Cooling Tips

• Whole-house fans help cool your home by pulling cool air through the house and exhausting warm air through the attic. They are most effective when operated at night and when the outside air is cooler than the inside.
• Set your thermostat as high as comfortably possible in the summer. The less difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be.
• Don't set your thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. It will not cool your home any faster and could result in excessive cooling and, therefore, unnecessary expense.
• Set the fan speed on high except in very humid weather. When it's humid, set the fan speed on low. You'll get better cooling, and, slower air movement through the cooling equipment allows it to remove more moisture from the air, resulting in greater comfort.
• Consider using an interior fan in conjunction with your window air conditioner to spread the cooled air more effectively through your home without greatly increasing your power use.
• Don't place lamps or TV sets near your air conditioning thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.
• Plant trees or shrubs to shade air-conditioning units but not to block the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun.

Heating Tips

• Lower your hot water heater to 120 degrees and drain any sediment.
  Adjusting your hot water is a huge potential energy saver. Though you need to keep your water heater to at least 120 degrees to prevent bacteria from building up, many hot water heaters are set too high. Experts also recommend draining a pint or so of water from your water heater a few times a year to reduce sediment and increase efficiency.
  
• Add insulation to your hot-water heater.
  
• As long as you're dealing with your water heater, you might as well add some insulation. Since the standard hot water heater is on all the time, adding extra insulation will save more energy than you think. Most hardware stores sell pre-made insulator "jackets" that can be easily wrapped around one's water heater. Experts estimate that adding insulation to your water heater and any exposed pipes can knock up to 15 percent off the costs of heating water.
  
• Install a low-flow shower head.
  Low-flow shower heads are also a worthwhile investment (especially for renters, because you can take them with you) that will reduce the amount of hot water you use and hence the energy needed to heat it.
  
• Check for and seal any cracks or gaps.
  Experts estimate that all of the tiny gaps and cracks in an older home are roughly equivalent to a one-foot square hole punched in your wall. Sealing gaps with caulking and weather stripping keeps that heat inside your home and saves you money.
  
• Tighten windows and loosen your budget.
  If all windows were as efficient as the best products now widely available in the marketplace, the average household would save $150 a year and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by about 4,300 pounds per year. A cheaper and easier method than replacing windows is to insulate your windows during the colder months with transparent film that keeps the heat in and the cold out.
  
• Heating ducts: Keep the air flowing.
  If just one in ten households used current technology to upgrade their inefficient heating systems, we could keep 17 billion pounds of pollution out of the air. You can also save money and cut pollution by having your heating vents and ducts cleaned regularly, and having your furnace serviced.
• Get a smart thermostat.
  Upgrading to a programmable thermostat will enable you automatically to set back your thermostat during those times when you don't need as much heat (everyone's at work or underneath down comforters). The Department of Energy estimates that you can save as much as 10 percent a year on your heating bill by turning your thermostat back 10 percent to 15 percent for eight hours a day.