There is another aspect of your home that needs careful consideration. That is
the thermostat. What temperature you set it at is really a personal comfort
situation. Yet, more and more, people are finding that there is cost savings in
using the right thermostat and the right level of comfort to boot.
For example, during the summer months, do you have the air conditioning set
low enough that it feels comfortable to wear a long sleeve shirt or pants? Do you
grab for a blanket? This is a signal that perhaps you could raise the thermostat
and still be quite comfortable.
In the winter, you shouldn’t want to put the fan on or want to wear shorts. You
can see how just lowering the heat a bit can save you a good deal of money. Yet,
there is no magical number here.
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of money that can be saved by just dealing
with the heat in the summer or the cold in the winter. Yet, you do not have to flip it off altogether to gain some benefits of extra money in your pocket.
The Right Temperature
Finding and setting your home at the right temperature is the first goal. It is said that during the winter, setting the heat at 68 F degree is the best starting point.
In the summer months, you goal is that of 76 F degrees. Every time that you can
either move this number up or down for cost savings; you can save a decent
amount of money per two degree movement.
Therefore, if you are in the winter months and you have your thermostat set at 70
F degrees normally, if you can still feel comfortable by lowering it to 68 F
degrees, you will be able to save a good deal of money.
In the summer, keep the air conditioning set at just 76 F degrees and turn on a
fan. Doing this will pull out all of the humidity in the air and keep the
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temperature at a great level. If you can tolerate moving these more so, you will
save money.
But, beware. If you continuously are moving them up and down, you are not
doing yourself any favors. In fact, if you get cold so you raise the air conditioning, only to become hot again and lower it, you will be wasting money.
As the air in the home cools down; it does not take as much energy to keep it at
that level. But, if you raise the temperature and the home heats up, the air
conditioning needs to work twice as hard to get it back down. This causes quite a
bit of money to be lost in the turn.
Pick and stay at the right temperature in the home and you can benefit from
energy savings.
Programming Help
One thing that you really do want to take into consideration is that of
programmable thermostats. These are not too expensive. They are probably just
a few dollars more than a standard model and make a large difference.
What can they do? First off, they still work the same as other thermostats to.
When the home’s temperature changes so much so that there is a need to call to
the air conditioning unit or the furnace to balance it out, they do so. Yet, they
have additional features as well.
For example, you can program them to turn on before you come home from
work. Let’s say that you are at work most of the day and the kids are at school.
There is no one in the home. Why keep the heat on full blast? If the period of
time is longer than a couple of hours, these programmable thermostats are a
blessing.
You simply set the time in which you will be home (usually about an hour or so
before so) and at that time they will kick on. Better models will be able to be
programmed for various days of the week too (such as Saturdays you may be
home all day.)
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When the time comes to turn on, they do and get the home to the right
temperature. You do not notice any difference until you notice your heating or
cooling bills have dropped.
You can also program them for different temperatures at night, when you are
sleeping. By raising the temperature in your home during the summer a couple
of degrees, or lowering it a couple of degrees in the winter, you can save a great
deal of money.
You do not need to remember how to do this when it comes to using your
programmable timer in the thermostat as it will take care of that for you.
If you are looking to save money in energy costs, installing a programmable
thermostat is one of the best moves for you to make. It is simple to install and
easy to use. It will save you a good deal of money too.
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Chapter 9: Energy Star: Understanding What It is
Have you heard of Energy Star? If you have not, this is your friend for sure.
If you are purchasing any new unit for your home, from a dishwasher or
refrigerator to the hot water tank and the furnace, Energy Star is something that
you do want to take full advantage of.
This is a term, a distinction that you should have on any of the appliances or
major systems within your home. When a product is deemed to be Energy Star
ready, it is capable of providing the necessary service to you but through reduced
energy costs.
The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, along with the US Department of
Energy is the sponsor of Energy Star programs. Their goal is to help each person
to save money as well as to help each of us to protect the environment by using
energy efficient products and by using energy benefiting practices.
The Energy Star program has been able to help people to save quite a bit of
money. The EPA claims that in 2005, Americans were able to save someplace
around $12 billion dollars by using Energy Star products and therefore saving on
their utility bills.
But, it does not stop there. They also claim that by using these products, Energy
Star has helped to avoid greenhouse gas emissions that would be about the same
as that of 23 million cars in 2005 alone. Therefore, it is a good program to take
note of.
The program is in place to allow people to save money, but how much money can
you actually save by using Energy Star products? The EPA estimates that in most
cases, by choosing an Energy Star product over one that is not, you can save
about a third or more of your energy bill with the product. In addition, you help
to cut down on greenhouse emissions by about a third as well.
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The problem was that it seemed for a long time that to get an energy benefiting
product you must give up some features to cut back on the use of your product.
