Tips for Reducing Electricity Use

• Install compact florescent light bulbs (CFL’s) where lights stay on. Turn off lights when you leave a room.
  
  
• Buy Energy Star appliances and ask about kilowatt consumption.
  
  
• Give up that basement refrigerator. Keep refrigerators at maximum warmth, and shut the door quickly, for refrigerators are your biggest energy eaters.
  
  
• Electric heat is most expensive, so air dry dishes, clothes and hair. Use your dish washer’s short cycle and open it for drying.
  
  
• If your water heater is electric, buy a simple insulating jacket for it. Take shorter showers and wash laundry in cooler water. Showers consume 37% of hot water use. Please, no tubs!
  
  
• Use power strips to turn off several power eaters at once such as TV’s and DVD players that eat power even when “off.” Any little glowing light on a black box is eating power.
  
  
• Turn off everything more often! Don’t recharge batteries over night. Does your coffee maker turn off automatically?
  
  
• Use smaller toaster ovens rather than large ovens, and reduce preheating. Turn off electric burners sooner to use retained heat. Microwave ovens are always cheaper.
  
  
• To cool your house use insulating shades rather than the air conditioner. These save heat in the winter too. Clean or replace a/c filters. Consider installing an attic exhaust fan to pull cooler air through the house. Shade trees are miraculous too!