TIPS: Ace Hardware's Energy Conservation Tips

Ace Hardware Energy Conservation Tips

When I was searching for info about 3M's Window Insulator Kits (see Living Room for more info), I found a page of energy conservation tips on Ace's site. A lot of Ace's tips on energy conservation would only be useful to homeowners, but I've provided those that I thought would help renters. I'll be adding posts on implementing these and other tips as the winter chill starts to really set in.

Cold Weather:

• Keep drapes and shades open in sunny windows; close them at night.
• Use a humidifier. Cooler indoor temperatures are more comfortable with the proper amount of humidity-about 40-50%.
• Be sure to keep the damper closed on your fireplace when it's not in use.
• Use portable electric heaters for seldom-used rooms or to warm up part of a large, cold room.

Hot Weather:

• Clean air conditioning filters regularly. Replace immediately when worn out. Keep coils or fins of air-conditioning units free of dust, lint, etc.
• Deflect daytime sun with awnings on windows or draw draperies and pull shades on sunny windows.
• Run air conditioners only on really hot days.
  
• Are you using more light in certain situations than is needed? Each watt of lighting requires the expenditure of 1/2 watt of air-conditioning power.
• Combine circulating fans with room air conditioners for best air distribution throughout the house.

Year Round:

• Replace leaky faucets; repair all water-wasting fixtures. A dripping hot water faucet makes a hot water heater keep working.
• Close off unused rooms.
• Install a flow-restrictor pipe to the shower head. This easy-to-install device can save a considerable amount of hot water. It's inexpensive, threads into the pipe and restricts the flow of water by several gallons of water per minute.
• Don't overload appliances that use hot water, such as clothes and dishwashers. The same
  rule applies to clothes dryers; use drying racks or clotheslines when possible.
• Use warm or cold water (rather than hot) whenever possible.
• Try energy-efficient cooking-flat-bottom pans, clean burner reflectors, pressure cooker, preparing several foods in the oven at the same time; use small appliances for small cooking jobs.