Saturday’s CTWW challenge
| February 25, 2012 | Posted by Kelly under Green ideas, Simple Living |
Today the challenge from Reduce Footprints is about electricity.
As much as I would like to get a home audit from the electric company, it costs too much. I actually get a letter each month from them, offering this service and it lists the cost. If you aren’t able to have your home inspected by someone from the electric company, here are a few small things you can do to help.
- Check all your doors with a flashlight. With it shut, have someone stand on the other side and shine the light. If you see light coming through, that means the outside weather is coming through too. In the winter this will raise your heating bill and in the summer this will raise your cooling bill. Most home improvement stores carry weather stripping that is easy to install and will resolve this issue.
- Remove air conditioners for the winter. If this isn’t possible cover both on the outside and the inside with plastic to make sure no cold air can enter your home.
- Cover your windows, either with plastic or good insulted curtains to keep the cold from leaking through there.
- Consider closing off a room. Do you have a spare room, a storage room, or an area that you just don’t use often? Consider closing it off, so that you don’t waste money cooling or heating it.
- Did you know that you can waste electricity on heating and cooling because of outlets? Turn off the electricity at the breaker box and check your outlets and see if there is proper insulation in them. Check with an electrical professional about the kind you should use to keep your home safe from fire.
- Have some holes and cracks that leak air? We use “Great Stuff” around window frames to keep that air out!
- Get the entire family in the habit of turning off lights when a room is not in use. Unplug electronics that aren’t in use. Unplug all the extras that aren’t being used every day.
These are just a few of the steps we have taken to cut down on our electricity use. What ideas do you have? I would love to hear them!!!
I totally agree with you … while it would be nice to have a professional come in and tell me where I could improve, I can actually determine that myself. My energy company has a website which includes tools that I can use to track my usage. It’s great … looking back at previous year’s use, I can see where I tend to use more energy and that leads me to investigate why. Once I know that, I can make some improvements.
We’ve recently closed off a room and it’s made a big difference. We also use a humidifier which, in addition to helping us breathe and keeping our skin from drying out so much, makes us feel warmer … so we use less heat. We also roll up towels to put at the bottom of windows & doors to keep any drafts from coming in (we live in an apartment and don’t have much say in how they weatherize).
As always … a terrific post! Thanks, Kelly!