In today's economy, making ends meet is tough. Many are unemployed and those who still have a job are worried about becoming unemployed. So, many are trying to cut costs to try to make ends meet, one place to cut those costs, is on our electric bill, these cuts can last year round. Here are 5 tips you can use to save on your power bill year round with or without the use of wind power.
1. Furnaces and a/c units that do not get serviced yearly can lose efficiency costing you more money in your utility bill. Having them serviced on a yearly basis will keep them in top running condition, prolonging their life which will save you from a costly replacement bill. The climate you live in does not matter because regular servicing will save money and energy no matter where you live. Along with regular servicing, get in the habit of changing the filter once a month because a dirty filter will cut down on efficiency and can cause premature failure of the units.
2. Many people turn their thermostats for a/c in the summer off or way up, and the furnaces in the winter (normally) to an extremely low temperature. Doing this is fine if you do not go to extremes, turning the thermostat off or to extreme high or low temperature will cause your units to work twice as hard to cool or heat the house back to a comfortable level. A programmable thermostat is more affordable today then they were many years ago so, consider changing that old manual thermostat with a programmable one. Then program it to reasonable temperature that will not cause your units to run for excessive periods to bring the temperature back to a comfortable level.
3. In order to keep the cool/warm air in the house, depending on the season, you should seal the air leaks. This can be done in several easy inexpensive ways such as, caulking around exterior doors and windows, placing foam gaskets behind outlet and switch covers that are on outside walls. These two things alone can go a long way to seal up the house and keep your furnace or a/c from running excessively. You can get the caulk and gaskets (ones they use behind the covers on switches and outlets that are located outdoors) by making a quick trip to the hardware store.
4. Fewer and fewer homes are built today with real wood burning fireplaces but, if you do have one and use it regularly in the winter, you should also have it and the chimney cleaned once a year. Burning wood can save a lot of money on heat bills in the winter but a heavy build up of creosote can cause chimney fires. If the chimney does not have a screen and cap on it, you should have one put on. Birds will sit on top of the chimney for the warmth, and then be overcome by the fumes, causing them die and fall into the chimney. This can cause smoke to back up into the house.
5. Using wind power to cut the power bill makes sense because, with the technology of today, you can build a roof mounted wind mill for three hundred dollars or less. You can cut you power bill in half or more, depending on how much wind you get, obviously the more wind, the more power is produced, and the less power you will need to buy from the power company. So, when trying to reduce your power bill, consider wind power as a way to cut it in half or more.
With power costs rising every day and threat of losing your job, it becomes more important to use wind power to reduce your utility bill. Click here to discover affordable ways to use renewable energy sources.
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