Energy saving bulb
October is National Energy Awareness Month. Public agencies, utilities and major companies offer many programs for exploring energy options. Energy efficient lights, water saving gadgets and power miser appliances are often available with generous rebates. These programs help save the environment, natural resources and your budget. Here are suggestions for more home comfort while saving energy and money. This is the best way that you can celebrate this month!
Instructions
1. Check your lights. Many new bulbs offer high quality light while using a fraction of the electricity of older incandescents. New bulbs are often cool bulbs. They do not heat up the room and burn unwary fingers. They are safer to use around lampshades, curtains and children. During Energy Awareness Month, new bulbs are often given away through public programs or priced with great rebates. Choose from a wide variety of light output and eye-friendly illumination.
2. Watch your water. A running toilet is annoying and wasteful. A dripping faucet not only keeps people awake, it also uses a steady trickle of hot water so that the water heater kicks on and off using wasted energy. A cracked or leaking pipe in the house wastes water, creates a breeding ground for mosquitoes and can damage the home walls or foundation. Listen for that drip and track it down.
3. Pack in the insulation. On the first chilly October day, run a hand around the windows. Feel where cold air may be coming in. Add weather-stripping or plastic winter window seals available at home improvement stores. If cold air is coming up along the wallboards, check to see if house settling has opened a gap between the foundation and walls. Add caulk, weather-stripping or foam core insulation to fill the gaps. This easy chore can dramatically increase home comfort, lower utility bills and keep out bugs.
4. Close drapes on cold dark days and open them on sunny days. This easy chore takes advantage of natural sunlight to heat the home. This solar energy is free and easy to claim. The natural light also reduces the electric lighting bill.
5. Invest in comfort. Thermal or electric blankets make sleeping more comfortable while reducing the thermostat. Install automatic setback thermostats. They often save enough energy to pay for themselves in one season and yet keep the house comfortable during waking hours. You control the setback time. Invest in motion switches for rooms like bathrooms and utility rooms. The switches are inexpensive and turn on lights when someone enters the room, then turn off when the room is empty. This also saves fumbling for a light switch in the dark.
6. Walk through your house, and look for energy wasters. You can tell where they are. Faucets that may be dripping and the entrance of a draft on a cold winter day will be obvious energy wasters. You know your house better than anyone. Make it work with you for energy savings.
Tags: Awareness Month, Energy Awareness, Energy Awareness Month, bulbs often, cold coming, easy chore, energy wasters
