It's Easy Being Green

Can you believe we’re already sliding into mid-July?  As we hit the hottest part of the year for many locations, the amount of electricity you’re using to cool your home is going to surge through the roof.  With energy costs on the rise right along with gas, it’s going to cost you more this year than it probably has in the past.  But you can put a stop to the waste of energy and the cash flowing right out of your pockets.

For every degree you raise your thermostat in the summer, you can slash a minimum of 3% off your total bill.  Experts recommend that you don’t cool your home below 72 degrees, the point at which things get insanely expensive and wasteful.  When you’re away from the house, they say you can set your thermostat between 80 and 85.  To make it even more simple, buy a programable thermostate from your local home improvement or hardware store.  They don’t cost much (between $30-$100) and can save you oodles of money by automatically maintaining your temerature settings.  We had one at a previous home we lived in and it was great at helping to control our bills.

You might also want to think about installing some ceiling fans if you don’t already have some.  According to Consumer Reports, they cost very little to run and can help you feel up to 7 degrees cooler than the ambient air temperature.  Just think, if you have your thermostat set at 80 the fans could help you feel like it’s 73 in your home.

Here in Flagstaff, daytime temperatures rarely climb above the 90 degree mark.  Most homes here don’t have A/C, so to compensate and keep your home cool you have to get creative.  At night, we open all the windows in our house and use two box fans to blow in the cool, nighttime air.  In the morning, we shut the fans off and begin to close windows on the sunny, warm side of the house to prevent having warm in flowing in.  We also shut the blinds on the sunny side.  But, we keep the shady side open to allow for the continuous exchange of air.  Once the sun shifts, so do the opened and closed windows.  While it may be chilly in the morning when you first wake up (about 68 degrees), we can prevent the temperature in the house from going above 78 degrees during the hottest point of the day.

Do you have any creative tips to cut down on your cooling bill?  Let us know!

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Summer is just around the corner and that means things are beginning to heat up.  But, before you flip the switch for that air conditioning and start sucking down electricity like a cool lemonade on a 90+ degree day, take some simple steps to save money and energy.  Making sure your a/c unit has a clean filter will not only cut down on indoor air pollution and allergens in your home but also save you some cash.  Clean filters not only ensure that your a/c is working most efficiently but will also save you 1% to 2% on your total electric bill to run the unit.  It may not sound like much but it will add up in the long run.  Also, when you change your filter make sure to vacuum out the filter compartment to pick up all that extra dust.

When it comes to buying filters, if your unit can take reusable filters that will also reduce on waste.  Reusable a/c filters can be popped out, rinsed with water and placed back in the unit for another use.  If you’d like to buy filters that are made from recycled materials, look for the “Merv 8″ brand.  They make a filter in just about every size you might need.

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Here’s four more tips showing you it really can be easy going green:

5. Adjust your home’s thermostat to be lower in winter and higher in summer. Learn how to heat and cool your home simply by venting windows at certain times of the day and when it’s cold, bundle up and put on your sweat pants!

6. Clean and replace dirty air filters in your home’s heating and cooling system. A dirty air filter can use 5-percent more energy while your a/c unit is running.

7. Replace the standard incandescent light bulbs in your home with the new compact fluorescent bulbs.

8. Help your water heater to be even more efficient by wrapping it with an insulating blanket specifically designed to go around your water heater.

Check back tomorrow for four more easy green living tips!

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