Green Tips
From Green Wiki
Green Tips outlines simple things people can do in their home or building to reduce energy or water waste.
- Consider buying a laptop for your next computer upgrade; they use much less energy than desktop computers
- 75% of electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while off unplug appliances or use power strip
- Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use
- Plug home electronics, such as TVs/DVD players, into power strips turn the power strips off when not in use
- Appliances and home electronics are responsible for about 20 percent of your energy bills
- If you are in the market for a new dishwasher or clothes washer, consider buying an efficient, water-saving ENERGY STAR® model to reduce hot water use.
- Adequate insulation in your attic, ceilings, exterior and basement walls, floors, and crawlspaces, as recommended for your geographical area, can save you up to 30 percent on home energy bills.
- Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows to reduce solar gain.
- In cold climates, ENERGY STAR® windows can reduce your heating bills by 30 to 40 percent compared to uncoated, single-pane windows, according to the Efficient Windows Collaborative.
- In temperate climates with both heating and cooling seasons, select windows with both low U-values and low solar heat gain coefficiency (SHGC) to maximize energy benefits
- In temperate climates with both heating and cooling seasons, select windows with both low U-values and low solar heat gain coefficiency (SHGC) to maximize energy benefits.
- In warm climates, where summertime heat gain is the main concern, look for windows with double glazing and spectrally selective coatings that reduce heat gain.
- Weatherize your home—caulk and weatherstrip any doors and windows that leak air.
- When you're shopping for new windows, look for the National Fenestration Rating Council label; it means the window's performance is certified.
- You can use a heavy-duty, clear plastic sheet on a frame or tape clear plastic film to the inside of your window frames during the cold winter months. Remember, the plastic must be sealed tightly to the frame to help reduce infiltration.
- Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house
- Installing a skylight can provide your home with daylighting and warmth. When properly selected and installed, an energy-efficient skylight can help minimize your heating, cooling, and lighting costs.
- Installing new, high-performance windows will improve your home's energy performance. While it may take many years for new windows to pay off in energy savings, the benefits of added comfort and improved aesthetics and functionality may make the investment worth it to you.
- Installing storm windows over single-pane windows or replacing them with ENERGY STAR® windows can reduce heat loss from air leakage, and reflect heat back into the room during the winter months to save even more energy.
- Select windows with air leakage ratings of 0.3 cubic feet per minute or less.
- Bleed trapped air from hot-water radiators once or twice a season
- If your air conditioner is old, consider purchasing a new, energy-efficient model. You could save up to 50% on your utility bill for cooling. Look for the ENERGY STAR® and EnergyGuide labels.
- Buy a new energy-efficient water heater. While it may cost more initially than a standard water heater, the energy savings will continue during the lifetime of the appliance
- Heating can account for almost half of the average family's winter energy bill. Make sure your furnace or heat pump receives professional maintenance each year. Look for the ENERGY STAR® label when replacing your system.
- 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.
- By resetting your programmable thermostat from 72 degrees to 65 degrees for eight hours a day (for instance, while no one is home or while everyone is tucked in bed) you can cut your heating bill by up to 10 percent.
- Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed
- Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120° F.
- Lowering the thermostat on your water heater by 10ºF can save you between 3%–5% in energy costs. Most households only require a water heater thermostat setting of 120ºF, or even 115ºF.
- Replace furnace filters regularly.
- Clean warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
- Consider natural-gas on-demand or tankless water heaters. Researchers have found savings can be up to 30% compared with a standard natural-gas storage tank water heater.
- 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.
- Did you know that 85-90% of the energy from hot water is wasted when it goes down the drain? Install a drain-water heat recovery system to pre-heat new water using the heat from drained water.
- Heating and cooling account for about 56% of the energy use in a typical home
- Install a programmable thermostat that can be adjust the temperature according to your schedule.
- Water heating can account for 14%–25% of the energy consumed in your home. You can reduce your monthly water heating bills by selecting the appropriate water heater for your home or pool and by using some energy-efficient water heating strategies.
- Drain a quart of water from your water tank every 3 months to remove sediment that impedes heat transfer and lowers the efficiency of your heater.
- Whole-house fans help cool your home by pulling cool air through the house and exhausting warm air through the attic. They are effective when operated at night and when the outside air is cooler than the inside.
- You can reduce your home's heating and cooling costs by as much as 30 percent through proper insulation and air sealing techniques. These techniques will also make your home more comfortable. Reducing your home heating and cooling bills begins with conducting a home energy audit to assess where your home may be losing energy through air leaks or inadequate insulation.
- Turn off kitchen, bath, and other ventilating fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing to retain heated air.
- Use fans during the summer to create a wind chill effect that will make your home more comfortable. If you use air conditioning, a ceiling fan will allow you to raise the thermostat setting about 4°F with no reduction in comfort.
- Check the insulation in your attic, ceilings, exterior and basement walls, floors, and crawl spaces to see if it meets the levels recommended for your area
- Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day.
- Close fireplace dampers when not in use. A chimney is designed for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes.
- Close your curtains and shades at night; open them during the day.
- Consider installing a drain water waste heat recovery system. A recent DOE study showed energy savings of 25% to about 30% for water heating using such a system.
- Consider light wall colors to minimize the need for artificial lighting.
