How to Buy a Furnace: Things to Consider

Air Conditioning Efficiency Tips in Summer

Why Do You Need to be Energy Efficient?

Energy efficiency is quite an old term, but it’s something that not everyone knows in and out. The fact is energy efficiency should no longer be viewed as something that’s optional. In a world that relies heavily on fossil fuels and other finite sources of energy, it has to be something that the government must enforce to its constituents.

By definition, energy efficiency is essentially doing more while using lesser energy. When you choose to be energy efficient, doing so benefits not just you but also the world you live in. It also allows you to save money; help improve the economy, and generally enhancing the quality of life in this generation and the future generation.

The truth is an average household in the U.S. will spend about $5,000 on energy. But this amount can substantially be reduced by purchasing and using more energy-efficient appliances and performing energy-efficient actions. For instance, buying appliances with ENERGY STAR certification can lead to saving about 30% on electricity bills, and this includes refrigerators, ovens, gas ranges, and others. You also might want to consider replacing your traditional incandescent light bulbs with halogens, which actually are a lot more energy efficient. If you don’t like halogens, other options include LEDs and CFLs, which according to manufacturers, can slash up to 80% on energy bills. If you try to convert that to dollars, that would amount to almost $100 per year of savings.

Aside from appliances and bulbs, you also would want perform simple actions that can lead to energy efficiency. One very simple yet effective energy-saving tip is to wash clothes using cold water. Although you feel like there really is no difference, the truth is you get to save about $60 per year when you do that. Likewise, if you make sure your tires are always inflated, it means you get to save another $60 per year.

It is also worthy of mention that when you become energy efficient, you also can help improve the economy. When everyone’s doing it, the city, state, and federal governments get to save, too, including businesses and private companies. If energy efficient projects are built within the local community, i.e., infrastructure, building improvements, and manufacturing plants, there also will be jobs available for the local residents. As a matter of fact, the energy efficiency industry created almost a million jobs in the country back in 2010.

Last but not the least, being energy efficient means you get to help the environment’s cause. By minimizing the use of energy sources, especially fossil fuels, you no longer will be contributing to carbon emissions, which leads to slowing down the bad effect to nature.

Top Home Heating Myths

The Most Practical Ways of Saving Energy at Home

When it comes to energy consumption, homeowners usually frown by the simple thought of it. They’re not to be blamed though because the ever increasing energy costs these days affect practically everyone. No matter how angry we become, there will always be some factors that are beyond our control.

Now with regards to saving energy and being more efficient of how we use it, there are several tips you read online. But then again, it always seems that those tips aren’t really as practical as you thought. They’re just too impossible to do.

In this article, we’ll give you the most practical ways of saving energy at home – tips that you can actually use at home to cut your annual energy expenses. Let’s start with the easy low-cost and no-cost ways to save energy from the leading authority online, Energy.gov:

• Install a programmable thermostat to lower utility bills and manage your heating and cooling systems efficiently.
• Air dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher’s drying cycle.
• Turn things off when you are not in the room such as lights, TVs, entertainment systems, and your computer and monitor.
• Plug home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips; turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use — TVs and DVDs in standby mode still use several watts of power.
• Lower the thermostat on your water heater to 120°F.
• Take short showers instead of baths and use low-flow showerheads for additional energy savings.
• Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.
• Air dry clothes.

Want some more tips? Get to this link.

You should start realizing right now that you have been so dependent on appliances and equipment that use energy. That dependence leads to high energy costs per year. The simple and practical ways of cutting down or minimizing your use of appliances and equipment like air drying clothes instead of using your dryer and using low-flow shower heads are quite easy to embrace without you compromising comfort.

You’ll save a lot on your electric bills if you change your bulbs. (image credit: WikiHow.com)

Meanwhile, according to Go For Change, in their blog post “16 Practical Tips for Saving Energy at Home,” the act of simply turning off the lights, changing light bulbs, and unplugging unused appliances can help you a lot in energy savings.

1. Turn off lights! Use as little as you really need.
2. Change all the incandescent light bulbs you can to those funny-looking fluorescent ones.
3. Unplug appliances (washer, dryer, kitchen things like blender, toaster, hairdryer etc…) when not in use. This includes your cell-phone charger and any low-voltage lights that have those boxy AC adaptors on the plug end.

