Conserving Electricity – Tips from PG&E
With the cycles of seasons and changes in weather patterns, perhaps your utility bill is giving you sticker shock trying to keep cool.
Here are a few tips from PG&E on how you can help conserve energy usage and lower your bill:
- Avoid using your oven on hot days. Instead, cook on the stove, use a microwave oven or grill outside.
- Clear the area around where your air conditioner vents to the outside to ensure the best possible ventilation. Make sure the outside part of your air conditioner can easily ventilate by clearing any debris or other items from the area. This helps efficiency for your system.
- Keep AC thermostats set at 78 F degrees or higher when home when you’re home, health permitting. Every degree above 78 F represents an approximately 2% savings on cooling costs. Even with the thermostat set at 78 F degrees, the AC unit has the potential to run 50% of the time depending on how well your home is insulated and weatherized.
- Wait until cooler times of the day to do tasks that make your house warmer, like laundry and cooking.
- Turn on your ceiling fan when using your air conditioner. By doing so, you can raise your thermostat about four degrees F to save on cooling costs with no reduction in comfort.
- Turn off bathroom and kitchen ventilation fans about 10 minutes after their job is done to keep them from pushing cooled air out of your house. (if it needs to keep running then that’s a different story)
- Hang laundry outside. Take advantage of late sunsets and warm evenings to bypass your dryer and let your clothes air-dry.
- Install a door sweep on your garage door to seal the gap between the bottom of the door and the threshold. The door sweep prevents warm air from coming in and cool air from escaping your home.
- Place your room air conditioner in a cooler area (shaded or north-facing) and away from heat-producing items, like televisions and lamps. Direct sunlight and heat make your air conditioner work harder.
- Be sure that your air conditioner is the right size for the room. Units that are too small for a room won’t do the job. Units that are too big reduce energy efficiency and increase electric bills.
Don’t forget, a bigger house means bigger utility costs 😉
Have you found these tips helpful? I’d love to know!
Olga Golovko
REALTOR ® Lic#01898618
? (650) 409-6542
Email: experts@golovkohomes.com