Field reporter Barry Stranz talks to an expert about inexpensive ways to make the home more energy efficient.
Kitchen
- To conserve energy when cooking in the kitchen, only use preheating for baking or when cooking a meal that takes less than an hour.
- Rearrange cooking racks before turning on the oven to avoid excessive heat loss.
Water Heater
- Check the temperature setting on the water heater. It should be set on an "energy conservation" setting (most modern heaters have them) or at 125 degrees. Temperatures hotter than that waste energy, while lower temperatures may not be sufficient to kill bacteria.
- Another great moneysaving tip is to insulate the water heater. Wrapping a water heater with an insulation blanket, blankets are available at home stores, can reduce heat loss from hot water stored in the tank. Critical areas to insulate include the top and bottom of the tank and at least the first three feet of both the cold and hot water lines coming from the tank.
Furnace
- The most important part of boosting efficiency is to service the heating and cooling systems regularly to keep them tuned up. Have them serviced about every other year.
- Once again, the best way to make a furnace efficient is to have is tuned up every other month. Make sure the fan blades are cleaned as part of the tune-up, otherwise they can become caked with dust and be rendered ineffective.
- An easy, do-it-yourself furnace tune-up involves changing or cleaning the filters monthly during the heating season. Electronic air-cleaning filters require more frequent changing, but do a better job of purifying the air and keeping the furnace running efficiently.
- Use pleated filters, especially if someone in the house has allergies or asthma. The filters are a bit more expensive, but they do an excellent job of removing dust, mold spores, and other allergens.
- Keeping the furnace's pilot light lit all summer wastes a lot of energy. Simply shut off the pilot light during the off season.
Washer/Dryer
- A washer's energy consumption depends on the temperature of water used. Try using the "warm" setting instead of "hot." Clothes often look and smell as clean when washed in warm water. This also puts less wear on the clothing.
- Only operate the washer and dryer with a full load.
- When drying several loads, run one load immediately after the other to benefit from the heat that has already built up in the machine.