Read more tips here.

You also would want to consider the installation of energy-efficient windows if you have the right budget for it. They work by trapping the light of the sun to produce enough warmth in the winter and then repelling the same during the summer. This method is proven and won’t lead you to spend more on heating your home.

Save on heating. (image credit: loshanairandref.co.za)

Lastly, WikiHow.com suggests that one of the best and most practical ways of saving energy is to prevent its loss. Yes, it is true that a significant percentage of the energy we’re spending are actually unused. To prevent energy loss, there’s a need to prevent drafts.

In an average house, up to 50 percent of heat is lost through drafts. To test an area, simply hold the palm of your hand up against a door or window. If you feel cold air coming through, warm air is escaping. This is simple to fix and can save you hundreds on your yearly heating bill.

Fit draft excluders around all exterior doors and interior if needed.

Fill in any cracks or crevices on window frames, skirting boards or floors with a filler or sealant.

Close the curtains or shutters after dark fall to trap in the warm air and prevent drafts.
If your door has a large crack under it, consider covering it with something (some stores sell cute ‘door-crack blockers’).

Read the complete version of this article in this link.

The best thing about this article is that all of the tips we mentioned above are doable, unlike most of the stuff you read online. So if you really are serious when it comes to energy saving at home, then you should start embracing these ways.

The Factors That Affect the Price of Heating Oil

There are more than six million homes in the U.S. alone that depend on heating oil. That kind of number is an indication of how big the market for this source of heating is. By definition, heating oil is a petroleum distillate that comes from the liquid separation of crude oil. Because of it low viscosity, it was discovered to be very feasible for fueling furnaces and boilers, the purpose of which is to provide heat and warmth against a cold weather in buildings and living spaces.

(image credit: BoilerJuice.com)

For decades, heating oil has been the most consistent, reliable, and dependable source of heat in homes. But one thing that supporters of other sources like natural gas, electricity, and propane contend that the price of oil is putting those who use heating oil in a tough spot. They say that the prices can be a bit unstable.

Is it really true? If that’s the case, what are those factors that affect the price of heating oil in the market? Let’s find out.

In a website called FuturesKnowledge.com, we found this post titled “The Top Factors that Move the Price of Heating Oil” that provides good information with regards to addressing the issue of heating oil prices being unstable.

Composite cost of crude oil acquired by U.S. refiners

That heating oil is a product of crude oil makes its production, distribution and consumption heavily dependent on the price of crude oil. In general, whatever affects the price of crude oil also affects the activities of the producers, distributors and consumers of heating oil. The thing is if there are fears of some crisis affecting the supply of crude oil, which ends up pushing the price of crude oil upward, you can also expect that issue to affect the price heating oil, since whatever tapers the supply of crude oil would also taper the production of heating oil. The chart below shows the historic relationship between the prices of these two commodities.

Price of alternative heating fuels

As you probably already know, heating oil isn’t the only available heating fuel. Natural gas and kerosene are examples of other heating fuels. Now, during very cold winters, and if the price of crude oil remains stable, there are chances that the price of other heating fuels may rise higher than the price of heating oil. This would normally encourage consumers to switch to heating oil, thereby, driving the demand for heating oil in the process. The increase in demand, in turn, pushes the price of heating oil upward. In addition, if any event, other than weather condition, affects the price of alternative heating fuels, you can expect that heating oil would follow suit.

See the rest here.

It may be true and accurate to say that the price of heating oil is greatly affected by the price of crude oil. The simplest explanation for this is because heating oil literally comes from crude oil. However, it isn’t entirely correct to say that the price is entirely dependent on one factor alone. We’ll learn later on that there are other factors that can play a role, too.

For instance, in this article titled “Why Do Heating Oil Prices Fluctuate?” from EIA.gov, there are two other things that can also prove to be crucial in determining the price of heating oil. See them below:

Seasonality in the demand for heating oil—When crude oil prices are stable, home heating oil prices tend to rise in the winter months when demand is highest. A homeowner in the Northeast might use 850 gallons to 1,200 gallons of heating oil during a typical winter, and then they may consume very little during the rest of the year.

