Since we here at The Carroll Household have been working to be kinder to the world we live in, I’ve talked to you about the walk that inspired this, the challenge I issued, our neighborhood clean-up, our switch to cloth diapers, and the cleaners we use around the house.

There are also several easy things you can do to save energy in your home on a day-to-day basis.  Here are some of the things we do…

Adjust the thermostat.  In the winter, we try to keep the thermostat between 64-68.  It’s actually comfortable, and if you feel chilly, you can always warm up with sweaters, blankets, and warm liquids.  Or with, um… fun activities.  

When we’re sleeping (or away from home) we drop the temperature even lower.  At night we can just snuggle up with blankets and each other – which is fun!  And because these drops last 8 hours or more, we save 5-15% on heating costs a year!

And remember, fireplaces might be sexy, but they are generally big, fat energy wasters, so only use them on occasion. 

In the summer, we try to keep the thermostat between 75-78.  Dressing appropriately for the season helps - yes, that means shorts, no matter how much you hate shaving or how badly your white, clammy skin blinds others who live with you.

We also use fans to offset cooling costs (by making us more comfortable with higher thermostat settings).  Ceiling fans and oscillating room fans use far less energy than your Whole-Home Cooling System, and will help it have work less often.  The fans will create a breeze you can feel to make it more comfortable to have the thermostat set at a higher setting.  Make sure you only have them on in rooms where there are people (or you’re wasting money). 

Window fans can also be used when the weather outside accomodates.  If it’s cooler outside than in, use dual fans to pull cool air in one window and push hot air out another.  This works especially well in 2 story homes (pull cool air into downstairs windows and suck hot air out upstairs windows).  Just make sure to turn your HVAC System off.

A really excellent thing we’ve done is to replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs.  They use about 75% less energy and last 10 times longer!  They also produce far less heat, which in turn will save you on cooling costs in the summer. 

They do cost more than regular bulbs, but the savings in electricity over time will pay for the bulbs, and then some.  They are available all over the place – so shop around and make notes to find the best price before you buy.  I purchased mine at Walmart, but you can buy them at Target, Lowes, Home Depot, and even online. 

It’s such an easy change to make with such huge energy savings and eco-friendly outcomes that you’d be nuts not to do it.

“What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb [CFL], took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.” -Source: FastCompany.Com

I challenge all of you – if you haven’t already done so – to change at least one of your incandescent bulbs to a CFL.  And the more, the better!

Learn more about CFLs, including how to dispose of them properly.

Another thing we’ve gotten really strict about is use of light - if we don’t really need it, we don’t turn it on.  When we’re done with it, we turn it off. 

We all know that we should turn off the lights when we leave a room, but it’s really easy to get in the bad habit of just walking out.  Remind yourself to hit that switch!  Another bad habit?  Turning on lights you don’t even really need.  If it’s daytime and you have windows, open up the curtains/blinds and use the free sunlight! 

If you really start making a conscious effort, you can get rid of energy waste and reduce your electric bills this way.  And hey, here’s your chance to feel like “real adults!”  Practice barking at your kids/roommates/cat/fish, “Turn off the lights or get a job!”  (Second only to, “Close the refridgerator – what are you trying to do, cool the whole house with it?!”)

Of course, lights aren’t the only things that waste electricity due to our habitual waste behaviors.  How many times have you walked away from a TV or stereo that was on?  Do you stand with the refridgerator door open for unneccesary amounts of time? (See above exclamation.)  Do you leave doors and windows open when the HVAC System is running? (In this case, you’re trying to heat/cool the whole neighborhood, obviously.  *crosses arms, cocks head and raises brow*) 

Again, when you start really tuning in to these types of behavior, you’ll be surprised at the energy you waste, and you’ll be able to start changing those bad habits.

And though it seems petty, unplug things you won’t use for awhile.  If it has a plug and you leave it in the outlet, it will drain electricity whether it’s “on” or not!  It may only be a small amount, but everything adds up over time.  Remember, small steps make a big difference in the long run.  So unplug your phone charger when it’s not in use.  Look around and see if you can spot things you only use on occasion, like maybe a bread maker, juicer or blender.  Unplug!

We’ve had some not too fun times with water heaters, so we’re very aware of them now.  Watch that hot water!  Set your water heater to no higher than 120degrees.  Not only will this prevent scalding accidents (a MUST if you have children), but it will save you money.  Water used in your dishwasher and clothes washing machine doesn’t need to be any hotter than that to disinfect and clean, but if it is, you’re paying extra for it.  So make sure that either you (if you know what you’re doing) or a handyman sets your water heater to no higher than 120.

These are really only a few of the things you can do to save energy at home.  There are many more that can be done. 

Do you think you’ll adopt any of these good habits?

What do you do that I’ve not mentioned here?