Amalgahome

Save Energy – Save Money – Save the Environment

Canada has a cold climate which makes the family home the largest personal energy user and therefore takes the deepest gouge to the Canadian family budget. Anything we can do to cut back on energy usage will not only put dollars back in our wallets but conserving energy goes a long way towards a healthier environment.

There are many things we can do to save energy in the home. Many energy savings can be implemented without costing a penny.

Get an Energy Audit. The best places to start saving money is to get an energy audit done on your home. You will find out where energy money is wasted and what changes will make the most difference to your home and savings to your budget.

Save on Heating

Thermostat

• Set your thermostat lower. It takes incrementally more energy to maintain a home at 20°C (70°F) than at 18°C (67°F). Wear a light sweater and socks on your feet. This action could save $200 to $300 over the winter season.
  Did you know:
• Turn down the thermostat 4-6°C at night and when you’re away. Turn the thermostat down by 2 degrees while you are sleeping which, for most people, gives a better nights rest. While you are away, at work or at school there is no need to maintain the temperature of the home at a higher temperature. This action could save $100 to $200 over the winter season.
• Install programmable thermostats. Programmable thermostats take the “Oops, I forgot” factor out of heat control.
• Place area rugs on non-carpeted floors. Not only will the floors be warmer on your feet, area rugs protect vinyl, laminate and hardwood flooring. Another cost saver.
• Wear socks rather than turning up the thermostat. Keep your feet warm, if your feet are cold, your body will feel cold.
• Wear a light sweater rather than turning up the thermostat. Sweaters and pull-overs are in fashion, mainly for that reason. It makes sense/cents.
• Keep your furnace filter clean. Clean the air filter on your furnace every month to improve efficiency and replace every 3 months. Not only will cleaning improve efficiency, filters trap unwanted air particles, dust, pollen, smoke, etc. You will be healthier for it and save money.
• Hang heavier drapes in winter. Heavier lined drapes add an extra barrier to heat loss through windows.
  Open south-facing blinds on sunny days in winter. Let the sunshine in.
• Check the insulation in the attic. Measure the thickness of the insulation. Check with local building supply for area requirements. Look for black-stained areas on the edges of the fiberglass batts. That’s dust. It shows where air is coming up out of the living areas. Sealing that area is a must and will do more good than adding on more insulation. Check with local building supply or contractor for best method. Make sure the attic can breathe either through the soffits or vents in the attic walls. For expert information see: North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA)

Did you know:

• Close off seldom-used rooms. Why waste heat and energy on rooms that are not being lived in? Remember to close the heating vents.
• Keep the fireplace damper closed. Heat rises. An open damper is basically a hole in the roof. Use the fireplace sparingly. Fires actually suck heat from a room and are a negative factor for energy. Fireplace smoke also adds pollution to the air.
• Seal Air Leaks Air leaks around windows, doors and vents area huge heat loss besides causing drafts witch make life uncomfortable. These air leaks can be eliminated fairly cheaply and easily using weather stripping, door sweeps and/or caulking. Ask your local building supply dealer what will work best for your circumstance. A wet hand detects incoming air around windows and doors. Light an incense stick and follow the smoke to locate cracks and small openings in your home.

Air Conditioner

• Cool your home to only 26°C or 25°C. Each degree below 25°C incrementally increases your electricity use and your bill.
• Close blinds, shades and drapes on summer afternoons. The summer sun on the south side of home during the hottest part of the day will heat carpets and furniture and make the AC work harder and longer costing you money. The UV rays can cause damage and fading.
• Install ceiling fans. Use them to supplement or even as an alternative to air conditioning. Ceiling fans use much less electricity than air conditioners.
• Clean all exhaust fans at least once per year. A dirty exhaust fan turns slower, works harder and hotter and is far less effective. A dehumidifier fan that is not working properly can be the cause of mold in the home.

