Five Surprising Ways to Save on Energy Expenses This Summer

Summer is here. This means air conditioning season is also here. Energy reduction not only saves money on energy expenses, but also reduces your carbon footprint. Most people know that sealing air leaks in windows and doors can reduce energy costs to cool your home up to 20% and make your home more comfortable. But what else can you do? Here are five surprising ways to save on energy expenses this summer:

Program Your Thermostat to Reduce Energy Expenses When You Are Not Home

While programmable thermostats are fairly common, nearly 40% of programmable thermostat owners do not use the programming features. People with a regular work or school schedule can reduce energy usage by programming the thermostat to turn on the air conditioner at higher temperatures when they are not home and a comfortable temperature, such as 78 degrees Fahrenheit, when they are home. People with more unpredictable schedules can invest in a smart thermostat that can be controlled remotely through a smartphone app. This allows the thermostat to sense when the resident is returning home rather than adhering to a pre-programmed schedule. Either technology reduces energy use by running the air conditioning less frequently when no one is home.

Use Air Circulation to Reduce Energy Expenses When You Are Home

Ceiling fans make the air feel cooler on the skin due to a wind chill effect. This can allow you to set your thermostat as much as ten degrees warmer while making you feel just as cool. Leaving interior doors open when you have central air conditioning promotes air circulation and prevents air pressure imbalances that make the air conditioning system less efficient.

Use Natural Cooling to Reduce Energy Expenses at Night

You can also save electricity, and the associated energy expenses, by turning off the air conditioner at night and opening a window. The night air will cool the air inside the house. This cool air can be trapped inside the house in the morning when the windows are closed. By closing curtains or blinds after sunrise, you can reduce energy expenses even more.

Select and Use the Right Appliances to Reduce Energy Expenses

Energy Star appliances meet standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These products save energy, reduce energy costs, and reduce carbon emissions. Using these products in a smart way, such as running heat-generating appliances like ovens, clothes dryers, and dishwashers during the evening, night, or morning hours, can reduce energy expenses even more.

Use the Landscaping and Exterior of Your Home to Reduce Energy Expenses

Lighter color roofing materials and exterior paint can reduce the amount of heat absorbed from sunlight and, thus, save electricity needed to cool the interior of the home. Shade trees can reduce energy expenses even more by reducing the amount of sunlight hitting the house. Not only will you save on energy costs to cool your home, shade trees and appropriate painting can reduce your carbon footprint by 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. Shade trees actually create a negative carbon footprint by absorbing 25 pounds of CO2 from the air per year.

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of how to reduce energy use and there are many sources of information with more tips. Applying just a few of these suggestions can reduce energy use, reduce energy expenses, and reduce carbon footprint.

Improve Your Home's Efficiency With These 6 Energy Saving Tips

Whether it's the middle of a brutal winter or you're getting ready for the summer, if you're a homeowner, you need to be focusing on keeping your energy expenses down. The average U.S. home spends roughly $2,100 on energy each year. If you're not careful, you could end up spending even more on your home energy usage.

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That's why it's so important to do a little research, educate yourself on some energy conservation tips, and consult with professionals. Here are some great energy saving tips that will help your home become more energy efficient and save you some cash:

• Use more cold water -- When you're running the wash, it might seem like using warm or hot water won't make much of a difference when it comes to energy expenses, but it certainly does. By using cold water to wash your clothes, however, you'll actually save close to $70 a year.
• Use a programmable thermostat -- By installing a programmable thermostat in your home, you'll be able to save up to 10% of heating and cooling expenses. Additionally, simply lowing your thermostat just two degrees during the winter will save 6% of heating-related CO2 emissions.
• Improve your home's lighting -- You can reduce energy use by as much as 80% if you switch to more energy-efficient halogen incandescents, CFLs, and LEDs. Also, just because your home's lighting looks nice doesn't mean your lights should be on all the time: turn them off when you're not using them!
• Seal everything up -- Sealing air leaks and properly insulating your home can not only increase household comfort but also save as much as 20% on your energy bill.
• Plant some trees -- Appropriately plating shade trees on your property can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions each year. Plus, your landscape will look much better with some nice trees.
• Clean your HVAC filters -- You don't have to be a professional mechanic to know how to clean or replace an AC or furnace filter. If you're neglecting this piece of equipment, you'll end up wasting a lot of money and energy each year. Clean your filters regularly and replace them as needed.

If you want to learn more about some of these energy-saving tips or work with professional green energy services, give Starion Energy a call today!

Lower Cost Same Power

Millions of Americans use utilities every single day of the year, which is why energy conservation is such a popular subject amongst those who pay said utility bills. The crazy part is that only about 10% of the United States total energy consumption in 2015 comes from renewable energy sources, or about 9.7 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu).

To elaborate, the amount of zeros in one quadrillion is 15. That is 9,700,000,000,000,000 BTU created from renewable energy. Over half of all renewable energy produced in the U.S. is done so for electricity. A full 13% of total U.S. electricity generation production comes from renewable energy as of 2015.

