Did You Know: The average American spends $111 a month on their electric bill, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Of that $111, heating and air conditioning costs make up roughly 54% – here in North Texas with our extreme summer heat it’s between 55% and 65%, depending on how your home is heated. If you heat with electricity, you are probably at or above 65% – those of us with gas heat get a break in the winter. As Certified Energy Auditors and High-Efficiency HVAC experts, we’re happy to offer up a list of Energy-Saving Tips for Fall in North Texas.
1. Dry Your Clothes Outside: Air-drying your clothes a line outside or inside on a rack can save you anywhere from $100-$120 annually.
2. Open Your Windows & Turn On Your AC Fans: As covered in one of our previous blog posts – this is one of the best, most efficient ways to keep your home comfortable during the cooler spring or fall months. Your AC fan pulls in cool outside air through your windows and allows for filtered air to be circulated all throughout your house, especially in the evenings when the sun goes down and the air cools quickly.
3. Keep Your Shades & Blinds Closed: While the cool air might be keeping your home nice and cozy thanks to Tip No. 2, solar gain presents a potential hurdle for saving energy. An easy way to minimize solar gain, the increase in temperature from sun’s rays, is to keep your window shades and blinds closed during the day on the West side of your home.
4. Use Your Ceiling Fans: Before the triple digits get here, you can put off running your HVAC equipment in lieu of switching on your handy ceiling fans. Take them out of the reverse mode they should be on in the winter and move them in the spring to the forward mode. A ceiling fan uses significantly less energy than your full air conditioning system.
5. Shut Down Your Computer: When you’re trying to keep your home comfortable, a computer that isn’t in use but is still on not only uses energy but also warms the room up – meaning you’ve got to spend more money to get that room back to a comfortable temperature. A quick solution? Go ahead and just shut it down.
6. Change Your HVAC System’s Filter: A dirty and/or clogged filter reduces the air flow which increases the time your system must run to achieve desired temperature setting. This causes your system to work longer and harder and decreases system life expectancy and increases utility bills. Change your filter every 90 days minimum. Every 30 days if you have inside pets.
Efficient Home Solutions and our experienced technicians can help ensure that your HVAC is operating at maximum efficiency this fall. Schedule your service appointment or consultation today.
Got any energy saving tips of your own? Feel free to leave them below!
(H/T Simple Stated, Consumerist, The Simple Dollar, Energy.gov)