more energy efficient (Energy Star rated CFL) than incandescent bulbs and lasts 10X longer. They also operate at lower temperatures, thus reducing the over-all heat in your home. CFLs deliver long- term savings and that you may never have to replace your bulb for a very long time.
b.Use a programmable thermostat, to set temperature only as needed. You may lower the setting to 4 – 5 degrees Celsius (7 – 9 degrees Fahrenheit) while you’re sleeping at night and when no one is at home.
c.Wash with Cold. 85-90% of the energy used to wash your clothes is used to heat the water. By turning the dial on your washing machine to cold, you save energy, and money. This goes without saying that you should always to wash full loads.
Here are other easy ways to reduce your energy consumption, aside from the easy 3 mentioned above:
1.) Make sure that windows, doorframes, sills and joints are free of leaks. Feel for wind drafts or use incense sticks to see where the smoke leaks around windows, electrical outlets, vents and exterior doors. Look for spider webs, as well, which is an indication that there is a draft. If you do find leaks, make sure to caulk them shut.
2.) If you have a basement or crawlspace, spider webs will be a good indicator of leaks. If so, insulate or plan to do so immediately. A large amount of heat is also lost from an un-insulated basement.
3.) Clear return air grills and heating vents of furniture, rugs and drapes, as they interfere with the flow of heat through out your home.
4.) Plug gaps around pipes, ducts, fans and vents that go through walls, ceilings and floors from heated to unheated spaces.
5.) To reduce heat loss between the fixed and movable sections of doors and windows, apply weather-stripping. This provides a barrier between them.
4. Chart your successes. By doing the easy 3, you will see some improvement in your next month’s bill. Make sure to continue to find easy ways of improving the energy efficiency in your home, to continue to inspire you while waiting for the execution and results of the top 3. And what better way to inspire you than to chart your monthly bill and see the line going down as time progresses!
5. Share your successes. Call your next-door neighbor, schedule an energy saving dinner or start your energy-saver blog site and inspire others to save like you do. Show them your charts and actual dollar savings as evidence that your actions deliver results. Afterwards, ask them to also share their energy conservation story and know that their savings is also yours because you inspired them (and taught them) to do it.