Consumer Guide To Home Energy Savings – Jennifer Amann (1)

Whenever the outdoor temperature is higher than the indoor temperature, warm air will blow into the house through cracks. To reduce these gains, you can insulate and tighten your house. If you don’t have wall insulation, have cellulose, fiberglass, or foam blown into the walls by a qualified insulation contractor. Tighten up your house to reduce infiltration. You might also want to install a radiant barrier in the attic to cut down on summer heat gain. If properly installed, a radiant barrier can reduce cooling costs to some extent, particularly in the South.

An energy auditor can help you decide which measures make the most sense for your house and how much they will cost (see Chapter 2). Did You Know? One of the most cost-effective energy conservation measures, for both heating and cooling, is to add extra ceiling insulation. Increase its depth to a full 12 inches. Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings Get Rid of Inefficient Appliances. Lighting, refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers, dishwashers, and other household appliances are all sources of waste heat, raising the interior temperature of your house.

The best solution is to buy energy-efficient products. Energy-efficient appliances and lights produce far less waste heat. Standard incandes¬ cent light bulbs, for example, emit 90% of their energy as heat — only 10% as light. Compact fluorescent lights, on the other hand, produce only a fraction of the heat (see Chapter 11). In some cases, you can delay heat-producing tasks, such as dishwashing, until the cooler evening hours.

You might also consider relocating a freezer to the basement or garage, where it won’t contribute its waste heat to your living space. And by planning your meals carefully, you can minimize use of the oven on the hottest days. Make “cool” choices when roofing or painting. Lighter colors tend to reflect more solar radiation from your house, cutting down the amount of heat penetrating the roof and walls. This may seem like a minor tip, but using “cool” products may lower roof surface temperatures by 50-60°F and reduce your peak cooling demand by 10-15%.

If you are replacing your roofing tiles or if your roof is black, look for shingles, coatings, and other roofing materials that have been rated for high “solar reflectance” and high “thermal emittance.”

Home Energy Checklist for Action Here’s a simple checklist to give you an idea of the things you can learn about in this book: To Do Today ■ Turn down the temperature of your water heater to the warm setting (120°F). You’ll not only save energy, you’ll avoid scalding your hands. ■ Start using energy-saving settings on refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and clothes dryers.

■ Survey your incandescent lights for opportunities to replace them with compact fluorescents. These new lamps can save three- quarters of the electricity used by incandescents. The best targets are 60-100W bulbs used several hours a day. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) will fit in most standard fixtures. ■ Check the age and condition of your major appliances, especially the refrigerator.

You may want to replace it with a more energy- efficient model before it dies. ■ Clean or replace furnace, air-conditioner, and heat-pump filters. ■ If you have one of those “silent guzzlers,” a waterbed, make your bed today. The covers will insulate it, and save up to one-third of the energy it uses. This Week ■ Visit the hardware store. Buy a water-heater blanket, low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators, and compact fluorescents, as needed. CFLs are now sold at most drug stores and grocery stores.

■ If your water heater is old enough that its insulation is fiberglass instead of foam, it clearly will benefit from a water heater blanket from the local hardware store or home supplies store. ■ Rope caulk very leaky windows. ■ Assess your heating and cooling systems. Determine if replace¬ ments are justified, or whether you should retrofit them to make them work more efficiently—to provide the same comfort (or better) for less energy. ■ Purchase a power use monitor to learn how you use energy in your home and identify opportunities for saving.

What People Are Saying About the 3 4028 08220 4455 HARRIS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY Consumer Guide To Home Energy Savings “The Consumer Guide to Hon guide reveals how to buy and connected to an electric or gs “One of the best resources foi —Anne Ducey, Ci 644 Wi1 Wilson, Alex Consumer guide to energy savings money, save the home save Earth $18.95 “Face it, most of us don’t hav( ocn805015190 about energy efficiency and its 11/28/2012 sealing a drafty doorway, remc * VTn SUj. _ _iui ly i UWO Ul gleaming new refrigerators, we know our actions have an impact—on the planet, as well as on our pocketbook.

This book offers practical advice that will help you make smart decisions about how you build or buy. Not a textbook in volume or style, this paperback makes for handy toting — perhaps for perusing during your energy-efficient commute on BART or Muni.” — Beth Bourland, The San Francisco Chronicle “It tells you which appliances you can replace for the biggest energy savings…in words anyone can comprehend in real sentences and nice, neat diagrams.”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 62717bd0ccb5fbba
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 8,192,492 bytes (7.813 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9780865717244, 9781550925203
• Pages: 261
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 338.25 minutes
• Total Words: 67,651
• Total Characters: 424,206
• Average Words per Page: 259.2
• Average Characters per Page: 1625.31

Most Frequent Words

energy (944), water (579), air (512), heat (447), use (421), home (326), heating (317), system (265), new (229), savings (224), efficiency (196), house (194), consumer (167), systems (158), guide (154), hot (154), gas (152), also (151), light (148), products (145), heater (140), windows (140), see (132), heaters (126), cost (124), cooling (121), power (121), less (119), much (119), save (116), electric (114), efficient (113), models (113), star (112), lighting (111), electricity (110), one (107), www (105), make (101), fan (101), used (100), per (95), performance (92), window (92), solar (91), pump (90), even (88), clothes (86), reduce (86), available (84), year (84), pumps (83), insulation (81), information (81), temperature (80), table (80), appliances (79), costs (79), look (79), space (77), time (76), many (75), fuel (75), chapter (74), refrigerator (73), furnace (73), ventilation (72), equipment (72), conditioners (71), using (70), well (70), lamps (67), central (67), find (66), size (65), high (65), range (64), boiler (64), cold (64), outside (64), oil (63), building (62), org (61), get (60), conditioning (60), room (59), good (59), between (59), existing (58), combustion (58), need (58), buy (57), help (57), cooking (57), storage (56), unit (56), common (56), contractor (56), best (55), check (53).

PDF Download