DIANE’S ELECTRICITY USAGE …

December 2015         compared to                 JULY  2015
800 KWH ……………………………………….. 1590 KWH

In other words, when I compare the coldest months of the year to the hottest, it’s actually costing me more to cool my home than to heat it.

Summer Energy Conservation Action Steps

Take a look at your own recent electricity bill, especially compared to the colder winter months. Then consider these recommendations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the amount of energy you’re using summer as well as winter.

#1 – Insulate. 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. Insulation is measured in R-values—the higher the R-value, the better your walls and roof will resist the transfer of heat. DOE recommends ranges of R-values based on local heating and cooling costs and climate conditions in different areas of the nation. This map and chart show the DOE recommendations for your area. State and local code minimum insulation requirements may be less than the DOE recommendations, which are based on cost effectiveness. For more customized insulation recommendations, check out this Zip Code Insulation Calculator. It provides insulation levels for your new or existing home based on your zip code and other basic information about your home.

While you’re at it, insulate around cooling and heating ducts to prevent additional energy loss. That step alone could improve your HVAC performance 20%. When choosing insulation, check with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the latest research on home insulation. There are many varieties available, with many health and safety pros and cons. The most common is blown-in or batting fiberglass insulation, but the “off gassing” from the fiberglass has been known to make people sick. Insulation made from denim and cellulose is also available, but some builders question how effective it is. Research is changing all the time, so make sure to read product reviews before you choose.

#2 – Weatherize. Add weather stripping to seal leaky frames around doors and windows. You can buy it in long rolls and cut it to fit without much hassle, especially if you buy the self-adhesive kind. Most hardware stores will carry a variety of weatherstripping, or you can purchase it online here.  

#3 – Change your HVAC air filters. EPA’s EnergyStar program recommends changing air filters at least every three months, though monthly is better, especially in summer and winter, when your heating and cooling systems are working their hardest.

#4 – Use blinds, drapes and curtains. Even after you’ve insulated your windows, keep the sun from coming through them by drawing the curtains or closing the blinds.

#5 – Moderate your indoor air temps using a programmable thermostat. There’s no need to keep your house extremely cool when you go to work or otherwise leave for extended periods of time. A programmable thermostat makes it easy to automatically turn your air conditioning up when you leave for work and down a bit before you get home. One of the best on the market is the NEST thermostat, pictured right.  Here are a few other thermostat options to choose from.

NOTE: Both DOE and my local utility recommend keeping the thermostat at 78 degrees when you’re home in the summer. If you need additional cooling, try a small table top or window fan.

SHOP OUR STORE for more energy-saving products, including programmable thermostats, weatherstripping, fans, power strips, and timers.

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The post Does it cost you more to cool your home than to heat it? Why summer energy conservation makes sense. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

But guess what? As climate change increases, it is becoming more expensive to cool your home in the summer than heat it in the winter. Here’s a copy of my 2012 electricity bill, which shows how much electricity I use month to month and compares 2012 overall to 2011. (I have an electric heat pump for both heating and cooling). I use almost twice as much energy to cool my home in July and August than to heat it in November and December!

All of which is to say that, as we face another blistering summer, now is a smart time to think about insulating your home to keep hot air out and cooled air in.

5 WAYS TO REDUCE HIGH AIR CONDITIONING COSTS

The Mark Group, a company based in the United Kingdom but with offices in Philadelphia, Delaware, and New Jersey, is sponsoring this post to let you know what energy-saving options you can take advantage of right now. They include:

1) Home Energy Assessment – Is your attic leaking energy? Your basement? Both? Do your windows and doors need extra insulation? What about the cracks around your chimney? In 60-90 minutes, at no charge to you, the Mark Group will take a thermal photo of your home to help you identify where it makes the most sense to insulate.

2) Home Energy Audit – This is a more extensive analysis of where your home is losing air that’s been heated or cooled. It also tests and analyzes the amount of energy your appliances use. After the audit, you’ll receive a comprehensive home performance report that includes recommendations for energy saving improvements. The cost of the audit depends on where you live; both New Jersey and Pennsylvania help consumers offset your out-of-pocket expenses.

