No Cost Solutions to Save Money
Summer Efficiency Tips for Homeowners
Summer Cycler
Enroll in Vectren's Summer Cycler Program for Vectren electric customers. Summer Cycler is a voluntary energy management program that briefly cycles off select appliances in your home during periods of peak electricity demand. By joining the Summer Cycler program, you can earn bill credits up to $5 per month for an air conditioner or heat pump and $2 for an electric water heater from June through September. This program is only available to Vectren Energy Delivery electric customers.
Click here to learn more or to enroll.
Air conditioners
Have your system maintained annually by a qualified technician to make sure your air conditioner can beat the heat. On the inside, wash or vacuum cleanable filters; replace disposable ones. Clear leaves and other debris away from the condensing unit on the outside of your home and hose off any accumulated dirt.
Air ducts
Sealing your air ducts to prevent leaks is even more important if the ducts are located in an unconditioned area such as an attic or vented crawl space. Remember: typically, nearly 50% of your utility bill in the summer goes towards cooling the home.
Window air conditioners
When using a window air conditioner, eliminate air leaks between the air conditioner and the window by installing foam insulation or weather stripping.
Roof Shingles
Light-colored shingles reflect the sun's heat instead of absorbing it and, thereby, keeping your home cooler in summer months.
Windows and doors
Close storm windows and doors to keep hot air out and cool air in. If your home has single-pane windows, as almost half of U.S. homes do, consider replacing them. New double-pane windows with high-performance glass (for example, low-e or spectrally selective) are available on the market. Windows with spectrally selective coatings on the glass reflect some of the sunlight, keeping your rooms cooler.
Blinds, shades and draperies
Close blinds, shades and draperies facing the sun to keep hot air out. White window coverings reflect sunlight, unlike dark coverings which absorb the heat.
Awnings
Install awnings over windows exposed to direct sunlight. During the summer, sunny windows make your air conditioner work two to three times harder.
Appliances
On very hot days, minimize the use of ovens, stoves, washers, dryers and other major appliances that generate heat. In addition, on days when the temperature reaches 90 degrees or more, it is best to wait until after 6 p.m. before cooking, doing laundry or washing dishes.
Ceiling fans
Reverse the direction of your ceiling fan. By changing the direction to counter-clockwise in the summer, the fan will circulate the cool air. With this cooling effect, most people can raise their thermostat three to four degrees and feel just as comfortable. And that can mean savings of around 25 percent on your cooling costs. Remember - for every degree you raise the air conditioning thermostat, you can save 7 to 10% on cooling costs.
Ventilate attic
When the outside temperature surpasses 90 degrees, your attic can easily reach 140 degrees. Adequately-sized vents and/or an attic fan can help keep hot air from building up.
Landscaping
Shading and evaporative cooling from trees can reduce the air temperature around your home. A well-placed tree, shrub or vine can deliver effective shade, act as a windbreak and reduce overall energy bills. Air conditioners will work more efficiently when shaded by trees or shrubs. However, make sure the trees and shrubs do not block the airflow.
Winter Efficiency Tips for Homeowners
Well-tuned equipment
Keep your heating equipment well tuned with periodic maintenance by a professional service representative.
Watch the exhaust fans
In the heating season, water vapors from bathing and cooking are beneficial because they help humidify the home. Use kitchen and bath exhaust fans sparingly in the winter to keep as much heat as possible inside your home. In just two to three hours of use, kitchen and bath exhaust fans can blow away a house full of heat.
Set the thermostat low
Install a programmable thermostat; leave it on a lower temperature while you're away, and set it to warm the house half an hour before you return home. You can save as much as 5% a year on your heating bills by simply turning your thermostat back 5 degrees for 8 hours
Consider upgrading your furnace
If your furnace is more than 10 years old, it's likely only about 60 -70% efficient. This means your furnace wastes as much as 30 to 40% of the available heat and you lose 45¢ of every heating dollar you spend. Compare this to a state-of-the-art high-efficiency furnace. Newer high-efficiency natural gas furnaces are up to 96% efficient. This means nearly all of the energy goes to heating your home, not the outside air. When it is time to replace your natural gas furnace or boiler consider a high efficiency unit. Click here to see current rebates available to Indiana customers
Entertaining?
