10 Ways to Save Energy, Water and Money

Here are 10 ways to cut back on your family’s use of both electricity and water that will save you money:

AIR CONDITIONING
Since air conditioning is often the biggest culprit in high energy bills focusing your efforts on cutting back will cause the most dramatic drop in your monthly usage of electricity.

Auto: Keep your air conditioning on the “auto” setting for best economy and humidity control, even if you adjust the temperature settings.

Open doors: Your central air unit is designed to cool a home when all the interior doors are open. By closing vents and doors to rooms, you’re handicapping your unit’s ability to properly cool, which can cause overuse very quickly.

Temperature: Keep the temperature setting on the threshold of your comfort level. Each degree above or below recommended settings (70 for heat; 78 for cooling) can cost 7-10 percent more.

Ceiling fans: Installing and running indoor ceiling fans cost one-half cent per hour. That’s one-half of one tiny, red cent! The advantages are better air circulation and preservation of conditioned air. By simply keeping your fans running throughout the house, you can cut your air conditioning time in half and still feel just as comfortable.  

Gasket seals: Install gasket seals behind switch plates and outlets to prevent air leakage.

WATER

How low can you go? Install water flow restrictors or low-flow shower heads and you can reduce the amount of water by 60 percent without hardly even noticing it. When you wash, turn the water off while you set away to lather up taking a shower.

Catch it: Use a bucket to collect the water that runs while you’re waiting on it to heat up before stepping in the shower. Use this water for plants, landscaping or problem areas on your lawn.

If it’s yellow, let it mellow. Older toilets may use four or more gallons when flushed. Newer models use 1.6 or less. Place a gallon plastic bottle with water and in your toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used in each flush. Or consider installing a high-efficiency toilet to conserve even more.

Fill er up! Running the dishwasher only when it’s full saves the electricity used to heat the water and run the machine.

Brrrr: Using cold water only to wash clothes reduces the cost per load from 54 cents to just 4 cents per load.
Overall, just being more conscious of your daily usage of energy and water will go a long way toward conservation and savings on your monthly bill.