Energy Saving Tips - In Your Home

Every room in the house offers opportunities to conserve energy and save money.

Living Rooms and Dens

  • Replace regular light bulbs with ENERGY STAR® Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs).
  • Turn off lights when you leave a room.
  • Use dimmer switches, timers, and three-way lamps.
  • Plug home electronics into power strips with surge protection. Turn the strip off when the equipment is not in use.
  • Turn off your computer when not in use and activate sleep mode when away from it.
  • Add weather stripping or caulk around windows, doors, exhaust fans and other places where wires or pipes pass through walls.
  • Close the damper in your fireplace when it is not in use.
  • Install a programmable thermostat, allowing you to adjust the temperature for when you are home, away or sleeping.
  • Look for natural furnishings that have been or can be recycled.

Kitchen and Laundry

  • Look for the ENERGY STAR® label on home appliances and products. These products meet strict efficiency guidelines set by the EPA.
  • Use a toaster oven instead of a large conventional oven, when possible.
  • Boil water in a pot with a lid.
  • Use pots and pans that cover the stove’s heating element.
  • Keep your refrigerator set between 33-39 degrees.
  • Keep your freezer full.
  • Don’t place refrigerators right next to ovens.
  • Run the dishwasher when it is full and use the energy-saving setting for drying or let dishes air dry.
  • Use warm or cold water for washing clothes and cold water for rinsing.
  • Wash and dry full loads of clothes.
  • Use an automatic clothes-drying cycle instead of a timed cycle.
  • Keep the dryer’s lint filter clean for greater efficiency.
  • Recycle.

Bedrooms

  • Put a TV on a sleep timer if you like to fall asleep while it’s on.
  • Make sure furniture and drapes aren’t blocking the air supply vents.
  • Unplug your electric space heater when not in use.

Bathrooms

  • Lower water heater to the optimal temperature of 120-125 degrees F.
  • Wrap your water heater with a water heater blanket.
  • Insulate water pipes coming from the water heater.
  • Install low-flow shower heads and faucets to reduce energy and hot water use.
  • Repair leaky faucets.
  • Turn off running water when shaving or brushing your teeth.

Attics and Utility Rooms

  • Add insulation to the attic.
  • Insulate around recessed lights, attic doors and other places where outdoor air sneaks in.