Electricity and Lighting

Regular Light Bulb

• Turn lights off when leaving the room. Having unnecessary lights in the house.
• Compact fluorescent lamps – CFLs. CFLs use far less energy than old style incandescent light bulbs.
• Keep light fixtures clean Obviously, clean light fixtures illuminate better. Surprisingly, many people let their fixtures and bulbs, especially bedrooms, become very dusty losing much of the light emitted.
• Paint the walls of your home a light color. Light colors reflect light, dark colors absorb light. Darker colors force you to use more energy from light bulbs to achieve the same effect. Light wall colors not only help conserve energy in your home, they also make your rooms feel brighter and more cheerful. Use accent pieces and drapes to add color to your room.
• Use an outdoor clothes line. Line dry your clothes for big yearly savings on your power bill. Natural drying gives a non-static, fresher feel to your clothes and sheets.
• Unplug Chargers Cell phone and other battery chargers may still be drawing power even sitting idle if left plugged in.
• Turn off computers, TV and other electronics when not in use. All electronics should be plugged in to a surge protection bar. These bars have a switch which can be turned off making it easy to turn off electronics.
• Turn down the water heater. By lowering the temperature of the water heater from 140 down to 120 degrees F reduces energy use by about 12%. 120° F is still too hot to shower and is much safer for young children.
• Wash cloths in cold water Modern laundry detergents are specifically designed for use in cold water and your clothes will last longer doing so. Even the white load in no hotter than warm.
• Stop dripping faucets. It is almost a guarantee that if you have a dripping faucet, it is the hot side. That could be a tankful in under a week, all that energy waste for a 20 cent fix. Every hardware store will be glad to show you how to stop the drip, just tell them the make of the faucet. The fastest fix is to have a spare pair of ‘cores’ kept in a handy place.
• Clean the Aerator. The Aerator is then fitting on the end of the tap, the nozzle so to say. In it there is a fine screen which gets clogged with dirt particles in the water. A clean screen is far more efficient.
• Use Low Flow Shower heads. A quality, low flow shower head will provide the same shower intensity only using half the amount of hot water. Imagine, that means three, 8 minute, consecutive showers from one tank of water. That is savings and convenience on those rushed family mornings.
• Cover your HW heater. Place a water heater blanket over your HW tank and provide an extra layer of insulation for your water heater. You’ll save up to $40 per year.
• Insulate those HW pipes. In most homes, the water pipes are exposed or easily accessed in the basement or crawlspace. Make sure they are properly wrapped with insulating foam wrap. It is a fairly simple procedure. See your local hardware store for details.

Water Usage

Whether you are on a meter or not, every municipality pays for water. The more water used, the higher the cost and it is all reflected in property taxes.

Dripping Faucet

• Stop that tap drip. A 1 second drip wastes about 1 litre per hour, that’s a lot of water in a month.
• Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Just letting the tap run is a definite waste of water.
• Use low flush toilets. Old toilets used up to 16+ litres of water per flush. Modern toilets use less than 3 litres for small flush, 8 litres for the big job. That saves a lot of water and your district may have a installation grant.
• Install rain barrels. Rain barrels collect rain as it pours off the roof into the gutters and down the pipes before it is wasted down the run-off drain. Use for watering plants and outdoors washing, cars, patios, etc.
• Wash only full loads in the dishwasher Running a full wash cycle on half the amount of dishes is truly a waste of energy on both hot water and electricity. By the way, scrape the dishes first. All those food bits can lessen the smooth operation and reduce effectiveness by clogging the screens and the discharge line. Check and clean the drains and filters regularly for efficient operation.
• Air dry the dishes. The dry cycle on the DW can waste up to 25% of operating costs.
• Defrost your freezer. Defrost regularly to keep freezers working efficiently. More than 6 mm of frost will cause your freezer to work harder. Frost build-up actually insulates the freezer walls on the wrong side.
  

  Refridgerator

• Don’t overfill the refrigerator. Especially the freezer section. Over fill blocks air circulation. That being said, a full fridge is more efficient than a half full one. Set the controls, numbers and letters, for only as cold as you need. Check manufacturer’s recommendations.
• Don’t over-stuff the refrigerator door. The shelf bars break easily and the extra weight can cause the door to droop, breaking the door seals.
• Do you really need that beer fridge? That old, inefficient refrigerator you keep in the basement could be costing you upwards of $150 or more per year in energy consumption.
• Check and clean the fridge door seal. A clean seal is more efficient. The main reason the door seal breaks is because it is dirty or sticky, most often on the bottom. Replacing a fridge door seal can be tricky.
• Clean your refrigerator. Especially the coils at the back, keep them dust free, and the air intake grill below the door. Regular cleaning every 3 months will keep the fridge running efficiently and save you money.Keep refrigerators and freezers out of direct sunlight. Allow at least 5 centimeters, 1 inch, around the fridge or as recommended by the manufacturer, to allow heat to escape from the compressor and condensing coil. Allow hot foods to cool before putting them in the refrigerator.
• Use the mikey. Microwave ovens use about 70% less energy than the stove top or oven. Whenever possible, use the microwave instead of your stove or oven.
• Use photo-cell lighting. Advances in technology has provided us with many lighting adaptations which take advantage of light rays even on cloudy days. They cost nothing to operate.

The greatest demand for electricity occurs from 7 AM to 9AM and from 4PM to 7PM.
On hot summer days, demand is greatest from mid morning to late afternoon.
The lowest demand is from 10pm to 7am and on weekends.
You will help reduce the use of fossil fuels greatly by switching non-essential chores away from the peak times as much as possible and help keep our environment cleaner. If you are in an area which uses ‘Smart Metering’, you will also save money.

Yard Lighting

Take advantage of the many photo-cell adaptations on the market. Battery Chargers, Lighting, Flashlites, Heaters, Coolers, Radios, Cell Phones. Many products and gadgets that we used to plug in are now running on solar power. Sun rays are free.

We welcome your comments and energy saving tips and suggestions. Use the form below.