Yet, with Energy Star, the program was designed to allow for all of the same
products and services with no sacrificing of the quality of comfort of the product
but still saving money.
In Your Needs
So, how does Energy Star play a role in helping you to save money? There are
several ways. In short, you want to select services and products that offer the
Energy Star seal of approval. There are several ways that you can gain these
benefits.
When Purchasing New Appliances
For example, if you are purchasing a new appliance, you can save a good deal of
money by purchasing a product that is Energy Star approved. Most of us have
seen the yellow tags on appliances to show us just what the benefits to our energy
bill is if we purchase this product.
In order for an appliance to get this tag on it, it must pass some pretty amazing
tests to insure that it is efficient enough to be considered an Energy Star product.
The guidelines are set for each type of product through the United States
Department of Energy and by the Environmental Protection Agency.
If you are looking for a new appliance, such as a refrigerator, a washer or dryer, a dishwasher, an oven, a cook top…any appliance for your home, look for one that
is Energy Star approved as it will save you a great deal of money in the long run.
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In A Home
Something that has been just becoming available is the ability to tap into Energy
Star benefits through your actual new home purchase. As you will see in later
chapters, you can now purchase homes that are Energy Star efficient. If you do
this, you will save a great deal of money.
Look for a home that has been designed specifically for energy efficiency and you
will walk away with benefits.
Other Benefits
You can also go to the EPA’s website to gain tools that will help you to design and
fix problems related to energy needs as well. You can find how to lower your
energy bills while still providing a great deal of comfort to you and to your family.
A business can also find benefits of using Energy Star products. Just as you can
implement these products into a home, they can fit well into most businesses as
well. Some times, the rewards here are better bottom lines.
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Chapter 10: Outside the Home: Landscaping For
Energy Benefits
Have you thought about the outside of your home for energy efficiency?
Landscaping a home can be done in such a way as to allow for benefits in the
energy department. In fact, you can save about 25% of your household energy
consumption with a landscaping design that incorporates just the right
placement of trees.
There are many things that can be done to improve your outdoor living area to
keep you feeling just as happy and content as it will in keeping your energy usage
to a minimum.
In fact, landscaping can do several things:
• It can help you to lower your heating and cooling costs dramatically.
• It can help you to protect your home too, from wind damage and sun
fading (such as with paint!)
• It can help to lower the costs related to the amount of water, fuel and even
the number of pest control products you need to use.
• It can help you to gain benefits such as less noise and even improve the air
quality in your home.
All of this from energy efficient landscaping; yes, and it usually results with a
great looking yard too.
What You Need To Do
So, how can you get this done correctly? The Department of Energy in the US
says that if you place just three trees surrounding your home, you can save
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yourself any place from $100 to $250 on your energy bills. This is because of
what a tree can do.
Winter
In the winter time, the right placement of a tree can keep out some of the cold,
but will still allow the warm sunshine of the winter day to stream in.
If you have any idea of what wind chill is, you can see another benefit of trees.
The wind chill is the way that the wind cools things down. In the winter months,
the wind chill is a secondary temperature. While the actual temperature can be
20 degrees F, the wind chill can knock it down considerably, making it feel as if it is much colder than it really is.
When you add a tree, shrubs or other structures outside of your home, the wind is
stopped and can not hit the home, therefore reducing the wind chill factor for
your home.
If you install what are called windbreaks (or any item that can stop the wind
before it hits the home) you can reap benefits of up to 40% less fuel consumption
in heating your home. If you live in a very windy area, you can lose even more, up
to one third, of your winter fuel costs in this manner. (This is as compared to a
home without these benefits.)
Summer
In the summer time, you will reap the rewards of cooler air. This happens due to
evapotranspiration (the process of the tree moving and letting off water vapor)
and shading from the tree. It can lower the temperature up to nine degrees in
this way.
Another key point to make is that in a shaded area underneath a large tree, the
temperature can be as much as 25 degrees F cooler than it is just above a layer of
blacktop on your street.
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All of this equals about 15% to up to 50% of lower need for air conditioning in the
summer months. This can keep your costs down considerably. All of this just
from a beautiful looking tree.
In other ways, the landscaping that you do outdoors can find benefits to your
energy usage. It is easy to see that placing trees in the right locations can help.
Here are some other things to take into consideration.
• Make sure that water drainage is draining away from your home with a
natural landscape that moves away from the home. This will allow for
better protection of your foundation.
• When it comes to installing a new roof, look for Energy Star choices. In
addition, this is the perfect time to consider solar panels and what they can
do to lower the costs of your home.
• Of course, you can also purchase and use outdoor landscaping equipment
and garage related tools that are Energy Star approved too.
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