Energy Savers

At What Temperature Do You Set Your Thermostat in the Summer?

You can save 5%–15% on your cooling bills by raising the temperature setting on your thermostat when you are away and don't need cooling. Only lower the setting to 78°F when you are home and need cooling. A programmable thermostat can make it easy to adjust the temperature on a regular schedule.

At what temperature do you set your thermostat when you are home and awake in the summer? How about when you're asleep or away?

Each Thursday, you have the chance to share your thoughts on a topic related to energy efficiency or renewable energy for consumers. Please comment with your answers, and also feel free to respond to other comments.

Ener-Gee Whiz Answers Your Questions: Thermostat Settings and Solar Water Heaters

Ener-Gee Whiz would like to offer a hearty thanks to all of you who've written in for your great efficiency and renewables related questions. Now, on to some answers!

10 Resources to Help You Save Energy Now

A lot of the feedback that I see about the Energy Savers.gov site says, "This is great, but way too detailed. I just want to know what's easy and what I can do now!" And that makes sense; EnergySavers.gov has a lot of information about a lot of topics—you can learn about buying efficient appliances, choosing new heating and cooling systems, selecting windows, and even how to use renewable energy.

But not everyone wants to make a big purchase right now; many of you want to know how you can save with what you have or with just a small investment in time and money. These 10 resources detail easy ways that you can start saving now:

Energy Efficient, Summer-Friendly Appliances

Last week's question of the week included a little reference to the No-Cost and Low-Cost Tips to Save Energy this Summer. So I thought I'd follow that up with some, well, not-so-low-cost tips that you can consider this summer: Purchasing summertime, energy-friendly appliances.

How Do You Stay Cool and Comfortable in Hot Weather?

As you may have read on the blog over the past few weeks, the Stay Cool, Save Money site offers no-cost and low-cost tips for saving energy during the warm summer months, as well as ideas for long-term investments to help you save year round. Whether you rely on an air conditioner, strategically opened windows (and closed shades), fans, regular dips in the pool, or some other strategy entirely, tell us:

How do you stay cool and comfortable in hot weather?

Each Thursday, you have the chance to share your thoughts on a topic related to energy efficiency or renewable energy for consumers. Please comment with your answers, and also feel free to respond to other comments.

Stay Cool for Less Money with a Ceiling Fan

After a few late snowstorms here in Colorado, I am more than ready to turn off the heat and enjoy some warm spring weather. We haven't had any heat waves here yet, but many of you have already been trying to stay cool; our friends in Washington, D.C. were sweltering (by comparison) in 90+°F weather just a couple short weeks ago!

Whether you're still anticipating snow or have broken out the sandals and tank tops, you may be starting to think about keeping your summer cooling costs down. One easy way to keep cool while saving money is using a ceiling fan.

Spring into Energy Savings

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.
- Hal Borland

In my part of the country, winter seems to hang on an interminably long time. So I always look forward to the first signs of spring with unbridled glee. At the first glimpse of a cherry blossom, the winter boots are banished to the back of the closet and the sandals are put to work in earnest.

But while spring may give the perfect excuse to hang up the winter coat, the advent of spring does not mean that we can pack away thoughts of energy efficiency with our wool sweaters. Last winter, Jennifer Carter gave us a number of great energy efficiency tips for winter. Now that spring's milder temperatures are upon us and it's time to consider what energy efficiency means in warmer weather, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's new Stay Cool, Save Money website is a great resource for efficiency tips. The site has a wealth of no-cost and low-cost advice that can help you lighten your energy load without lightening your wallet. And, for those ready to make a more long-term investment in energy savings, the site has resources to help you make well-informed decisions to get the most bang for your energy buck.

Resolve to Save Energy in the New Year

What are your New Year's Resolutions? It's that time again to make your list and decide how January 1st will be the day you start your new and improved life! [end the infomercial voiceover] In all seriousness, it seems that most New Year's Resolutions are abandoned sometime around mid-February, in spite of our best intentions. But it doesn't have to be that way. I know and you know that your resolutions are important, as shown by USA.gov's list of popular New Year's resolutions.

My guess is that one of the most popular resolutions this year will be to save money. If saving money is one of your resolutions, have you considered working energy into your savings plans? If not, you should! A few simple strategies can help you stay on track to save energy all year long. One great way to set goals that stick is to make them SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely

Here's how you might set SMART goals to save energy:

Energy Tax Credits: Stay Warm and Save MORE Money!

With all of the news this month about the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, you may have heard about the energy tax incentives that were included for both consumers and for business, utilities, and governments.

If you are already preparing for winter and working to make your home more efficient, this is good news. The federal tax credits can help you save energy, stay warm, and save money this winter and beyond. Combined with other sources of financial help that we've already discussed on this blog, you may be able to save significantly on your improvements.

EERE's Energy Calculators

Do you have a few minutes? Feel like seeing how energy efficient your home is? Go grab a bunch of your old utility bills and sit down with EERE's Energy Calculators & Software for Homes. There's a lot to search through, but some of these calculators are pretty fun to play around with.

This page has calculators for just about everything a homeowner would be interested in. There are tools here for home-wide energy efficiency, insulation, appliances, and water usage. There are also whole sections on renewable energy systems, space heating and cooling, and water heating. If you want to know how much you're spending on something and how much you should be spending, you can pull out a lot of useful information from these.

There are also a few calculators for vehicles that let you see how much money you'd save with a more fuel-efficient vehicle. I particularly like the one that compares your car's performance with a hybrid vehicle. Which is fun, if not a bit tragic, because there is something horrifying about seeing how my poor little one-year-old car will use $3,000 more in gasoline during its lifetime than its hybrid equivalent. Oh! And it'll also spew 400 more pounds of "Carbon Monoxide (Poisonous Gas)" into the air. Isn't that charming!

In any case, the EERE Calculators are a fun project for a rainy (or, considering the season, snowy) day. Some of the calculators are more technical than others, so don't be afraid to hunt around. And unless you're an energy professional or a home builder, you can probably steer clear of the software.

Elizabeth Spencer is a communicator at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which assists EERE in providing technical content for many of its Web sites.