Save Up to $500 a Year on Energy Costs with These Simple Tips

God knows that I've written about saving money on gas expenses, energy costs, and the like until my fingers are bleeding on the keyboards. And yet, the subject keeps showing up. Go figure.

But this one comes with some new information, so I'm excited to talk about it. In 10 easy ways to save $500 or more Money Central actually adds facts to their money saving energy-related savings tips. Their thoughts:

Heat and air conditioning are the largest home-energy hogs. The U.S. Department of Energy points out that during each 24-hour period, you will save about 3% on your energy bill for every 1 degree that you lower the thermostat setting (or, conversely, raise it when air conditioning is the big cost).

For example, let's say you normally keep your thermostat set at 73 degrees in summer. If you raise it to 76 degrees, you will save about 9% (3 degrees times 3%). That's 9 cents for every dollar you spend on air conditioning costs. If you're spending $2,000 per year, that small change will save you $180. Buy a programmable thermostat and turn the system up 10 degrees during the day when no one's home, and you'll save much more.

We use both of these tips. First, we try to set the thermostat as high (in the summer) as comfortable during the day, then turn it down at night (I hate to be hot when I sleep). It's easier to cool at night anyway. And in the day, we supplement our efforts by keeping the curtains closed to keep in the cool and keep out the heat.

Then, when we travel, we set the air conditioner very high for the days we are gone and program it to turn on about four hours before we get home. This way, we save a ton while we're gone (and not there to enjoy any coolness the AC would provide anyway) and it's cool by the time we get home. Perfect.

Money Central goes on to offer a few more savings ideas with estimates of what you can expect to save with each:

• Switch to U.S. Energy Star-approved light bulbs and save $60 a year.
• You can also save more than $200 a year just by turning off the TV when nobody's watching it. Running a 32-inch TV four hours a day costs $3 per month, but many families use the TV for background noise, letting it play 24/7.
• Washing clothes in cold water is good for another $60 a year.
• Powering down your computer at night saves $70.

Here's where we stand on these:

1. I need to do this. I'm not sure I've seen "U.S. Energy Star-approved light bulbs" but I'll look for them.

2. Won't work for us -- we hardly have the TV on as it is. And when it's on, we're watching it. Our kids provide enough "background noise" for our household. ;-)

3. We do most clothes in cold already. Good, simple tip.

4. I always shut off my computer at night. Why leave it on if I'm not using it?

Comments

[GHoosdum]

Here's where I stand on these:
We have a programmable energy star thermostat. In the summer, we keep it at 78 at the coldest, during the hours from 5:30 PM to bedtime. Then it goes up to 82 while we sleep, then 85 while we're at work.
For the others:
1. We use all CFL lighting throughout the house. They run on about 75% less electricity per lumen compared to incandescent light.
2. What's TV? Seriously, we own one, but the only time it is ever turned on is for my wife's workout videos and once last week rabbit-ear tuned to a local station for weather reports of the tornado that was reported 1/2 mile from our house.
3. All of our colored clothing is washed in cold, but I'll try washing whites in cold as well to see if it comes out as clean.
4. The only thing on their list that we don't do is power down the PC at night. It is literally being used constantly by Folding@Home, a program that uses spare processing power to perform cancer-fighting research. It is a worthy enough cause that we keep the PC running for it.

I guess I can't save $500/year with these tips! ;)

[dePriest]

Cold water works wonderfully on whites (in fact, it keeps them whiter than hot or warm water does) except on grease /oil stains and plain old dirt (the kind that gets on the bottoms of socks from walking barefoot outside). Unless you're using chlorine bleach, though, or another type of germ-killer in your whites, you should use hot water to kill as many germs as possible on certain things (kitchen towels, anything with biological waste on it, etc.).

[Chandra]

We have replaced most of the incandescent bulbs with the CFLs last year and the power bill was $15 less in the 1st month itself.