Money Saving Tips
Reducing your energy usage doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money, or compromise your comfort. Try these simple steps to energy savings in your home.
Standard Energy-Saving Tips
- Set the water heater thermostat to 120 degrees. Save 6-10% on your bill*
- Wash clothes in cold water. It cleans as well as warm and saves on your heating bill.
- Set the refrigerator temperature to 36-38 degrees. Set the freezer temperature to 0-5.
- UNPLUG your appliances when they aren’t in use.
- Set your thermostat to 68 degrees in the winter. Each degree dropped will save $40/yr.
- Buy a programmable thermostat. This device saves upwards of $250/yr.*
- Weatherstrip doors and windows. Sealing and insulating a home can reduce heating/cooling costs by 30%. Use insulating blinds/shades. Only 20% of homes built before 1980 are well insulated.
- Electrical outlet seals (foam seals placed behind outlet covers) reduce the amount of air entering the home, especially on outside walls. Give your heating system a break and save money by installing these.
- Install a low-flow showerhead. Save on water and heating.
- Fix leaky faucets. Thirty drops of water a minute can waste up to 50 gallons of water per month.
- Turn off lights when not in use. One bulb left on all year costs $25.00*
- About 10% of your energy bill is spent lighting your home. Switching to CFLs can save the average home more than $80 a year.
- Put stereos, computers, etc., on the same power surge protector strip. Turn OFF when not in use.
- Switch to efficient outdoor lighting. Install a motion sensor light to decrease energy use.
- Buy an Energy Star washing machine and save $50 a year in utility bills, 7,000 gallons of water, and hours of drying time. Wash with cold water, wash and dry only full loads and clean the lint filter after each load.
- Buy a dishwasher and save 5,000 gallons of water each year and $40 in utility costs over washing dishes by hand. Use the air-dry option to save even more.
- Nearly 5% of all the energy used in the U.S. is used to air condition homes. Consider using a fan, or other natural methods before using an air conditioner. Opening windows in the morning to capture cool air, and sealing your house before the heat starts, can reduce electric costs by as much as 25% in the summer months.
- Keep your fridge full--with water. An empty refrigerator wastes energy. Fill the unused space with plastic water jugs to minimize cold air loss.
- Have a chimney? Close the flue when not in use. Never use it? Plug and seal it.
- Weatherize your home with new doors, windows and insulation. EPUD can arrange rebates, incentives and zero-interest loans to qualified applicants.
- Request a FREE Energy Saving Tips booklet from the US Dept. of Energy - customerservice@epud.org
- Get a free energy audit! Call 541-746-1583 or email customerservice@epud.org
*Source: US Department of Energy
Where is your money going?
Following is a closer look at where the average home uses the most energy:
Space Heating- 35.2%
Water Heating- 13.1%
Space Cooling- 10.8%
Lighting- 9.7%
Refrigeration- 6.6%
Electronics- 6.5%
Cooking -4.5%
Clothes Dryers/Dish washers-4.3%
Computers 1%
Other 8.4%
How To Be An "Energy Scrooge" During the Holiday Season:
It’s holiday season again which means cold weather, extra guests, and lots of cooking. All of these changes can add some real dollars to your energy bill. Here are a few tips to decrease your bill:
- Heating: Heating is the #1 energy user in the American home, accounting for almost 50 percent of your total electric bill annually for space and water heating combined. Each degree you decrease your thermostat will save 3 percent on your bill. If you’re used to 72 degrees, a switch to 68 could save $12-$24/mo. Set your water heater to 120. Weather stripping, storm windows, and insulation all add to the savings.
Holiday Lights: Consider using LED lights for big energy savings. For a typical holiday tree illuminated with 1,100 lights and operating for six hours every day of the week, you can save up to $8/mo., by using LED lighting. For outdoor lighting, you could save $10-$20/mo. by using LEDs. - Guests: If you have guests in your home, OR, if people are home during the day due to vacation or loss of work, your utility bills will rise. During busy home-use times it can be hard to save on utility bills, but even small things like turning off lights and taking shorter showers will make a difference.
- Cooking/Baking: Americans use their kitchen 25 percent more in the holiday/winter season than any other time of year. When cooking on top of your range, match the size of the pan to the heating element. More heat will get to the pan and less will be lost to the surrounding air. A six-inch pan on an eight-inch burner will waste more than 40 percent of the energy. Remember your microwave, fast and efficient microwave ovens use around 50 percent less energy than conventional ovens.
Have another Energy Saving Idea? Submit to us at webmaster@epud.org and we'll add it to the list!