As the flowers bloom
and temperatures rise, you may also notice the abrupt increase of your gas and electric bills. To help keep utility costs down, follow
these simple and cost effective methods to save on spring energy bills.
Open Your Windows
The
best part about natural ventilation is that it’s free. On brisk nights, turn
off your cooling system and let mother nature’s crisp breeze circulate through
your home.
To
keep your home cooler during the day, make sure to close blinds, curtains, and
windows. If your home is still too hot, investing in energy efficient window treatments is a
great solution to reduce heat loss in the winter and heat entry during the
summer.
Utilize Fans
The National Association of Home Builders
found that ceiling fans can help lower your electric bill by up to 30 to 40
percent, while never touching the thermostat. Make sure to utilize the bathroom
fan as well because heat and humidity tend to linger after a hot shower. To
lower the temperature of other rooms like the kitchen and laundry room, spot ventilation can be extremely useful too.
Monitor Your Thermostat
Setting
your thermostat too high or too low can result in unnecessary added expenses to
your monthly bill, but there are more efficient ways to monitor your thermostat
while you’re away.
The Nest Mobile application
for iOS or Android allows you to change the temperature settings of your home
or business directly from your smart phone or tablet. This intuitive application
adapts to your moods and through continuous usage it learns your preferred settings.
Nest also provides a detailed energy usage report on how much you’ve saved and
sends alerts directly to your mobile device in the event of an emergency.
Fire Up The Grill
When temperatures rise, fire up the
grill instead of the oven to avoid overheating your home. If you don’t have a
grill, but still want to avoid using the oven, utilize your stovetop or microwave
to help keep your home cool.
Reducing Hot Water Usage
Taking
shorter showers and only running the laundry or dish washer when full will
greatly lower your water bill and reduce heat buildup, thus saving you money. Water heating generally consumes
between 14% and 25% of the energy use in your home, so turning down the setting
to “warm” (120° F) will ensure you don’t see a spike in your utility bill.
Switch To LED Lighting
Ten to fifteen percent of the energy
used by incandescent bulbs is converted to light; the rest produces heat. For
as little as $5, LED light bulbs produce 85% less energy and delivers the same amount of light as traditional
bulbs. Installing energy-efficient
lighting in your home not only lowers heating costs, but electrical use as
well.
To keep utility costs
down, follow these simple and cost effective methods to save on your spring
energy bills. Check in each month with the energy experts of Pro Energy
Consultants to learn more helpful and useful home energy saving tips.
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