3) Air Sealing & Insulation – Heat rises in the winter and builds up in the attic in the summer. To save energy and money, seal gaps and cracks around the perimeter of the attic floor, where the interior wall studs intersect with the attic floor, as well as around recessed lighting cans, ceiling fans, and other openings. Once all the gaps are sealed, you and your energy advisor can figure out whether you need to add additional insulation to prevent conditioned air from escaping through the attic floor. You can follow a similar process to insulate your basement and crawl spaces.

4) Lighting & Appliances – Take stock of the light bulbs you use indoors and out. A variety of energy-saving compact fluorescents (CFLs) and LEDs can help you minimize the amount of money you’re spending on lighting. Plus, I love the fact that, once installed, many of these bulbs last for a decade or more. I’m too busy to keep changing light bulbs, aren’t you? Likewise, run appliances like clothes dryers, dishwashers and ovens in the cooler evening or morning hours when the heat they emit won’t be quite so noticeable – and send you scampering to crank up the AC even more.

5) Solar Hot Water and Electric – Is solar energy right for you? It depends on the home you live in, what part of the country you live in, and how much direct solar “gain” you can capture on your roof or in a system near your house. An energy audit can also let you know if you should consider solar and how much it will cost.

Summer or winter, insulating your home saves energy, increases your comfort levels, and helps you do your part to save energy and help reduce climate change. You can get much more information from the Mark website. In the United Kingdom, you’ll find them here. In the U.S., start here.

Even if Mark doesn’t have an office in your state or community, you’ll find the website highly informative, and you’ll be able to compare what they offer to similar companies that serve your neighborhood. Note that the Mark Group received the 2012 Super Service Award from Angie’s List. Whomever you do business with, make sure they are reputable, experienced, and affordable.

Full disclosure: The Mark Group underwrote this post in order to let me offer you insights on the importance of insulating your home any time of the year. ARS Rescue Rooter sponsored the helpful link to their tips on improving HVAC efficiency. The opinions expressed are my own. As you know from reading my blog, I am a strong proponent of energy efficiency and believe we should all do as much as possible to reduce the amount of energy we consume. Thanks!

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The post 5 Ways to Reduce High Air Conditioning Costs appeared first on Big Green Purse.

First things first. Weatherize. If you didn’t do this in the winter to keep cold air out, definitely do it now to keep hot air out and your nicely cooled air in. You can find a variety of weatherization kits in our online Amazon store or at your local hardware store.

Second, plant trees. Trees planted strategically on the sunniest sides of your home can significantly reduce the amount of solar light getting through your windows. Plus, they add value to your landscape.

Next, cover up. Chances are, your windows are only single panes of glass, maybe doubles (triple-paned glass is the most efficient, but it’s not commonly found in most houses and apartments). That means that there’s not much of a barrier between the inside and the outside of your house. Curtains or shades  add an extra layer of insulation and increase the energy efficiency of each window covered. The thicker the curtains, the more energy you’ll save, especially if you mount the curtains as close to the window as possible. Otherwise, hot air will end up escaping around the curtains and into your room – and vice versa with cold air.

For energy-efficient shades, skip single louvered panels, whether made of aluminum or vinyl. Instead, aim for shades constructed in a cellular or honeycomb pattern. Here’s a picture of the double-honeycomb shades I have on most of my windows. Triple combed shades are the most efficient available, but they weren’t on the market 25 years ago when I bought my shades.

Honeycomb shades work by creating an insulating pocket of air in each cell that separates the window air space from the room air space.  When not in use, the blinds fold up into a thin band at the top of my window. When down, they provide an effective barrier to the outside air, but still let enough light in that the room can be bright if I use them during the day. You can see more honeycomb options at Levolor and many other online retailers.

