Energy Saving Tips

Three quick and easy steps to save energy

Some energy-saving tips can be done once, but they will continue to save energy indefinitely. Below are three things you can do on a Saturday morning in September to begin saving energy right away.

1. Set your water heater to 120 degrees.
Water heating can account for 14%-25% of the energy consumed in your home. In addition, water heated above 120 degrees Fahrenheit can damage human skin. To save energy and reduce the risk of scalding, set your water heater dial so that it heats the water to 120 degrees or less. Here is how to test the temperature:

Run hot water out of any sink in your house.
Fill a glass with hot water and submerge a personal or cooking thermometer into the water.
Read the thermometer. If the water is higher than 120 degrees (or simply hotter than you want it) turn the water heater temperature dial down. As a reference point, water that is just too hot to touch is around 107 degrees.
Wait a few hours and test again.
Repeat until the water is at the desired temperature.

2. Adjust your computer's power management settings.
Power management puts your monitor and hard drives into a low-power "sleep" mode after a period of inactivity. Using power management features on your computer can save more than 600 KWh of electricity and more than $60 a year in energy costs.

The two biggest users of power are the display and the hard drive. To improve the power efficiency of your computer, use the following power management settings:
Monitor sleep: 15 minutes or less.
Hard drive sleep: 15 minutes or less.
System standby: 30 minutes or less. Standby mode turns off the monitor and hard drive, and switches the computer to a low-power state.
Power down manually: Every day after you are done using your computer.

3. Install a programmable thermostat.
A programmable thermostat will automatically reduce the heating temperature in your house while you are gone. It is the easiest way you can save energy and money--up to $180 per year.
Set the thermostat to scale back by 8 degrees Fahrenheit when you leave for work and go to bed.

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