When entertaining a large group of people during the heating season, lower the thermostat a degree or two before the guests arrive. Otherwise, since people generate heat, the space may become wastefully overheated.
Unused areas
Close heating vents and radiator valves in unused rooms. Make sure that drapes, plants or furniture do not block registers for supply or return air.
Fireplaces
If you have a simple open-masonry fireplace, consider installing a glass screen, a convective grate, a radiant grate or a fireplace insert. They'll help cut down on the loss of warm air through the fireplace chimney.
Maintain your filters
Clean or replace the filter in your forced-air heating system each month. Foam filters can be rinsed with water but be sure they are dry before replacing. Fiberglass filters need to be replaced periodically.
Clean your radiator
Dust or vacuum radiator surfaces frequently. Dust and grime impede the flow of heat.
Let the sun in
The sun's energy can have a noticeable effect on the temperature in your home, especially from windows facing south and west. Keep window shades and drapes open during winter months to let in the sun's radiant heat. Doing so could save you up to 2% on heating costs.
Water Heating Tips for Homeowners
- Use less hot water. Water heating can account for up to 25% of your energy bill.
- Turn down the thermostat on your water heater to a temperature of 115/120 degrees. Doing so saves you 5% on your energy bill for each 10 degrees lowered. If you have a dishwasher, check to make sure this lower temperature will clean the dishes properly.
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- Wash clothes in cold water, which reduces your washer's energy use by 75% by eliminating water heating costs.
- Repair leaky hot water faucets immediately. A hot water faucet leaking one drop per second wastes 160 gallons per month - or 16 hot baths.
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Water heating can account for 25% of your utility bill.
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- Wrap an insulating blanket around your water heater to keep the heat from escaping (be sure to consult a professional first to prevent a fire hazard). You can also save on your water heating bill by insulating at least the first six feet of the hot water pipe and the first three feet of the cold water pipe that extends from your hot water tank. Make sure you follow all safety precautions, especially if you have a gas water heater with a pilot light.
- Replace your shower, bath and kitchen aerators with low-flow models. For an investment of $5 to $10, you can save $50 to 75% per year on water bills and $20 to $50 or more per year on energy bills by reducing hot water usage.
- Consider upgrading your water heater. Today's conventional/storage natural gas water heaters have a minimum energy factor (*EF) of 0.59. However, an older water heater could be as low as 0.48EF. The higher the number, the higher the efficiency and the lower operating costs. When it is time to replace your natural gas water heater consider a high efficiency unit. Click here to see current rebates available to Indiana customers
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Year-Round Heating and Cooling Tips for Homeowners
- Have your heating/cooling system maintained and inspected annually by a qualified technician.
- Ensure that your thermostat is located on an inside wall away from drafts and heat sources.
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- Consider upgrading your furnace. If your
furnace
is more than 10 years old, it's likely only about 60 -70% efficient.
This means your furnace wastes as much as 30 to 40% of the available heat and you lose 45¢ of every heating dollar you spend.
Compare this to a state-of-the-art high-efficiency furnace. Newer high-efficiency natural gas furnaces are up to 96%
efficient. This means nearly all of the energy goes to heating your home, not the outside air.
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44% of your utility bill goes for heating and cooling.
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Install a programmable thermostat;
leave it on a lower temperature while you're away, and set it to warm the house
half an hour before you return home. You can save as much as 5% a year on your heating bills by simply turning your
thermostat back 5 degrees for 8 hours.
- Make sure heating/cooling vents are open and not blocked by curtains or furniture.
- Close doors and/or vents to unused rooms.
