What is the Best Temperature --?
Our electric bill here surrounded by Texas is $400 a month!
If I recall was it 78?
Thanks!
Answers: Where Energy Is Used In The Home
The following electric verve use pattern is fairly adjectives in many Tallahassee homes (all-electric homes heated and cooled beside an electric heat pump).
Heating or cooling the house - 60%
Water heating - 15%
Refrigeration - 13%
Everything else (TV, lights, washer, dryer, cooking, etc.) - 12%
As you can see, the greatest opportunity for energy reduction are within heating and cooling the house.
Making A Plan To Save Energy
Make sure that all member of your household understand that saving dash is important.
Settings at your central thermostat are critical. Post a written reminder at the thermostat, for example:
Summer 78 degree (80 when away)
Winter 68 degrees (65 at night)
Discuss household energy practices. Place written reminders within prominent places (like the refrigerator). Get everyone on board with the action.
To see how you're doing, keep a written chart! Compare kilowatt-hour usage on bills from month to month, and compare the same month one year ago. Write it down! This really works.
Energy Tips for Apartment Dwellers
Helpful counsel to apartment dwellers, especially students and others with their first-ever utility account!
Don't reckon of it as the "Light Bill." We may call it a light bill but within summer we ought to call it "the Air Conditioning Bill." Central air conditioning requires almost 50 times as much power as a 75-watt light bulb.
Set your air conditioning thermostat obligingly.
Summer: Recommended indoor temperature is 78 degrees surrounded by . Set it higher when you're away all time.
Winter: Recommended indoor temperature is 68 degrees. Set it lower at dark.
How to set the "Fan" selection: Always select AUTO, never ON.
Find your system's air filter. Make sure here is one, and make sure it's clean. If not, notify your apartment officer. Some filters are cleanable; others require replacement. Clogged filters increase your cooling and heat costs.
Manage sunlight at windows. In summer, close shades, drapes or blinds to block and reflect the sun's steam outward. You'll be surprised at what a great difference this makes. In winter, let sun within, but close window coverings at night.
Use hot wet wisely. Report or repair leaks promptly. A hot river leak can increase your energy costs as powerfully as your water and sewer costs.
Summer Energy Tips
For big savings this summer, develop biddable energy saving traditions. Big savings can come from little changes contained by behavior and habits. Top on any list: Proper handling of the atmosphere conditioning thermostat. Here's a quick review of low-cost and no-cost ways to save enthusiasm and money.
Cool your house to 78 degrees or your highest comfortable heat. In summer, higher thermostat settings cost less; lower settings cost more. Set your thermostat warily! Research on Florida homes showed that summer AC cost increases 12% for each degree the thermostat is lowered below 80 degree.
Close shades, drapes and blinds during the day (all directions).
Wear lightweight clothing (short sleeves, shorts, cotton).
Don't try to speed-cool at a very low warmth setting when you arrive home from work or school. Choose your normal evening setting, for example 78 degree. Your AC cools just as fast set at 78 degree as it does at 68 degrees. Set it to 78 degrees and avoid over-cooling.
When weather is mild, use fan instead of the air conditioner. Your central nouns conditioner will use about 50 times more energy than a enthusiast at medium speed.
If you have ceiling fan, run the fans and the air conditioner at one and the same time but set the air conditioner 2 or 3 degrees high. You'll feel just as cool, but your overall cooling cost will be 20-30% lower!
Turn past its sell-by date ceiling fans when you're away. Fans cool your skin. Fans don't cool the room. Turn them off if you're not going to be here to feel the breeze.
Use a microwave instead of the range/oven. The microwave doesn^aEURTMt heat the kitchen.
Keep window and doors closed while air conditioning.
Change the air conditioner's nouns filter monthly during heavy use. When it's clogged, airflow is restricted -- cooling costs rise, and your system may eventually suffer a compressor failure near a $2,000+ repair bill!
Arrange items in your refrigerator for quick removal and return. Your refrigerator cools the food but heat the kitchen. The longer the door is open, the longer it runs, heating the kitchen and raise your air conditioning costs.
Vent the clothes dryer to the out-of-doors. Otherwise it pours steam and moisture into the house air.
If your dryer has an automatic cycle, use it. Over-drying wilderness energy and wears out your clothes.
Clean the dryer lint filter peak frequently and check the outdoor vent opening. When lint slows the airflow, the dryer runs longer. When the vent is clogged the clothes get a long, ineffective tumbling.
