- Install Compact Fluorescent (CFL) Bulbs where you can. Over the life of one CFL bulb, you could save approximately $40. Just a handful around the house and you could notice a difference in your energy bills. They cost a bit more, but you'll change them less often and they produce little or no heat.
- If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save more than $600 million in annual energy costs.
- Provide shading for your air conditioning condenser. Your central air conditioner's condenser works more efficiently in a cooler environment. Provide shade around your air conditioner to reduce your cooling costs by nearly 3 percent.
- Plant trees for shade. Deciduous trees — those that produce leaves in the spring and lose them in the fall — shade your house from the sun during warmer days and let the sun warm your house on cooler days. Shading your home could save up to 8 percent on cooling costs.
- Use ceiling fans to cool your house. The most efficient ceiling fans cost as little as 30 cents a months if used eight hours a day. A window air conditioner can cost 50 times as much as a fan. Ceiling fans will keep the air moving and allow you to keep the thermostat setting higher because moving air feels cooler.
- Turn off lights when you leave a room. Every time you turn off lights when they're not needed, you're saving energy and money. Keeping one 75-watt bulb off for one hour a day can save $2.15 a year.
- Seal household window drafts. Older homes, in particular, can benefit during winter from covering windows with plastic film. Home improvement stores carry easy-to-install window-sealing kits. You'll block out drafts and could save more than $40 on your energy bill in one heating season.
- Set your refrigerator at the right temperature. Your refrigerator temperature should be set between 34 and 37 degrees and your freezer at 5 degrees. Not only are these the safest temperatures for food storage, but most refrigerators are manufactured to operate most efficiently at these settings.
- Defrost food before cooking and pre-heat only for baking. Save 30 to 50 percent on cooking costs by defrosting your food before cooking. Your food will cook faster. Pre-heating is important for baking, but if you're reheating a casserole or cooking a roast, pre-heating isn't necessary.
- Choose a high-efficiency dishwasher. High-efficiency dishwashers, such as those with internal water heaters and load sensors, use 25 percent less energy than conventional models. You can save up to $30 a year by replacing a 10 year-old dishwasher with a high-efficiency model.
- Wash clothes in the coolest water possible. About 80 percent of the cost to run your washer is used for heating the water. Except for all-white loads, there is little benefit to washing in hot water.
CFL bulbs use up to 75% less energy to produce the same amount of light as incandescent bulbs.
Average life of a CFL bulb is 8,000 hours versus 1,000 hours for an incandescent bulb.
A typical CFL bulb costs about $3 more than a regular incandescent bulb but saves an average of $30 over its lifetime in energy and replacement costs.
Incandescent bulbs waste 90% of their energy creating heat.
If every home in America replaced the five most frequently used bulbs in their home with ENERGY STAR® CFL bulbs, it would eliminate greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from more than eight million cars.
If each household in Great River Energy's service area replaced 5 incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs it would eliminate 201,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
CFL bulbs are available in different sizes and shapes to fit in almost any fixture, for indoors and outdoors.
CFL bulbs generate 70% less heat, so they're safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.