10 Ways to Lower Your Summer Utility Bills:

As summer heats up, utility bills can sky rocket!  Check out these ten simple tips that will help you save big bucks on your water and energy bills (and will help save the planet too).

1.    Unplug electronic devices: Be sure to not only turn off, but unplug your computer, television, and other devices that can drain power even when they’re not on. If that’s too much of a hassle for you, consider buying a Smart Strip, which automatically cuts power when devices don’t need it.

2.    Close doors and vents: If you plan to spend your evening in the family room, there’s no reason to waste energy cooling the basement or guest room as well. Shut doors and shut vents to close off areas of the house you’re not using.

3.    Use fans: Overhead fans get air circulating, which means you might be able to delay turning on the air conditioning—especially if you can also leave windows open on cool summer evenings.

4.    Use compact fluorescent bulbs: Admittedly, some of these bulbs are not the best (weird colored light, dim until they warm up, etc.) but there are some good ones out there. In fact, some of the cheap multi-packs from Lowes and Home Depot often produce the best quality of light. The added bonus is that CF bulbs put out less heat, so they also reduce your AC load in the summer. 

5.    Get your AC inspected: Inspectors can make sure your system is leak-free and operating as efficiently as possible. Don’t forget to clean air filters; some units require monthly cleanings.

6.    Add insulation: Homes often leak cool air during the summer (and warm air in the winter) because of spaces in between walls. Fill these gaps with insulation; Squirting spray foam into drilled holes in the wall might do the trick.

7.    Minimize oven use: Using your oven to roast vegetables or heat up dinner makes your AC work overtime. Try to make more salads and other cold food in the summer, or use the toaster oven for small portions.

8.    Weather strip your doors and windows: Just think, a 1/4 inch gap along the bottom of a 3 foot wide door is 9 square inches of open space. If you had a 3 inch x 3 inch hole in one of your exterior walls you’d fix it, wouldn’t you?

9.    Put a brick, sealed jar or jug of water in your toilet tank: Doing so displaces water in the tank and causes you to use less. Of course, too little water when you flush can cause problems, so you’ll have to experiment with this one. But be careful… Displacing so much water that you have to flush twice is generally more wasteful than flushing a larger volume once.

10.    Plant shade trees in strategic locations around your house: This is a longer term solution, but shade trees can keep your house much cooler in the summer without blocking the sun in the winter. Planting trees also helps offset our high-carbon lifestyles.