- Plug leaks around windows and doors. Air leaks waste energy and, therefore, cost you money. Caulk and self-adhesive weather stripping can be purchased at hardware and home improvement stores. Use your hands, a candle flame or a piece of thread on a windy day to determine air leaks around windows or doors. Plug the air leaks or seal all around doors and windows. At a cost of about $5 for supplies, you could be looking at a potential savings of $100 per year on your energy bill
- Perform an energy audit. Explore your home or business' energy use and get personalized recommendations for saving energy and money with top to bottom analysis of your use. You must log in to your Vectren account to use the energy audit.
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Home Appliance Tips for Homeowners
Appliances account for about 20 percent of your household's energy consumption -- with refrigerators, clothes washers and clothes dryers at the top of the consumption list.
Dishwashers
Refrigerators
Ovens, Ranges, Cookers
Clothes Washers and Dryers
Phantom Load
- Check the manual that came with your dishwasher for the manufacturer's recommendations on water temperature; many have internal heating elements that allow you to set your water heater in your home to a lower temperature, such as 120 degrees.
- Don't use the "rinse hold" on your machine for just a few soiled dishes. It uses three to seven gallons of hot water each time you use it.
- Run your dishes only when your dishwasher is full. Let your dishes air dry; if you don't have an automatic air-dry switch, turn off the control knob after the final rinse and prop the door open a little so the dishes will dry faster. The benefits are that you will run it less often, using less water. Not using the heat dryer will save you significantly on energy consumption.
- When shopping for a new dishwasher, look for the ENERGY STAR label to find a dishwasher that uses less water and 25% less energy than required by federal standards.
- Look for a refrigerator with automatic moisture control. Models with this feature have been engineered to prevent moisture from accumulation on the cabinet exterior without the addition of a heater. This is not the same thing as an "anti-sweat" heater. Models with an anti-sweat heater will consume 5 to 10% more energy than models without this feature.
- Don't keep your refrigerator or freezer too cold. Recommended temperatures are 37 to 40 degrees for the fresh food compartment of the refrigerator and 5 degrees for the freezer section. If you have a separate freezer for long-term storage, it should be kept at zero degrees.
- Regularly defrost manual-defrost refrigerators and freezers; frost buildup decreases the energy efficiency of the unit. Don't allow frost to build up more than one-quarter of an inch.
- Cover liquids and wrap foods stored in the refrigerator. Uncovered foods release moisture and make the compressor work harder.
- If you need to purchase a natural gas oven or range, look for one with an automatic, electric ignition system. An electric ignition saves natural gas because a pilot light is not burning continuously.
- In natural gas appliances, look for blue flames; yellow flames indicate the gas is burning inefficiently and an adjustment may be needed. Consult your manufacturer or HVAC contractor.
- Keep range-top burners and reflectors clean. They will reflect the heat better, and you will save energy.
- Use a covered kettle or pan to boil water; it's faster and uses less energy.
- Match the size of the pan to the heating element.
- Use small electric pans or toaster ovens for small meals rather than your large stove or oven. A toaster oven uses a third to half as much energy as a full-sized oven.
- Use pressure cookers and microwave ovens whenever it is convenient to do so. They will save energy by significantly reducing cooking time.
- When operating an electric oven, attempt to cook as much of the meal in it at one time as possible. Foods with different cooking temperatures can often be cooked simultaneously at one temperature-variations of 25 degrees in either direction still produce good results and save energy.
- When preheating an oven for baking, five to eight minutes should be sufficient. There is no need to preheat for broiling or roasting.
Clothes Washers and Dryers
- Use cold water. Six loads in hot water costs about $9.90, while six loads in cold water costs about 90 cents. By washing your clothes in cold water and using cold-water detergents on the market, you could potentially be saving $100 per year.
- Consider using a front-loading or horizontal axis washing machine, if you are in the market for a new washing machine. According to studies by the U.S. Department of Energy, these new units use at least 30% less water and 50% less energy to make hot water and wash clothes than regular washing machines. They are also gentler on fabrics.
- Washing machines with higher spin speeds can extract more water and reduce drying time, which saves more energy.
