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Ways to Cut Your Energy Costs
It’s easy to conserve energy – and, in turn, save money on your energy bill, as well as protect the environment. To learn how, read the following tips from the Ontario Ministry of Energy’s brochure on energy savings.
Heating and Cooling
Roughly 60% of your energy costs are the result of heating and cooling your home. Consider these energy efficiency measures and watch the savings on your energy bill add up quickly:
- Reduce the temperature of your home a few degrees at night and when you’re away.
- Keep blinds, shades and drapes closed during the hottest part of the day in the summer. (And open south-facing blinds on sunny winter days.)
- Clean or replace the air filter on your furnace regularly to improve efficiency.
- To save more on central air conditioning costs, try cooling your home to only 24 or 25 degrees Celsius instead of the low 20’s. Each degree below 26 degrees Celsius will noticeably increase your electricity use.
- Turn off unnecessary lights in the house.
- Install ceiling fans and use them to supplement or even as an alternative to air conditioning – ceiling fans generally use very little electricity.
- Install a programmable thermostat with a built-in timer. You can set it to lower the heat by a few degrees at night and when you’re away, or turn off the AC when you leave for the day. Contrary to popular belief, this method uses less electricity than having the AC constantly maintain a cool temperature.
Appliances
- Be sure to use the vacation setting or turn off the water heater when you are out of town.
- Wrapping your electric water heater in a special tank blanker can reduce its electricity use.
- Showers save hot water – a typical bath uses approximately 75 litres of hot water, while a 5-minute shower with an efficient showerhead will use about half of that.
- Don’t let freezers build up more than 6 mm of frost. Defrost regularly to keep freezers working their best.
- Looking to buy a new refrigerator? Invest a little more and buy an ENERGY STAR®-qualified model. These exceed minimum federal energy efficiency standards for energy consumption by at least 10%, which will save you more money in the long run.
- Use an electric kettle to boil water – not the stove, which is less efficient.
- When using the stove, be sure to put lids of pots to keep the heat in the pot, which enables you to use lower heat settings.
- Microwave ovens use up to 75% less energy, so whenever possible, use a microwave instead of your stove or oven.
- A general rule: for smaller cooking jobs, use smaller appliances (i.e., instead of your range or cooktop, use the electric kettle, toaster oven or microwave).
- Turn off the overn just before finishing – the oven will remain hot long enough to complete the job.
- Try to operate with a full load and use the energy-saving cycle.
- Don’t waster hot water by pre-rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher – just scrape off food and empty liquids.
- Air dry your dishes – you can save 10% of the cost of operation.
- If you planning to buy a new dishwasher, consider investing in an ENERGY STAR®-qualified model, which is at least 25% more efficient than the least efficient dishwasher.
- Run full loads whenever possible but don’t overload the machines.
- A whopping 85-90% of the energy used by washing machines is for heating the water. Try using cold or warm for the WASH cycle, instead of hot water. Always use cold water for the RINSE cycle. Using warm or hot water for the rinse cycle does not get your clothes any cleaner.
- Invest a little more for an ENERGY STAR®-qualified clothes washer, which uses 35-50% less water and 50% less energy per load than the average conventional clothes washer.
- Make sure clothes are effectively wrung before putting them in the dryer.
- Separate loads in heavy, medium and lightweight items – lighter loads will take less drying time than a mixture of items.
- Dry consecutive loads to utilize otherwise wasted heat from the dryer.
- Consider using a clothesline to dry your laundry.
Lighting
- Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. They cost more than regular light bulbs, but can use 75% less electricity and last years longer.
- Turn off lights whenever you leave a room or don’t need them, even for just a few minutes. Contrary to popular belief, less energy is consumer when lights are turned on and off as you come and go than if a light is left on all the time.
- You can lower overall energy demand by concentrating bright light where you need it rather than evenly lighting the entire room – this is called ‘task lighting’.
Home Office and Other Savings Around the Home
- Consider energy-efficient computer systems and monitors when you replace a system. Make sure you enable your computer’s energy-saving features.
- Be sure to at least shut off the computer screen, as 60% of the power used by a computer is used by the monitor.
- Computers are related components use electricity even when they are not in use. Plug each computer component into a power bar than can be shut off, to avoid wasting electricity with the ‘standby’ power feature.
- Unplug infrequently used TVs, as many continue to draw power even when turned off.
- Put swimming pool pumps on a timer, or run them only a few hours a day. Use a solar blanket to keep swimming pool water warm overnight, and use your heater only when necessary.
(Source: Ontario Ministry of Energy. Reprinted with permission.)