How to Cut Home Energy Costs

When you consider how much energy the sun puts out every single day, and combine that with how far technology has advanced in the last hundred years, it seems remarkable that there is still no efficient and effective way to harness all that virtually limitless power to create low-cost energy that will heat and cool our houses, run our appliances and get us from one place to another. After all, doesn’t it seem as if it would be much more difficult to figure out how to do the exact same thing by using the remains of million year old dinosaurs? Unless, of course, there’s no way to drive up the price for demand since everybody knows there’s more than enough supply. Hmmm.

Well, until the lost drop of fossil fuel is squeezed out of the last protected piece of land on earth sometime around, oh, probably 2012, cheap solar power will have to remain a theory. And even then, of course, it will still have to compete with the electric power lobby. So, let’s just figure on the sun exploding before it’s ever a really viable source of low-cost energy. For the time being, we’ll just have to figure out how to cut home energy costs as best we can.

There are ways that you can cut your home energy bills by a few dollars each month and most of them are relatively easy to do. A few may require a little bit of know-how or some helpful advice, but almost anyone can do them.

•Check your insulation. Call in a professional and have him give an expert opinion on the status of your home insulation. You’d be surprised at how many houses aren’t adequately insulated. And if you find that you don’t have enough, adding insulation is easier than ever. Depending on the type you need, you can probably do the job yourself.

•Replace filters regularly. At least once a month replace your air conditioner filters. These things are sucking in dust constantly and can quickly become almost useless. During months of high use, consider replacing them every two weeks.

•Use caulk or weather-stripping on doors and windows. It’s difficult enough to keep a house cool during sultry summer months without also having to cool down hot air sneaking in from outside. Every little bit more than your system has to work is a few more cents added to your bill every day.

•During the summer draw your curtains or pull down the shades on the side of the house where the sun is shining in. Direct sunlight through a window may not seem like a big deal, but if enough light is getting into your house, there is a significant increase in the amount of heat. And that means more work for the air conditioner. And that means less money. In addition to curtains and shades, consider planting trees outside windows. A nice shade tree will not only provide relief, but also looks good. If you’ve got a big sliding glass door that opens onto a patio you might also want to look into getting an awning.

•If you live in a two story house, consider opening the windows on the top floor. This may sound acutely counterproductive; won’t that let in the hot air and cause the air conditioner to work harder? Actually, no. Remember that hot air rises. So the hot air in the house will rise up to the second story and out through the windows. The same principle applies to attics. If you’ve got an attic window, go ahead and open it and let some of that trapped hot air escape. The less hot air in the house for your air conditioner to cool down, the more efficiently it will run.

•A lot of newer houses today come with ceiling fans already installed. If you don’t have any, consider installing them yourself. It’s really not that difficult if you follow the instructions. Of course, you need to be especially sure you’ve got the power turned off and it also helps to make it a two-person job, but installing a ceiling fan is probably nowhere near as difficult as you think. Once you’ve got them installed you don’t even need to run them at maximum speed to get the benefit. Running a fan at even the lowest speed can significantly lower the temperature of a room when the air conditioning is running.

•A great way to save money is by raising or lowering the thermostat when you are away from the house. It has been estimated that if you can stand to set the thermostat 15 degrees differently when you are at work than you usually have it set when you are home, as well as during the night while you sleep, that you can save anywhere from 20 to 30 percent a year in home energy costs. Of course, if you’re like me, you prefer it even colder at night than during the day, so that 15 degrees during the night is definitely out. But even a five degree difference can still save you some money.

•If you are currently in the market for a new room air conditioner you can save money by not buying a bigger one. You should only buy an air conditioner that is built to cool the dimensions of the room in which it will be used. Many people assume a bigger than necessary unit will do the job better and buy it because the price difference isn’t that much. In fact, using a larger air conditioner than necessary will end up costing you money in the long run. Stick with the unit that is recommended for the area you need to cool.

There are plenty of other steps you can take to save money on home energy costs that take a little more effort. Another thing to consider is upgrading older equipment, especially if you live in an older house. Here’s the thing: energy costs aren’t going to come down any time soon, if ever. You can probably count on paying more next year than this year and much more ten years from now. Appliances are more efficient than they used to be and will probably be more efficient ten years from now, but the cost to produce the energy that gets to your appliance will rise enough so that the new models will be necessary just for keeping up with the cost. In the future, the distant future, one day there may actually be a low-cost energy source that can be mass marketed. Unfortunately, it will probably come with a high-cost appliance that is necessary to make it run. Since no one can own the sun, you can bet they’ll figure out some way to jack up the cost of using it.