- Avoid over-drying. This not only represents a waste of energy but harms fabrics as well. Many dryers have settings that allow an automated moisture sensor to reduce the drying time. Dryers with automated moisture sensors may have a buzzer or other sound system to let you know when clothes are dry. Use the sound system to minimize drying time.
- Run the electric dryer carrying its rated poundage of clothes to save energy. Don't overload, since this causes excessive wrinkling and perhaps requires an added amount of ironing.
- Dry towels and heavier cottons in a separate load from clothes with lighter weights.
- When it's time to replace your natural gas water heater consider a high efficiency model. Click here to see current rebates available to Indiana customers.
The average home has more than 20 phantom loads that can add up to $200 to your electricity bill each year. Phantom load is the amount of electricity that's being drained by equipment when it's off or in standby mode. Devices that have a phantom load are sometimes called “vampires.” These devices have a hidden energy cost of which most people are never aware. Nationally, phantom loads make up about 6% of our energy consumption.
Any device with a clock display, a remote control or instant on capability requires standby power. Here are some tips to minimize phantom load:
- Unplug electronic devices such as cell phones and mp3 players when they are fully charged.
- The transformers used to charge electronic devices are 60 to 80% inefficient when plugged in, so it is especially important they are unplugged when not in use. To save time, put these devices on a power strip that can easily be switched off.
- Place your computer on a power strip with surge protection, and switch the power strip off when not in use for an extended period of time, such as when you go to bed.
- Buy ENERGY STAR® appliances to reduce your phantom load for devices that would be impractical to turn off.
- The amount of standby power can sometimes be found with the product specifications in the owner's manual. Be sure to consider if unplugging an appliance could erase personal settings or other data that has been programmed
- Lead by example. If you start turning off your devices, maybe your roommates or family will, too.
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Lighting Tips for Homeowners
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Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) use 75% less energy than the typical incandescent light bulbs used in homes. By switching to CFLs at a cost of about $2 per bulb, not only will the CFL bulbs last 10 times longer but they will also offer you a potential savings of $100 per year on your energy bill.
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- Turn off lights in any room not being used, even if your absence will only be momentary. For the outdoors, turn on lights only when needed.
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CFLs use 75 percent less energy than typical light bulbs. |
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- Plan your lighting. Not every room needs the same amount of general light. Plan within a room to provide general background lighting and supplementary task lighting. A good lighting plan can reduce lighting costs and still provide all the light you need.
- When choosing a new lamp, buy three-way lamps. They make it easy to keep lighting levels low when intense light is not necessary, and that saves electricity. Use the high switch only for reading or other activities that require brighter light.
- Use natural lighting in cold weather to let in warm sunlight and keep curtains closed during the summer to keep the house cool. Open curtains and shades during the day instead of using lighting. Consider skylights and solar tubes during remodeling or new construction design.
- During the holidays, choose LED lighting. Set your lights on times so that they are turned off in the daytime.
- Control outdoor lighting. To assure only dusk-to-dawn operation of your outdoor lights, control your fixtures with a photocell or a timer.
- Keep bulbs and fixtures clean. Dirt and dust reduce light output and efficiency. For safety reasons, don't clean bulbs and fixtures when they're hot or plugged in.
- Turn off decorative outdoor natural gas lamps. Eight such lamps burning year-round use as much natural gas as it takes to heat an average-size home during an entire winter.
- If you have torchiere fixtures with halogen lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchiers. Compact fluorescent torchieres use 60 to 80 percent less energy, can produce more light and do not get as hot as the halogen torchieres. Halogen torchieres are a fire risk because of the high temperature of the halogen bulb.
- During the holidays, choose LED lighting. Set your lights on times so that they are turned off in the daytime.
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Tips for Renters
Before Moving
The best time for a renter to pay attention to energy efficiency is before moving into an apartment.
- Ask the landlord about the efficiency and maintenance of the furnace, air conditioner, water heater and appliances.
- Before you move in, request caulking around the windows and outlet covers and installation of weather stripping on the base of the door.