Drink plenty of cool liquid. Avoid caffeine or alcohol. Eat lightly. Cook outdoors.
Plant shade trees. Outside shade can reduce nouns conditioning costs 30%. Shade on the east and west is most important.
Seal air leak around doors and windows. Use caulk and weather-stripping.
Check for air duct leak, or disconnected ducts. Duct leaks in the attic or underneath the house can double your cooling cost.
Close your fireplace damper!
Always set the AC thermostat FAN selection to "AUTO", never to "ON". This is important: On AUTO, humidity is kept lower, costs are much lower and comfort is difficult. Don't move the fan lever to "ON"! Set the fan on "AUTO".
Keep up the quirk of turning off lights as you leave a room, especially surrounded by summer. Lights add a lot of steam to the room. Better yet, change out to CFL's that use profoundly less energy and produce smaller number heat.
Have a qualified service technician conduct a seasonal checkup on your central boil pump or air conditioner. Your springtime servicing should include a check of your thermostat including leveling it if necessary; a check of your system's refrigerant charge; cleaning evaporator and condenser coils if requisite; and check for duct leaks and repair or seal as prerequisite.
Consider a pool pump timer. Pool pumping 24 hours/day with a 3/4 horsepower pump motor can cost nearly $80/month at current electric rates. A timer is well worth its installed cost.
Bulk up your ceiling insulation. Call Energy Services for ceiling insulation grant that pay 80% of the cost, up to $400 (or 100% of the cost up to $500 for income-qualified customers). The highest recommended horizontal for our region is "R38" (38 R-values) or about 15 inches depth of the newer kinds of blown white fiberglass insulation. A well brought-up protective layer of ceiling insulation prevents heat from moving inward within summer and holds heat inside in winter. Note: Recently the U.S. Department of Energy moved Tallahassee into its Region 3 climate zone, which includes some quite cold locations like Atlanta, Richmond, Kansas City and Seattle. Recommended maximum ceiling insulation level contained by Region 3 if you heat with electric resistance "strip" heat is R49. That would call for about 20 inches of blown white fiberglass, or 13 inches of blown cellulose insulation.
Use your bathroom vent enthusiast after a shower.
Reconsider having an old refrigerator or freezer contained by your hot garage.
Avoid rooftop power ventilating fans. They tend to cost more to operate than they put aside, especially if the thermostat is set too low.
Make sure your air conditioner's return-air grill has plenty of clearance. Floor-level grills sometimes attain covered by a rug or blocked by furniture.
Use a clothesline.
Make sure to clean the lint from your clothes dryer's outdoor exhaust vent. And make sure it's not throwing lint onto your nouns conditioner's outdoor condenser coils.
Make sure your air conditioner's thermostat is well away from any source or warmth. Keep lamps at a distance to avoid false high warmth readings and unwanted long cooling runtimes.
If your garage was long ago converted to an sheltered, heated and cooled room, make sure it has ceiling insulation.
Make sure your ceiling fan are breezing downwards, not upwards. A common problem.
If your air conditioning ductwork is lower than the house and your supply air registers are at floor level, check adjectives of them from above with a flashlight. First, it's easy for the register vanes to be accidentally kicked shut. Second, brand sure the duct boot under the vent is still connected. When you look down through a floor register, you shouldn^aEURTMt see the earth.
Keep adjectives air conditioning supply air registers spread out. Don't close off rooms or registers. That doesn't save money, and it may organize to costly problems.
Your air conditioner shouldn't pull nouns through a succession of filters. If you have a filter mounted within a hallway grill, and find a second filter slotted into the air handler, remove one of the filter. If in doubt, call for an strength audit or consult with an AC technician.
Take Control Of Your Winter Heating Costs
Beware of the following problems that can lead to skyrocketing winter heat costs.
Thermostat setting is too high. 68 degrees is recommended. Set your thermostat cooperatively, and lower the temperature to 65 degrees at darkness if you have a heat pump, or 55-60 degree overnight if you have gas, oil or electric strip bake. If you heat to 78 degrees, expect illustrious bills.
Heat pump thermostat accidentally set to "Emergency Heat" all winter. A simple mistake that can double or triple your heating costs.
Clogged filter and restricted airflow. If you have a heat pump, anything that restricts airflow will fall efficiency and increase your heating co
we maintain our a/c at 75 and keep all the curtains and blinds shut to hang on to out the sun It's 78.
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