Roller shades, made from heavy-duty fabric, can also reduce window energy loss. To get the most out of the shade, mount them on a track that runs inside the window frame. When the shade is down, very little energy will seep into or out that window.

You can also cover your windows with insulated window quilts, like the ones I have on my french doors (right). The quilts affix to the window frame with velcro; they’re extremely effective at blocking outside air. The downside is that they let absolutely no light through so you won’t want to leave them up during the day. I actually made my own for my previous home, and they worked quite well. If you want to make your own, you can find instructions here.

Shade windows from outside. The most sunlight comes through south and west facing windows, so these should be your priorities for exterior awnings or overhangs. A wide variety are available, including those that can retract in winter to let the sun in.

Install storm windows. Storm windows add another layer of glass to your permanent windows. Ideally, your storm windows would attach so that you can still open the window and let air in when you want. I have storm windows on the glass of my front door. In the spring and fall, when the air is pleasant and cool, I lower the storm window so this fresh air can come through the screen and into my home.

Replace old inefficient windows with new double-glazed windows. According to the U.S. Environmental  Protection Agency, Energy-STAR certified windows lower household energy bills from 7 – 15 percent. Federal tax credits to defray the cost of new windows have expired; check with your state and county to determine if you can take advantage of local tax credits to help cover your purchase.

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The post Now’s the Time to Consider Sun-blocking Blinds to Keep Your Home Cool This Summer appeared first on Big Green Purse.

1)    Use an air conditioner AND fans. A fan doesn’t affect the temperature of a room. It just creates a “wind chill” effect by moving air around. An air conditioner will actually lower the temperature of a room and remove humidity, too.  We cool the house to around 78 or 80 degrees (down from the high nineties or low hundreds!), then circulate the cooled air with small room fans. We only use fans in the rooms we’re actually occupying to save energy.

  2)    Set our thermostat as high as comfortably possible. For us, that means somewhere between 78 and 80 degrees F. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be. The U.S. Department of Energy suggests keeping your house warmer than normal when you are away, and around 78°F (26°C) only when you are at home and need cooling. A programmable thermostat can make it easy to set back your temperature.
•    Find out how to operate your thermostat for maximum energy savings.

3)    Cover sunny windows. Our sunniest windows are shaded by porch overhangs that prevent the hot sun from streaming into our house and heating things up. We have double-paned blinds we can pull if the sun gets too intense. In previous years, we planted several deciduous trees in front of the house. Now their shade also helps us keep our home cool in the summer.

4)    Keep windows and doors closed. Once we’ve cooled the air, we try not to leave outside doors open too long when we’re going in and out. We use a back door to enter and exit because it lets in less heat than the front door.

5)    Use oven only in early morning. If I need to bake anything, I try to do it before 9 a.m. Otherwise, I cook on my stove top, in the microwave and toaster oven, or on an outdoor grill.

6)    Cook several meals at one time, then reheat as needed. This not only saves energy, but reduces the amount of time I spend cooking overall.

7)    Make “sun” tea. I drink a lot of iced tea in the summer. Rather than boil water in a kettle on the stove, I either use an electric kettle to boil water in less than a minute, or just put a pitcher of water outside with a few tea bags in it. After a few hours, the heat from the sun will raise the water temperature enough to steep the tea.

8)    Eat cold food. Summer is the perfect time for salads, smoothies, sandwiches, raw vegetables,  cold soups, and of course, ice cream. If you eat as much ice cream as we do, you might want to make your own. You can get popsicle molds that are either stainless steel or BPA-free plastic.

9)    Take shorter showers in cool water.  Any of these timers will help you keep your shower under five minutes.

10)    Take off some clothes. You know how, in winter, you put on a sweater to stay warm? In summer, we all walk around our house barefoot and in loose, sleeveless dresses or tank tops and shorts. It’s surprising how much cooler we stay when we’re lightly dressed.

Want more energy-saving tips? Find them right here.

The post Top 10 Eco-Ways to Keep Cool While the Planet Heats Up appeared first on Big Green Purse.