How to Conserve More Energy at Home This Spring

Spring is a beautiful time of year in Central Florida. It’s also a good time to prepare a smart strategy to conserve more energy at home. Use these tips to lower your cooling bills, improve comfort and lighten the load on your hard-working A/C or heat pump.

Tips to Conserve More Energy at Home

• Home cooling conservation: Preventive maintenance helps keep your A/C or heat pump running efficiently throughout the cooling months. Check the air filter regularly, keep registers and grilles clean and schedule professional maintenance this spring.
• Programmable thermostats: Turning back your thermostat seven to 15 degrees for eight hours a day can save up to 10 percent on your cooling bill. Programmable thermostats were designed for maximizing turn-back and comfort hours automatically. If you’re still using a manual thermostat, make the practical switch to programmable devices.
• Sealing: Sealing leaks in your home’s envelope stops air and moisture infiltration, helps balance temperatures in the home and lightens the load on your cooling system. Check for air leaks using a smoke pencil or lit incense stick around windows, entry doors, the attic hatch and penetrations through the envelope. Seal leaks with caulk, weatherstripping and spray-in foam.
• Bright savings: With an average share of 10 percent of the energy budget, home lighting offers bright energy-conservation savings. Update your home’s lighting from conventional incandescent lighting to LEDs and CFLs. These energy-efficient lighting choices use 50 to 80 percent less energy, and last 10 to 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Enjoy additional energy savings with dimmer devices, motion detectors and timers. Solar lamps are perfect for walkways and don’t cost a kilowatt.
• Water heating: Electric water heaters consume up to 25 percent of the total energy used in the average home. Check your water heater’s thermostat. If it’s set to “high” or above 120 degrees, turn it back to medium setting or 120 degrees. Use a thermometer to test temperature at the most distant water outlet from the water heater.

Conserve more energy at home this spring by consulting the pros at Rinaldi’s Energy Solutions. We’ve served the Orlando area since 1969.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about conserving energy and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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