So what does save energy in a home?
Not surprisingly, consultant Michael Blasnik urges homeowners to have a blower door test done and to address big issues such as sealing attic leaks and insulating attics and walls. And other big-ticket projects such as replacing really old refrigerators, clothes washers and furnaces with highly efficient models can yield significant energy savings, he said.
But smaller steps can pay off handsomely, too.
Here are some low-cost, low-effort measures that can make a noticeable difference in your energy bills:
• Unplug an underused refrigerator. Often the fridge in the basement or garage is an older, inefficient model. Taking it out of service saves an average of $128 a year, according to the figures in Blasnik’s Concord study.
Likewise, unplugging a freestanding freezer would save an average of $96 annually. When you weigh the electricity cost against the savings from buying in bulk, the freezer may not be worth it, he said.
• Change the thermostat when you’re asleep or away. Turning the heat down 8 degrees for eight hours a day saves an average of $84 a year, although the savings are smaller in a highly efficient home. Get a programmable thermostat, and you won’t even have to think about it.
The savings are even bigger when you turn up the temperature on an air conditioning system, Blasnik said.
• Set the furnace/air conditioner fan on automatic. The air handler fan generates a lot of heat, which warms your home and makes the air conditioner work harder in summer, Blasnik said. What’s more, depending on how your house is designed, you may have air ducts in unconditioned areas of your home, and the fan can accelerate the loss of heated or cooled air through leaky ducts. Switching the fan from on to automatic year-round will save a whopping $480 a year, on average.
• Activate your computer’s sleep mode. Just because your monitor goes to sleep after a period of inactivity, it doesn’t necessarily mean your hard drive does, too. Blasnik recommended checking your computer’s power options to make sure it powers down when it’s not in use, saving an average of $80 a year. On computers using Windows, look in the control panel.
That’s a bigger issue with desktop computers than portable devices such as laptops and iPads, he said. Manufacturers usually make portable computers more efficient to extend battery life.
• Turn off the TV when you’re not watching. Some people keep the TV on for background noise. If you can break that habit, you’ll save an average of $96 a year.
• Switch to efficient lighting. Replacing standard incandescent bulbs in your 15 most-used lights with compact fluorescent bulbs will save an average of $96 in electricity, “if you can stand them,” Blasnik said.
He understands people who can’t. His wife is one of them.
That’s why he likes LED lighting. It’s still fairly expensive upfront, but incentives in his state recently allowed him to replace his can lights with LED retrofits for just $25 each. “They passed my wife’s test,” he said.
— Mary Beth Breckenridge