Bank On Energy Expenses

Over 150 years ago, wood supplied almost the entirety of the nation's energy needs. Almost 90% of the total energy requirements across the United States were met by wood at that point in time. Coming back into the modern era, it is gladdening to see the changes resulting from innovation.

Energy saving tips are definitely one of the areas that have experienced vast changes through the developing years. Solar energy might be described as a modern marvel. Annually solar energy users are facilitating personal power generation. Through their own investments, they work towards energy savings. Around 75 million barrels of oil are saved annually by solar users.

Hydro-power is another modern marvel in regards to power generation. It accounts for about 6% of the total electricity generated in the U.S. As renewable energy, it is a much larger segment as it is responsible for 46% of all renewable generation nationwide.

How To Save Energy

The local utility provider can only benefit from educating their customers in knowing about energy consumption. An important aspect of consumption is conservation. There are a number of ways that a modern consumer can take in order to work towards their own long-term financial savings.

Insulation is a perfect example of ensuring the security of a property. Making sure that the right kind and amounts are in the walls and ceilings can save up to between 20% and 30% of heating bills, and even reduce CO2 emissions between 140 and 2,100 pounds per year.

Lowering the thermostat by just two degrees during cold weather months can save as much as 6% of heating-related CO2 emissions. Annually this produces reductions of property emissions by around 420 pounds.

Make sure to install a programmable thermostat in order to capitalize on heating and cooling costs as well.; up to 10% can be saved by this installation. Assuring that air leaks are sealed and equipment is maintained up to 20% on heating and cooling can also be recovered.

On Earth Day Commit To Helping The Environment, Saving Energy, and Improving Your Home

Earth Day should remind us all to be conscious of how our actions impact the environment.  Today is the 49th anniversary of Earth Day, but as we are often reminded, every day is Earth Day. And it’s never too late to do your part to reduce pollution by saving energy, while at the same time saving money by cutting down your utility and gas bills. Saving energy not only helps your wallet, but also protects our climate.

Spring is a great time to make some changes to help your home, wallet, and environment. Here are some simple ideas that you can do today:

v  While you’re cleaning, consider replacing your old light bulbs with energy efficient CFL’s, halogen incandescents, or LED bulbs. Traditional incandescent bulbs, besides costing you more money and creating more pollution, generate a lot of heat, which you won’t want during the coming summer months.

v  During your spring cleaning, don’t forget to change the filters in your air conditioners.  Clean filters can result in up to 15% more energy efficient heating and cooling systems.

v  When choosing new windows, heating & cooling systems, appliances and electronics – try to choose options that are ENERGY STAR rated. This indicates that the appliance is more energy efficient than the minimum guideline required by that product.

v  Search your house for “vampire loads”—all those gadgets and electronics in our homes use a significant amount of energy, even when we're not using them. Cut down on these "vampire loads” by unplugging electronics when they're not in use. Sound like too much work, or worried you'll forget? You can put certain electronics (say, your TV or DVR) on power strips so you can shut down many at a time or on timers so that they're only drawing energy during the hours of the day you'd normally use them.

v  Take the time to change the oil in your car. In addition to making your car or truck last longer, replacing the oil and oil filter regularly will also help fuel economy. Check your owner's manual for specific recommendations about how often to change. Ask the service station if it recycles used oil, or if you do it yourself, take your old oil to someplace that does recycle. Even go the extra mile the next time you get an oil change and ask for recycled oil as a replacement.

v  Use a recyclable bag instead of plastic or paper bags at the grocery store. Plastic bags and even paper bags are resource drains.

v  Try avoiding the use of disposable items like plastic forks, paper napkins, or paper towels. Replace disposable items with cloth napkins, real metal flatware, regular dishes, and even try using your own mug for takeout drinks. Today is a great day to take a minute to look around your home and finding at least three disposable items that you can replace with something reusable.

v  Finally, buy locally if possible! 60% of our carbon footprint is due to everything we buy and use. Buying locally will positively impact your local economy and will reduce shipping. Carbonfund.org noted that a 5 pound package shipped by air across the country can create 12 pounds of CO₂.

Remember, you don’t have to change your complete lifestyle to become earth friendly.  With these simple ideas you can reduce your carbon footprint and help the earth that we all call home.  You may be pleasantly surprised at how cost-effective it is to improve the comfort of your home and the health of the planet at the same time.

Earth Day Facts

Did you know:

Ø  Earth Day was first Established in 1970.

Ø  20 million people participated in the inaugural Earth Day activities.

Ø  Several environmental catastrophes including the Santa Barbara Oil Spill in 1969 helped inspire the founder of Earth Day to create a national day focused on the earth and environment.

Ø  Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson is known as one of the main driving forces of the creation of Earth Day.

Ø  The date of Earth Day, April 22, was specifically selected in an attempt to mobilize college students.  (It is the date between spring break and final exams at most colleges throughout our country.)