97 WAYS TO LIVE GREENER

Household Energy Use

1. Keep your furnace running efficiently. Your furnace is the most expensive appliance in your house to run. In fact household heating accounts for 60 of all energy used in the average home. Make sure it is operating as efficiently as possible by replacing its filter every two months. A great option is to purchase one of the reusable filters that can be washed on a regular basis. You‘ll pay more for them but they last for years so in the end they cost less than disposable filters. The few minutes it will take you to properly care for your furnace can increase its energy efficiently by as much as 50 per cent.

2. Install a programmable thermostat. Heating and cooling your house when no one is home - or when everyone is in bed - uses an unnecessary amount of energy. This is bad for the environment and bad for your checkbook! Instead of wasting that energy buy a programmable thermostat and set the temperature to be several degrees cooler (or warmer in the summer) during the night and when the house is empty. You can easily have it back to the temperature you like by the time you wake up or arrive home.

3. Wrap your hot water heater in a blanket. Every hardware store sells fiberglass blankets that you can wrap around your hot water tank to help it hold in heat. They are easily installed (you can do it yourself) and usually pay for themselves in the first year of use.

4. Opt for a tankless hot water solution. If your hot water tank is getting old and you‘re considering replacing it choose one of the new tankless hot water options. They heat water as you need it instead of keeping an entire tank heated and ready to go at all times. As a result they use significantly less energy which is better for the environment. And an added bonus is that you can expect to save about 50 on your hot water heating costs.

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