- If heating a swimming pool, consider a swimming pool cover. Evaporation is by far the largest source of energy loss in swimming pools.
- Use outdoor lights with a photocell unit or a motion sensor so they will turn on only at night or when someone is present
- Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it. For example, use fluorescent under-cabinet lighting for kitchen sinks and countertops under cabinets.
- Consider three-way lamps; they make it easier to keep lighting levels low when brighter light is not necessary.
- Consider using 4-watt minifluorescent or electro-luminescent night lights. Both lights are much more efficient than their incandescent counterparts. The luminescent lights are cool to the touch.
- Consider using high-intensity discharge (also called HID) or low-pressure sodium lights.
- Install fluorescent light fixtures for all ceiling- and wall-mounted fixtures that will be on for more than 2 hours each day.
- 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.
- Turn off the lights in any room you're not using, or consider installing timers, photo cells, or occupancy sensors to reduce the amount of time your lights are on.
- Turn your lights off when you leave a room. Standard, incandescent light bulbs should be turned off whenever they are not needed. Fluorescent lights should be turned off whenever you'll be away for 15 minutes or more.
- Use 4-foot fluorescent fixtures with reflective backing and electronic ballasts for your workroom, garage, and laundry areas.
- Use CFLs in all the portable table and floor lamps in your home. Consider carefully the size and fit of these systems when you select them. Some home fixtures may not accommodate some of the larger CFLs.
- Use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in place of comparable incandescent bulbs to save about 50 percent on your lighting costs. CFLs use only one-fourth the energy and last up to 10 times longer.
- Exterior lighting is one of the best places to use CFLs because of their long life. If you live in a cold climate, be sure to buy a lamp with a cold weather ballast since standard CFLs may not work well below 40°F.
- Use dimmers, motion sensors, or occupancy sensors to automatically turn on or off lighting as needed and prevent energy waste.
- If you have torchiere fixtures with halogen lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchieres. Compact fluorescent torchieres use 60% to 80% less energy, can produce more light (lumens), and do not get as hot as the halogen torchieres. Halogen torchieres are a fire risk because of the high temperature of the halogen bulb.
- task lighting – such as under-counter kitchen lights or bathroom mirror lights – to reduce the need for ambient lighting of large spaces.
- During the cooling season, keep the window coverings closed during the day to prevent solar gain.
- During the heating season, keep the draperies and shades on your south facing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.
- During winter, dense, low-lying trees and shrubbery on the north and northeast sides of your home can help protect your home against wind chill.
For air conditioners, look for a high Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER). The current minimum is 13 SEER for central air conditioners.
- Take advantage of daylight by using light-colored, loose-weave curtains on your windows to allow daylight to penetrate the room while preserving privacy. Also, decorate with lighter colors that reflect daylight.
- Take more showers than baths. Bathing uses the most hot water in the average household.
- Take short showers instead of baths.
- Plug air leaks with caulking, sealing, or weather stripping to save 10 percent or more on your energy bill
- Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units but not to block the airflow. Place your room air conditioner on the north side of the house. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun.
- Plant trees to shade your home, reducing your cooling costs in the summer months.
- Planting shrubs, bushes, and vines next to your house creates dead air spaces that insulate your home in both winter and summer. Plant so there will be at least 1 foot (30 centimeters) of space between full-grown plants and your home's wall.
- Properly maintain and clean heating equipment.
- Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.
- Turn off decorative outdoor natural gas lamps; just eight such lamps burning year-round use as much natural gas as it takes to heat an average-size home during an entire winter.
- Heat pump water heaters are very economical in some areas.* Install aerating, low-flow faucets and showerheads.
- Install exterior or interior storm windows; storm windows can reduce heat loss through the windows by 25% to 50%. Storm windows should have weatherstripping at all moveable joints; be made of strong, durable materials; and have interlocking or overlapping joints. Low-e storm windows save even more energy.
- Install heat traps on the hot and cold pipes at the water heater to prevent heat loss. Some new water heaters have built-in heat traps.
- Repair leaky faucets promptly; a leaky faucet wastes gallons of water in a short period of time.
- Select a shower head with a flow rate of less than 2.5 gpm (gallons per minute) for maximum water efficiency. Before 1992, some showerheads had flow rates of 5.5 gpm, so you might want to replace them if you're not sure of their flow rates.
- Insulate heating ducts in unheated areas such as attics and crawlspaces and keep them in good repair to prevent heat loss of up to 60 percent at the registers.
- Insulate the first 6 feet of the hot and cold water pipes connected to the water heater.
- Insulate your electric hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the thermostat. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations.
- Insulate your hot water pipes, which will reduce heat loss and can raise water temperature 2ºF–4ºF hotter than uninsulated pipes. This allows for a lower water temperature setting.
- Insulate your natural gas or oil hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the water heater's top, bottom, thermostat, or burner compartment. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations; when in doubt, get professional help.
- Keep in mind that insulation and sealing air leaks will help your energy performance in the summertime by keeping the cool air inside.
- Remember, the lower the U-value, the better the insulation. In colder climates, a U-value of 0.35 or below is recommended. These windows have at least double glazing and a low-e coating.
- You might qualify for tax credits or rebates for buying a solar water heater. Visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy Web site and see.
