* Install and use an automatic setback thermostat. You can reduce your heating costs by 5 to 15 percent.
* Lower the indoor temperature a few degrees in winter (you’ll save about 2 percent per degree). Set it even lower at night and a full 10 degrees lower when you’re on vacation.
* Close the fireplace damper when the fireplace isn’t in use.
* Open shades and blinds to let in sunlight during the day and close them to reduce heat loss at night.
* Close off unused rooms and lower the temperatures by adjusting the registers and dampers. You’ll save up to $50 per year.
* Have a furnace tune-up to clean and adjust burners and improve fuel-burning efficiency.
* Install motion sensors, photocell switches and timers to shut off lights automatically when they’re not needed.
* Replace light bulbs used more than two hours per day with compact fluorescent bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs last longer and use only one-third as much energy as standard bulbs.
* Replace worn-out thresholds and weather-stripping around windows and doors.
* Wrap the tank of your water heater in a fiberglass blanket to decrease heat loss.
* Fill clothes washers and dishwashers for more efficient energy use, rather than cleaning partial loads.
* Wash clothes in cool rather than hot water.
* Clean clothes washer and dryer lint screens after every use.
* Skip the dishwasher’s drying cycle (and cut the energy use by about half!).
* Clean refrigerator coils with a soft brush annually, or more often if you have pets that shed.
* Run major appliances late in the evening or early in the morning when electric loads are less (off peak).
* Flush your garbage disposer with cold water rather than hot. Grease solidifies in cold water and washes away.
* Cook more efficiently using microwaves, Crock-Pots and pressure cookers.
* Recycle. Reuse. Ride public transportation instead of your car.
