Energy Awareness Month

Top 5 Home Winterization Tips For Energy Awareness Month
Earthtechling.com: 10.20.2012 by Beth Buczynski

Don’t be fooled by the bright sun and lingering warm breezes, winter is most definitely on its way toward North America. Even though it seems like just yesterday we were talking about how to stay cool without cranking the air conditioning, it’s already time to start keeping your home warm without creating a painful heating bill.

In honor of October being National Energy Awareness Month, we decided to round up five of the best home winterization tips we could find. Home energy upgrades can be costly, but we tried to narrow it down to actions that were easy, relatively cheap, and sensible for both homeowners and renters. Meet you after the jump!

1. Replace your HVAC filters once a month to maintain an adequate and clean air flow which can help reduce energy costs.

2. Use energy efficient light bulbs like CFLs or LEDs. Light bulbs meeting new standards can result in significant energy conservation of 25%-80%. Light your home with the same amount of light for less money. Upgrading 15 of the traditional, less energy efficient incandescent light bulbs in your home could save you about $50 per year. Can’t decide between CFLs and LEDs? This post can help.

3. Add caulking or weather stripping around windows and doors. Your home may have small openings around doors and windows that cause heat loss. Caulking and weather stripping can reduce energy waste and protect your home from moisture damage. Covering large windows with affordable insulating plastic can also be a way to trap the sunlight’s heat inside your home during the day, and prevent drafts at night.

4. Close doors and central air vents in rooms that don’t see a lot of use. This prevents you from paying to heat empty rooms, and redirects the air to the parts of your house that need to be the warmest.

5. Reverse the direction on your ceiling fans. During winter, the warm air generated by your heating system naturally rises to the ceiling while cooler air sinks. By switching the direction that your fan blades turn, that cooler air is drawn upwards, which forces the warmer air near the ceiling back down into the space. How does this save energy? According to the folks at Apartment Therapy, since thermostats are typically located at human level, keeping the warm air low where it’s needed means you can turn the temperature down a few notches and still stay warm.

BWP
Green Home House Call
A complimentary service for Burbank residents provides weatherization, energy, and water efficiency products and services for your home. A trained energy and water expert will install the products plus provide expert advice on how to make your home more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Energy Awareness Month - October

Energy Awareness Month 2011
Federal Energy Management Program

Each year for Energy Awareness Month (October), FEMP provides materials and ideas to promote energy-saving practices:

Office Energy Checklist
~ energy conservation/efficiency measures to use at the office

Facility Energy Checklist
~ actions that conserve energy within facilities

Home Energy Checklist
~ energy conservation measures to use at home

Energy Savers Consumers Guide:
provides homeowners with tips for saving energy and money at home and on the road. By following just a few of the simple tips found on this Energy Savers Web site, you can make your home more comfortable and easier to heat and cool—while you save money. We bring you the latest information on energy-saving, efficient technologies. We even give tips for using clean, renewable energy to power your home.

Energy Awareness Month: October

October is Energy Awareness Month

October has been Energy Awareness Month since a presidential proclamation in 1991. For more than 15 years, government organizations — in partnership with businesses, associations, and concerned citizens — have observed this month with activities and programs to promote public understanding of our energy needs and to reduce energy consumption in our everyday lives.

The EPA gives these 10 simple tips to conserve energy:

• Use your desktop lamp; why light a tennis court to read a sheet of paper?
• Use compact fluorescent lamps to save energy and cut pollution.
• For three copies or less, use the printer; for more, use the copier.
• Laser printers use 300 watts; inkjets use only 10, for similar quality.
• Using the "stand-by" button on your copier lightens energy load by 70%.
• A computer monitor uses 60 watts of power; turn it off if you leave for more than 10 minutes.
• Recycling paper reduces water use by 60%, energy by 70%, and cuts pollution in half.
• Relax and take mass transit; use 25 times less energy.
• Burn carbohydrates not hydrocarbons: ride your bike to work.
• Airplanes burn 70 gallons of fuel a minute.

Turn Out the Lights
~ Lighting is one of the largest users of energy
Stop the Drips
~ Hot water is another area that uses a great amount of energy. By fixing dripping hot water faucets, you can save water and save energy. If it's cold water, fix the dripping faucet anyway because sanitizing and delivering water takes energy too.
Close the Doors
~ Leaving doors wide open to a room or building may make it more inviting to come in, but it wastes energy. Don't prop doors open but allow them to close after people walk through the doorway.
Change the Settings
~ Change the thermostat settings in rooms to 78 during warmer months and 68 during cooler months. Doing so will lower the heating and air conditioning use.

Reuse and Recycle
~ Reusing paper and recycling paper saves money and energy
~ Recycle aluminum cans and plastic bottles