The average family spends about $1,900 per year on gas and electric bills. Unfortunately, most of that is wasted. By making a few simple changes, you can have energy savings of up to 25%.

Compare your gas and electric use to the following chart on how we use energy in our homes.

Heating accounts for the largest portion of an average electric bill.
Source: 2007 Buildings Energy Data Book, Table 4.2.1., 2005 energy cost data.

• Approximately 43% of your gas and electric bill goes toward heating and cooling. Although there are several different types of fuels available to heat our homes, more than half use natural gas.
• Properly maintaining and upgrading your equipment as well as updated insulation, will result in energy savings each month.
• Set your thermostat at 78°F during the summer and 68°F during the winter. Each degree cooler or warmer will increase your energy use by 6% to 8%.
• Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month, or as needed. Dirty filters can increase operating costs by 20% since they cause the system to work harder.
• Turn off kitchen, bath, and other exhaust fans within 20 minutes after you are done cooking or bathing. When replacing exhaust fans, consider installing high-efficiency, low-noise models.
• Select energy-efficient products when replacing heating and cooling equipment.

• Water heating is the third largest energy expense in your home. It typically accounts for about 12% of your energy bill. You can decrease your water heating bills by: using less hot water, turning down the thermostat on the water heater, insulating your water heater, or replacing it with a more efficient model.
• Install low-flow faucets and showerheads.
• Repair leaky faucets promptly.
• Lower the thermostat on your water heater to 120°.
• Insulate your electric hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the thermostat.
• Insulate your natural gas or oil hot-water storage tank, but be careful not to cover the water heater’s top, bottom, thermostat, or burner compartment. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. If you’re not sure, get professional help.
• Insulate the first 6 feet of the hot and cold water pipes connected to the water heater.
• Replace your dishwasher or washing machine with an energy efficient model.
• Natural gas-on demand or tankless water heaters can give you energy savings of up to 30% compared with standard natural gas storage tank water heaters.

• Windows account for 10% to 25% of your heating bill. Low-e windows can cut cooling in the summer by 10% to 15%.
• Consider replacing single-pane windows with double-pane windows with high-performance glass.
• Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Keep the south and west facing curtains closed during the day, and install awnings on these sides as well.

• An average household spends 11% of its electric bill on lighting. By using new lighting technologies you can have a lower electric bill by 50% to 75%.
• Fluorescent lamps are much more efficient than incandescent (standard) bulbs and last about 6 to 12 times longer. Although linear fluorescent and CFLs cost slightly more than incandescent bulbs initially, over their lifetime they save you money because they use less electricity.
• An energy price comparison shows they will save you about $30 or more on an average electric bill over each bulb’s lifetime.
• They will use about 75% less energy than standard lighting, produce 75% less heat, and last up to 10 times longer.
• The best fixtures to use qualified CFLs in are usually found in your family and living rooms, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, and outdoors. Consider purchasing ENERGY STAR qualified fixtures, which distribute light more efficiently and evenly than standard fixtures.
• In outdoor lighting, use LEDs for their durability and performance in cold weather. These are good for pathway lights, step lights, and porch lights. LEDs offer better light quality than incandescent bulbs, last 25 times as long, and use even less energy than CFLs.

• Appliances account for roughly 17% of your electric bill. Refrigerators, washers and dryers use the most gas and electricity.
• One thousand watt-hours of electricity equals 1 kilowatt-hour, or 1 kWh. A refrigerator uses almost five times the electricity the average television uses.
• Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes to save on energy. Air dry dishes when possible instead of using the drying cycle.
• Wash your clothes in cold water. With the assortment of cold-water laundry detergents today, you clothes will be as clean as if you used hot water and you can save up to 90% of the energy you would have used by heating the water.
• Clean the lint filter on your dryer after each load, and don’t over dry your clothes.
• Don’t keep your refrigerator or freezer too cold, and be sure to defrost frequently since frost build-up decreases the energy efficiency of the unit. Make sure your door seals are air tight.

• ENERGY STAR labeled office equipment could save you as much as 90% on some products since they use about half the electricity of the standard equipment. In addition to the energy savings and lower electric bills, you can reduce air-conditioning loads, noise from fans and transformers, and electromagnetic field emissions from monitors.
• Turning off your computer, using energy-efficient office equipment, PC’s, monitors, copiers, printers and fax machines, will help save energy and cause you to have lower electric bills.
• For maximum savings with your laptop, put the AC adapter on a power strip that can be turned off. The transformer in the AC adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not plugged into the adapter.
• Screen savers do not reduce energy use by monitors. Automatic switching to sleep mode or manually turning them off is always the best way to save energy.
• Laptops use less energy than desktop computers.
• Many appliances that use electricity, such as TV’s, VCR’s, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances draw a small amount of power, “phantom” loads, when they are turned off. This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the strip to cut off power to the appliance.
• Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use. Use rechargeable batteries when possible since they are more cost effective.