Chill out ... Fall is here

As the weather is getting cooler, I wanted to share some of the tips I've learned about saving energy during the colder months.

1. Moving your thermostat down 2 degrees in the winter and up 2 degrees in the summer saves 2,000 pounds of CO2, not to mention money on your heating and air conditioning bill. A good rule of thumb: set your thermostat at 68 degrees in the winter and 78 degrees in the summer.
   
   
2. Also, you can manually turn down your thermostat even farther in the winter when you leave the house for work, and turn it back up when you get home. A programmable thermostat might be a good investment if you think you'll forget each day.
   
   
3. Evaluate how tightly your windows and doors shut, and use weatherstripping in your home to seal air leaks. Here is a video to help you do it yourself. Caulking and weatherstripping any gaps will pay for itself within one year in energy savings.
   
   
4. Wait on hot water. When you turn on the hot water to wash your hands, do you ever finish before the water even gets hot? Your hot water heater is using energy to heat the water, but then it just sits in the pipes and gets cold again. If you're not going to wait, just turn on the cold.

Hope some of these tips help. Alex and I turn the heat way down in the winter and pile on the blankets! Just another reason to snuggle!

picture by Est Bleu2007 on Flikr Creative Commons