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Energy Audit
Heating and cooling account for nearly 56% of the energy used in a
typical U.S. home making it the largest energy expense for most
homeowners. A wide variety of technologies are available for
heating and cooling your home and they achieve a wide range of
efficiencies in converting their energy sources into useful heat
or cool air for your home.
When looking for ways to save energy usage in your home be sure to think about not only improving your
existing heating and cooling system, but also consider the energy
efficiency of the supporting equipment and the possibility of either
adding supplementary sources of heating or cooling or simply replacing
your system altogether.
Your contractor should be able to give you energy fact sheets for
different types, models, and designs to help you compare energy
usage.
- Clean warm-air registers and baseboard heaters as needed; make sure they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
- Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed.
- Turn off kitchen, bath, and other ventilating fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing to retain heated air.
- Install a programmable thermostat that can be adjusted to the temperature according to your schedule.
- ENERGYSTAR labeled products can cut your energy bills by up to 30 percent. Find retailers near you at http://www.energystar.gov when you’re ready to replace your heating and cooling systems – as well as appliances, lighting, windows, office equipment, and home electronics.
- Insulate your hot water heater and hot water pipes to prevent heat loss.
- Insulate heating ducts in unheated areas such as attics and crawlspaces and keep them in good repair to prevent heat loss of up to 60 percent at the registers.
- Heating can account for almost half of the average family's winter energy bill. Make sure your furnace or heat pump receives professional maintenance each year. Look for the ENERGYSTAR label when replacing your system.
Energy Efficiency in the Kitchen
In many homes, the kitchen is the central location. Whether sitting
down to a large meal with the entire family or talking intimately
over coffee, the kitchen provides the backdrop for conversation
and assembly. A great amount of energy is in this room with ovens,
microwaves, refrigerators and dishwashers lining the walls. Managing
your energy usage in the kitchen can be easy with the following
strategies:
Refrigerator
- Keep your refrigerator relatively full, but leave enough room for air to circulate and the doors to close.
- Vacuum your refrigerator’s condenser coils once every three months to keep the appliance working at peak efficiency.
- Never put uncovered liquids, especially warm or hot liquids, in your refrigerator. The vapors emitted from these liquids make the refrigerator’s compressor work harder.
- Don’t hold the refrigerator door open longer than needed. To ensure the door’s seal is working properly to keep cold air inside try closing a dollar bill in the door. If the dollar is easy to pull out, your refrigerator door may be leaking cold air outside.
- Maintain temperatures between 38° and 40° Fahrenheit in your refrigerator and 5° Fahrenheit in your freezer at all times.
Oven
- When possible, place a lid on pots while cooking, as this allows the food to be cooked at a lower temperature.
- Routinely clean the reflector pans beneath the stovetop.
- When baking food in the oven, do not open the door to check the contents. Every time you open the door, 25-50° Fahrenheit is lost.
- When preheating your oven, five to eight minutes is usually a sufficient preheating time.
- Microwaves use less than half the power of conventional ovens and cook for a shorter time. Use them whenever possible and especially when defrosting foods. Microwaves create less heat in the kitchen than conventional ovens, saving additional money on air conditioning.
- Clean glass burners regularly to prevent grease and food from clogging the ports.
- Turn glass burners off a few minutes before the cooking time is completed. They will stay hot long enough to finish the cooking process without using as much energy.
Dishwasher
- Only wash full loads of dishes in the dishwasher, but avoid overloading.
- Turn off your dishwasher’s automatic air-dry setting. Open the dishwasher door and let dishes dry naturally and you’ll be reducing energy use by 50 percent.
The kitchen is a great place to congregate and spend time with family. Follow these tips in the kitchen to ensure the most energetic place in your home is also the most energy efficient.
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