Find The Secret Savings In Your Home

Everyone wants to make their budget go further these days. When it comes to reducing your energy usage, there are lots of ways to save.

The energy experts at Hydro One suggest starting with these easy changes:

Heating and Cooling Needs

• Install a programmable thermostat. With a programmable thermostat you can adjust and set the temperature from your home. Some thermostats allow you to manage your temperature settings through the internet. Depending on how you program your thermostat, you could save up to 10 per cent on your year-round heating and cooling costs.

• Let the light in. If the ups and downs of spring temperatures have you adjusting your home’s temperature all the time, try letting the warm air inside during a sunny day by opening drapes.

• Change your furnace filter regularly. Set a reminder to change your furnace filter, and have a licensed HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) professional service your furnace yearly to ensure it is operating at maximum efficiency.

Hot Water

• Fix leaky faucets and toilets. That leaky tap or toilet, the one that you can hear while trying to get to sleep at night, is wasting 800 litres of water per month at one drop per second.

• Use faucet aerators. With a twist of your wrist you can reduce water consumption by 25 to 50 per cent per tap by installing a faucet aerator. Your local retailer has a selection of models including ones with washers that don’t need to be replaced.

• Get crystal clear savings from your dishwasher. Start by always running a full load. Use the light or short cycle for easy-to-clean loads and the energy-saving drying cycle for additional efficiency. If you don’t have that feature, open the dishwasher when the wash cycle is complete and let the dishes air dry – this can reduce your energy use by 10 per cent.

Lighting

• Take a moment to adjust. As the days get longer, remember to adjust your outdoor light timer so you are only using electricity when you need to.

• Switch it up. The next time a light bulb burns out, replace it with an LED bulb. While the initial cost of the bulb itself is a little more, the savings it will provide will be a benefit for years to come.

newscanada.com