"Can you give me some ways to save on my electricity and heating bills?"

Whether in the deep cold of winter or in the uncomfortable heat and humidity of summer, there are things you can do to your lower energy bills. You can save money and stop that electric meter from spinning like slot machine wheels by making small repairs, modifying energy-consuming habits, and making other smart choices about using energy. If for nothing else, it frees up money for you to spend at your favorite home automation web site.

Heating and Cooling your home.
No matter where you live, you have to heat and or cool your home. During the winter months, heating costs can rise to many times those of summer's cooling costs. Anyone who writes out a monthly check for these expenses can attest to this. But, there are some things you can do now to cut your bills and these ideas don't involve replacing your 30-year old heating and air conditioning system with a new $10,000 model.

What's your thermostat set at now?
If you are reading this at home and it's wintertime, then we hope you are warm and toasty. Hopefully, you have the temperature at a comfortable level. However, did you know that by reducing the thermostat a degree or two and putting on a sweatshirt, you could save a tremendous amount of money? Conservation experts recommend setting thermostats at 69 degrees when the house is occupied and 60 degrees at night or when the house is un-occupied (when you leave your home for more than four hours at a time.) During the summertime, set the thermostat to 78°F or more and at 85°F or higher when you leave your home for more than four hours. Turn your cooling unit off when you leave your home for more than 24 hours.

If your reading this away from home, did you remember to turn off or set back your thermostat? If you have a smart home, just call it and dial in the new temperature. (I'll wait while you make the call.) For those of you who didn't call your smart home, read how to do it in one of my previous FAQs: "How can I remotely control the heating before we leave and have it warm and toasty when we arrive?"

Smart thermostats have the ability to change between an occupied mode and an empty-house mode. If you have an alarm system, the Dry Contact Controllable Slimline Thermostat can tie into most of the major brands so that when the alarm system is armed, the thermostat is set back.

You can also install a timer-based thermostat in place of your existing thermostat. This is my first and favorite home automation project. Two screws and four wire connections are all it takes and it can be up, running, and programmed within an hour by anyone with simple tools. Read more about this project in this Ask Laddie Faq: How to save on home heating costs with Smarthome thermostats?

Each time I visit a friends house and see the ole round thermostat that was installed in 1950, I wonder why they have all the latest electronics but still have that antique on the wall.

Are you heating unused rooms?
Many homes have rooms that are not used for weeks at a time. If you have family members away from home for extended periods of time, why heat those rooms? Save energy by closing off vents to those rooms, turning off heating strips, or closing radiator valves. Be sure to also close the drapes and the doors in those rooms too. If you have a forced air system, don't close off more than one-fourth of the vents to avoid damaging the HVAC system.

For the ultimate in comfort, consider installing a zoned heating and cooling system. It's basically a smart controller box with thermostats from different parts of the house connected to it. If one room calls for heat, it starts up the heater and directs air into that room's vents. You can use Duct Dampers or Motorized Air Registers to open and close the room to the HVAC system. No longer do you have to live with hot and cold spots in your home. We have a pretty good explanation on this web page: HVAC Zone Controllers

Fireplaces, the indoor air conditioner
They are romantic and nice to look at, but fireplaces one of the biggest energy wasters in the home. Why we like them and continue to have them built into homes, I never rationally understand. When your fireplace is running, be it burning wood or gas, in most cases it is drawing in outside air to burn and go up your chimney. Here's the problem, the fireplace draws in air from the room to burn the fuel. Some of the heat is radiated into the room; it is most noticeable when you are near the fireplace. However, most of the heat escapes up the chimney. That hot air, which just went up the chimney, is replaced by cold outside air seeping in around the cracks in doorways, windows, and exterior walls. So, in a sense, it's an indoor air conditioner! Hot air leaves your home and is replaced with cold outside air, that's the same thing an air conditioner does.

Fireplaces when designed and built properly, can contribute to a home's heating system. Wood burring stoves draw combustible air in from the outside through a special duct and the exhaust flue routes through the house to radiate its heating energy. If you are serious about having a fireplace and using it for heating (or providing a romantic setting), check out special inserts for conventional fireplaces. When the fireplace is not in use, close the flue to keep the heat inside the house (from the heater) from going up the chimney.

Use Solar Power to heat or cool your home.
Using solar energy is easier than you think and you don't need to have a massive solar collector on your roof to do it. In the winter, use the sunshine in the mornings and afternoon to draw in the warmth. Open the drapes on eastern and southern windows of your home. At night and on overcast days, close your drapes and shades, and keep your northern windows covered. The sun will warm up the floor and furniture and slowly release it in the evenings. Use a product like our Motorized Drape Controller to open and close your existing "U" corded drapes. It replaces the pulley that the existing drape pull cord is installed onto now. When combined with a X10 Mini-Timer and an ApplianceLinc Appliance Modules, you can control when the drapes open and close.

In the summer months, use the Drape Controller to close the drapes during the hottest parts of the day. In my home, the drapes open at sunrise each morning and close at 3PM. We also have the drape control programmed into the universal remote control so it can be opened or closed anytime we like!

Water Heaters
Set the thermostat on your water heater to "low" setting or about 120°F. Water at this temperature should be hot enough to meet most household needs. If not, raise the water heater temperature a few degrees at a time until you are satisfied. When you leave your home for a weekend or longer, turn your electric water heater off or turn your gas water heater to the "pilot" setting. Electric water heaters are most easily shut off using the circuit breaker panel.

How to save on energy costs - Part 2