Checking for Air Leaks

• On a windy day, hold a lit incense stick next to your windows, doors, electrical outlets and anywhere air can come in from the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you've found an air leak. Caulk, seal or weatherstrip.

Staying Warm

• Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed.
• Let the sun in during the winter through south-facing windows and close drapes at night to keep the warmth in.
• Close off rooms you're not using.
• In addition to weather stripping around windows and doors, seal your heating and cooling ductwork. Leakage from areas such as joints, elbows and connections can be substantial, as much as 20-30 percent. This is especially costly if ducts travel through unheated or uncooled spaces such as attics, basements, and crawl spaces.
• Install a programmable thermostat. They automatically coordinate indoor climates with your daily and weekend patterns. And you don't have to remember to turn the heat or the air conditioning off when you won't be home.

Lighting a Fire

• Keeping the damper open is like having a 48" window wide open during the winter - your warm air goes right up the chimney.
• When you light a fire, open the dampers in the bottom of the firebox (if provided) or open the nearest window about an inch.
• Lower the thermostat setting to between 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Use grates made of C-shaped metal tubes to draw cool room air into the fireplace and circulate warm air back into the room.

Cooling Off

• Don't set your thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. It will not cool your home any faster and will cost you more.
• Don't place lamps or TVs near your air-conditioning thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances and may run longer.
• Shade your air conditioning unit. It'll use as much as 10% less electricity in the shade.

Taking Showers

• Insulate your electric hot-water storage tank and pipes, but don't cover the thermostat.
• Install non-aerating, low-flow faucets and showerheads.
• Lower the thermostat on your water heater to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Drain a quart of water from your water tank every three months.
• Take more showers than baths. You use 15-25 gallons of hot water for a bath, but less than 10 gallons in a five-minute shower.

 Washing Dishes

• Scrape, don't wash before you wash.
• Don't use the "rinse hold" for just a few soiled dishes. It uses three to seven gallons of hot water each time you use it.
• Let your dishes air dry.

Cooling Food

• Don't keep your refrigerator or freezer too cold. Recommended temperatures are 37-40 degrees Fahrenheit for the fresh food compartment of the refrigerator and 5 degrees Fahrenheit for the freezer section.
• Don't allow frost to build up more than one-quarter of an inch.
  Test the airtightness of your refrigerator doors. Close the door over a piece of paper so it is half in and half out of the refrigerator. If you can pull the paper out easily, the latch may need adjustment or the seal may need replacing.
• Uncovered foods release moisture and make the compressor work harder.
• Vacuum your refrigerator's condenser coils once a year unless you have a no-clean condenser model.

Cooking

• Cook with your microwave. It uses up to two-thirds less energy than your stove.

Doing Laundry

• Switch to cold water washing of laundry and save up to $63 a year
• Use cold-water detergents whenever possible.
• Clean the lint filter in the dryer after every load to improve air circulation.
• Use the cool-down cycle to allow your clothes to finish drying with the residual heat in the dryer.
• Make sure your dryer vent is not blocked. Do not use plastic vents.

Miscellaneous tips

• Find the energy vampires in your home, the appliances that are sucking power even when they're turned off. Appliances that use memory or have a clock are running in the standby mode, even when you flip the switch to off. Plug them into a surge protector and turn off that switch to disrupt the flow of electricity.
• If you have less than six or seven inches of insulation in your attic, you could probably benefit by adding more. A minimum of R-50 is recommended.
• Let the sun shine in through south-facing windows in the winter, and close drapes or shades at night to keep the warmth in.
• Replace your five most used light bulbs with ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent bulbs to save up to $60 each year in energy costs. These light bulbs use two-thirds less energy and last up to 10 times longer.