Sustainable Lawrence’s Secretary, Jori Fahrenfeld, has some great new tips from PSE&G on how to save money on your utility bills:
- Lower the temperature settings on your thermostat. Home heating is the largest user of energy in the winter. If you have a programmable thermostat, set the temperature as low as is comfortable. Lower the setpoint when you’re sleeping or away from home. The thermostat will automatically reset the temperature, but resetting a regular thermostat is easy, too. When you lower the temperature overnight, the chillier morning temperature will be a reminder to reset it higher if you’ll be home during the day.
- PSEG has programs you may apply for to install new thermostats. Additional information is available here: https://marketplace.pseg.com/smart-thermostats/
- Move your furniture and curtains away from heat sources. If you have hot air heating, move these items away from air vents, open registers or baseboard dampers to facilitate air flow.
- Remove or cover your window air conditioners to reduce drafts.
- Use your existing ceiling fans to circulate warm air. Make sure the fan blades are slowly spinning clockwise to draw colder air up and force warmer air down.
- Close your fireplace dampers when the fireplace is not in use. This stops warm air from escaping up through the fireplace chimney.
PSEG has additional tips for saving energy in the winter:
- When it’s time to do some maintenance and/or renovations: seal basement windows and doors, add weather-stripping or caulk to seal cracks and prevent drafts from windows and doorframes and install draft guards beneath doors (these can be permanently installed on the doors).
- Replace old windows with new, energy-efficient windows to reduce heat loss and save energy.
- The US Department of Energy (USDOE) has additional information about window updating or replacement: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/update-or-replace-windows
If you own your residence, your budget will determine how many of these recommendations you can carry out. If you are a renter, be sure to first check with the building owner/ rental company to see what they can do or what they will allow you to do.