- Talk to the landlord about installing a programmable thermostat.
- Ask to see past utility bills - winter and summer. Try to choose a rental unit with low energy bills.
- Be sure to point out to the landlord that improving energy efficiency can help increase the property's value
Heating and Cooling Tips for Renters
- Control your thermostat setting. The temperature at which you set the thermostat will affect your energy savings. In the summer, raise your thermostat setting.
- On sunny winter days open blinds, shades, and curtains, especially if your windows face south, to help keep you warm. At night, close the blinds, shades, and curtains to help keep heat inside.
- In the summer keep heat out by closing window shades and blinds. It's helpful to keep windows closed to prevent hot air from blowing inside.
- Change the filters in your heating and cooling system regularly.
- Use fans to distribute air.
- Consider low-cost improvement projects - If you live in an older rental that needs energy-efficiency improvements, talk to your landlord. You might even weigh the benefits of taking on some low-cost projects yourself; a little investment could save a lot of energy. But before doing any work yourself, be sure to first get permission from your landlord. Some projects that may be appropriate include:
Appliance and Lighting Tips for Renters
- Use warm rather than hot setting when drying clothes.
- Clean dryer filter after each load.
- Cook everything at once and use pots that fit the burners.
- Let food cool before putting it in the refrigerator.
- Run only full loads in the dishwasher and scrape dishes with cold water.
- Turn lights off when not in room.
- Use a microwave or toaster oven instead of the regular oven when possible.
- Set your refrigerator thermostat to 37 to 40 degrees and your freezer to 5 degrees; setting it lower just wastes energy.
- Full refrigerators and freezers run more efficiently.
- Clean the coils behind or under the refrigerator annually
- Defrost the freezer before frost gets to 1/4 inch.
- Switch from regular incandescent light bulbs to energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs. According to manufacturers' estimates, they use up to 70 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer. (You can switch the bulbs back when it's time to move and take the CFLs with you.)
- It's a myth that leaving a computer on will extend its life. When you're done using it, turn it off. Same goes for televisions, stereos and other equipment.
Phantom Load
The average home has more than 20 phantom loads that can add up to $200 to your electricity bill each year. Phantom load is the amount of electricity that's being drained by equipment when it's off or in standby mode. Devices that have a phantom load are sometimes called “vampires.” These devices have a hidden energy cost of which most people are never aware. Nationally, phantom loads make up about 6% of our energy consumption.
Any device with a clock display, a remote control or instant on capability requires standby power. Here are some tips to minimize phantom load:
- Unplug electronic devices such as cell phones and mp3 players when they are fully charged.
- The transformers used to charge electronic devices are 60 to 80% inefficient when plugged in, so it is especially important they are unplugged when not in use. To save time, put these devices on a power strip that can easily be switched off.
- Place your computer on a power strip with surge protection, and switch the power strip off when not in use for an extended period of time, such as when you go to bed.
- Buy ENERGY STAR® appliances to reduce your phantom load for devices that would be impractical to turn off.
- The amount of standby power can sometimes be found with the product specifications in the owner's manual. Be sure to consider if unplugging an appliance could erase personal settings or other data that has been programmed
- Lead by example. If you start turning off your devices, maybe your roommates or family will, too.
Water Heating Tips for Renters
- Turn down the thermostat on your water heater to a temperature of 120 degrees. If you have a dishwasher, check to make sure this lower temperature will clean the dishes properly.
- Don't let the water run while shaving, brushing your teeth or doing dishes.
- If you have a dishwasher, use the energy-saver selection and run it only when it's full.
- If you have a clothes washer, wash in cold water whenever possible.
- Take quick showers instead of baths.
- Ask your landlord to fix any leaky faucets. A drip can waste up to 48 gallons of water per week. If it's a hot water faucet that's leaking, you're probably losing over a tank of hot water per week. That's at least a couple of showers down the drain
- When you leave on vacation, turn down the temperature on your water heater. It will take a half hour or so to reheat the water, but you'll save energy all the time you're away.
