The Alliance to Save Energy offers these basic tips for both homes and businesses to cut energy bills this winter:
Since heating accounts for the biggest chunk of winter energy bills, make sure your furnace receives a professional tune-up each year and clean or replace air filters once a month to help your unit run more efficiently.
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Cut related annual energy expenditures up to 30 percent. As heating and
cooling equipment, appliances, computers and office equipment, windows, lighting
fixtures, and consumer electronics break down or no longer meet your needs, replace
them with products bearing the Energy Star label, a symbol for energy efficiency.
For more information visit www.energy-star.gov.
Make sure ceilings are well insulated. Seal joints in attic air ducts and make
sure they are well insulated too. (See the North America Insulation Manufactures
Association Web site www.naima.org
for insulation details.)
Plug other energy “leaks” by sealing leaks between moving parts (between door
and its frame) with weather-stripping. Fill leaks between nonmoving parts (between
window frame and wall with caulking) and look for windows, glass doors, and skylight
bearing the Energy Star label, and check out the
www.efficient-windows.org web site.
A programmable thermostat will automatically coordinate your home or business temperature with daily and weekend patterns.
To see what energy upgrades would have the greatest payoff, log onto the interactive
Home Energy Checkup on the Alliance to Save Energy’s Web site www.ase.org/checkup/home.
Let the sun help heat your home or business by keeping blinds of sun-exposed windows open in the daytime and closed at night.
New oil heat systems are generally more efficient than older units and typically reduce heating oil consumption by 15 to 25 percent. But older oil fired boilers and furnaces can achieve similar savings if they are upgraded with a properly installed frame retention head burner. These burners strictly control the amount of excess air that is used for combustion, resulting in a hotter flame and increased energy savings.