Competition in local markets—The number of heating oil suppliers in a particular region can affect the level of price competition in that area. Heating oil prices and service offerings can vary substantially in locations with few suppliers compared to areas with a large number of competing suppliers. Consumers in rural locations may pay higher prices for heating oil because there are fewer competitors.

Source: http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=heating_oil_factors_affecting_prices

So even if the price is crude oil is high, there is still a possibility that heating oil prices remain low or stable simply because there is little demand for it, like when it is summer. Also, if a specific area, say a city or town has several heating oil delivery companies competing for huge share of the market, then competition plays a vital role in prices. The more providers there are the more stable and competitive the prices become.

The Unconventional Ways of Saving Energy

You always hear a lot of things and advice as to how to save energy and spend less on your consumption of it. While you practically have tried using all those traditional methods, you realized later on that they aren’t really as effective as you thought they should be. However, it does not mean you just ignore the fact that you are spending so much to be comfortable at home.

One way to at least give you some optimism is to read these unconventional ways of saving energy we compiled online. So if you’re interested, read this…

Cooking outdoors is more than just fun. (photo credit: Bridgman.co.uk)

The first tips have something to do with cooking. We got this from GreenMountainEnergy.com, in an article called “Unorthodox Summer Energy-Saving Tips.”

Cook outdoors: Grilling already is one of America’s favorite summer pastimes, but firing up the grill doesn’t have to be limited to weekends or the 4th of July holiday. Instead of switching on your stovetop or turning on the oven, which heats up your home, cook outside to make life more comfortable inside.

Cooking tips: Salad, fruit, nuts, cereal, olives and cheese are just a few types of food that do not require any cooking in the oven or stove. Eating more uncooked food will help reduce your electricity usage, and it’s easier to do in the summer since there are so many fresh fruits and vegetables available.

See more of this article from this link.

Those two tips above make a lot of sense, really. First, eating fresh and raw food, especially fruits and vegetables isn’t just about being healthy, it actually helps you save energy because you don’t need to use your cooking equipment to prepare the. Also, the fact that cooking outdoors sounds a lot more fun than indoors is already a good enough reason to save energy since you don’t have to always rely on your oven or gas stove.

Meanwhile, when it comes to your electric bill, there also are unconventional but proven ways to cut your consumption. See this bunch of tips from StarEnergyPartners.com:

Plant greenery around your home. If you start from scratch, it’s an investment that might take years to pay off, but the right selection of plants can shade your house and keep it cooler in warmer months. It also has a nice side effect of making your house more aesthetically pleasing.

Take advantage of off-peak rates. Some people don’t realize that electricity companies charge more during peak usage hours. If you use selective timers to control your energy usage and restrict it to only off-peak hours of the day, you could enjoy the benefits of the reduced rate. Try it on large appliances like your washer and dryer.

Keep temperatures in mind when using appliances. Help your appliances avoid working so hard just to increase and/or decrease temperature…you can save energy. Let food cool down before refrigerating it. Turn the heat off the stovetop before you are done cooking so residual heat can finish the job. Use cold water in laundry cycles.

Insulate everything. Home improvement stores sell special insulating materials for light switches and electrical outlets. You can also buy a special insulating paint to line your interior walls. It may not seem like a lot, but every little bit helps when it comes to saving energy.

Source: http://starenergypartners.com/blog/4-unconventional-tricks-to-lower-your-electric-bill/

The second tip is probably the most important one to consider since you are most likely unaware of the fact that electricity service providers indeed will charge you more when you’re using electricity in peak hours. Only if you commit to figuring out what those peak hours are, then you know how to go around them and cut your costs.

Greenery at home. (photo credit: SundayCollector.com.au)

Lastly, you get to save energy even in the littlest things you do like how the way you dry your clothes and keeping tabs of your roof. Instead of using your dryer every single time you wash your clothes, why not hang them to dry? By doing so, you actually can save about 4% of your home’s yearly energy consumption. As for your roof, it has been proven that painting it white will allow the living space below to be cooler, which means you don’t have to always rely on your air conditioning all summer long.