***Putting Money In Your Pocket Is as Simple as Knowing Where Your Energy Is Going.

The website Energy Star estimates that the average home spends approximately $2,200 on energy bills each year. Residential electricity use by consumer electronic products accounts for around 15 % of your household electrical usage. Even when you’re VCR or DVD player, computer or printers and scanners are turned off, power is needed to keep the added little features such as the clock displays, remote controls and battery re-chargers going. This bonus features could be costing you up to $100 per year in your energy costs.

To help save on your energy costs and the preservation on the environment there are several practices you can put into place:

1. When looking for new electronic equipment, consider ENERGY STAR qualified models. The average home has two televisions, three telephones and at least one DVD player. If they are all ENERGY STAR qualified models we would be saving over 25 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. This is equal to the emissions of over two million cars. The ENERGY STAR website even has a calculator on it to show you the difference between for example your present refrigerator’s energy use and that of an ENERGY STAR model. If you have a unit purchased before 1990 a replacement unit could save you $145 per year. If your model was purchased prior to 1980 the savings can be as much as $201 per year.
2. Power supplies or adapters which convert the energy from your wall to the laptop, digital camera and cordless phone account for 11% of the national electric bill. When you are not using the devices for which these adapters were made simply unplug them from the wall.
3. Invest in a Smart Strip Power Strip or Watt stopper Plug Load Control. They are the latest in surge protectors. They save electricity by stopping energy before it goes to phantom energy users. The units can hold between seven to ten plugs. The first outlet on the strip receives constant power and keeps all the programming information so you don’t have to reset the clocks, etc. on your TV and computer each time the switch is turned back on.
4. Install a programmable thermostat.
5. Install weather stripping around leaky doors and windows.
6. Apply caulking around your vents.
7. Add insulation to your roof
8. Put a clean air filter in our furnace.
9. Use ceiling fans instead of your furnace fan to keep air moving. They use less energy
10. Have your heating and cooling system checked annually by a qualified service technician to make sure everything is in working order.
11. Keep furniture, carpets and draperies away from your vents and grills inside your home.
12. When not at home, keep western facing window drapes and shades drawn.

The key is to be open-minded and proactive. No matter how small the effort when multiplied by millions of people the results can be significant.