How do you save energy/electricity at home?

Any ideas or hints are welcome.

Vaulted ceilings are very popular these days, but suck up heat. Never get a home with vaulted ceilings.

Also, this is a 'duh' point but so many people don't do this: Turn things off when you are done with them, turn off lights when not in the room!

Also set you heat very low. you can always through on a sweatshirt or a blanket.

Use cold water to wash your clothes and if they aren't very dirty, use the shortest setting. Also use shortest setting on your dishwasher.

Put plastic on your windows during winter.

Replace your windows if you have old ones. It will pay off in the long run and look so much better!

flourescent lamp bulbs everywhere
one third less energy used

Anything that generates heat uses the most electricity. Curling irons, Blow dryers, anyand all electric appliances, Lights (esp. halliugion).

I have electric heat in the ceiling. 12in of insulation in the attic. All windows except for a few are triple pane. One of the panes is plexiglass. It does not conduct heat so well as glass. I think that is the biggest advantage. Each room has its own thermostat. Rooms that are not used are not heated. At night only the bedrooms are heated. At nigh drapes are drawn in the windows. 4 in of insulation is walls and floor. Not enough in the floor. I am thinking of ripping it out and replacing it with 6 in. There is a tax credit this year on insulation, if I am not mistaken.

My electric bill is less than the electric and gass bill of gass users. It was not always that way.

I however do not have a 5000 sq ft home. More like 1700 sq ft.

i keep it in a mason jar under the kitchen stairs...

Use the energy efficient light bulbs, that are spiral shaped. Turn off any unescessary appliances, like night lights etc.

* low comsumption bulbs.
* insulation system: windows, walls, etc.
* never leave appliances on stand-by, switch off completely.
* Buy a solar water heater.
* Use a timer for those appliances that you forget to switch off.

I live in the desert SW where heating is not our major energy cost, but AC which is more expensive, IS. Two years ago we installed an attic fan which turns on automatically when the attic temperature reaches 80 degrees. It has really helped reduce our electric bill. In addition, we practice climate control by closing the windows and blinds in rooms as the sun beats down and moves across our home. Further, we tinted all of our windows which not only helps keep the heat out but helps with furniture and carpet fading. Then we planted trees and shrubs in the areas that have the most sun for the longest periods of time throughout the day. We also use an outdoor area rug on our patio because the sun heats up the concrete which radiates heat along the back of our home. We also built a patio cover overhead to shade the area. We try not to use vacuums, washing machine/dryer, dishwasher during peak hours because out here they charge you more per kilowatt hour. We turn off lights, TVs and other electronic equipment when we aren't in the room. We keep our refridgerator and freezer as full as we are able because it operates more efficiently when we do. There are also green plugs available at hardware and home improvement stores. You plug your appliance into it and it automatically adjusts the amount of electricity going to it based upon use. We only run our dishwasher at night when we are asleep because electricity is cheaper then. When we do need heat, we use our fireplace to heat the downstairs and space heaters only in the rooms upstairs that we are in, when we are in them. We also put extra insulation in our attic space. We also purchased an insulating blanket to put around our hot water heater. Keep the dryer vent and screen cleaned out because when lint builds up it makes the dryer work harder and longer to dry the clothes. (My neighbor doesn't even use her dryer, she hang dries.) I use my BBQ grill which runs on propane in the summer months because it is cheaper than my natural gas range or my electric oven. Oh yeah, almost every room in my home has a ceiling fan to circulate air. I use window fans that have an exhaust feature so I can draw air in or suck it out depending on the outside/inside temperature. Finally, we put very low level 15-25 watt light bulbs and night lights in major traffic areas to get around at night, but use a lot of candles in whatever room we're in at night. I can get candles that burn for 300 hours or more for less than the lightbulb or electricity would cost me.

Buy a solar water heater, disconnect all appliances when not using them (including TV, computer, etc), use energy-saving bulbs, do not use electric grills, microwave oven, use propane to cook, do not use air conditioners, etc...

buy 10w lights bulbs

Buy batterys and flash light visit friends family run up their bill . Good luck. mybad

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