Start out with these tips – and they won’t cost you a thing.

How much electricity do you use everyday, anyway?
Your local utility website might offer a calculator to help you estimate – or, figure out your carbon footprint.

Heating and Cooling 

• During summer, hold off on the air conditioning and use fans as long as possible. Remember, the fan cools your body by moving air over your skin – it won’t cool off the room. Don’t leave the fan on if no one is in the room.
• When you do turn on the AC, don’t turn it too low. For every degree you raise the thermostat setting in the summer, you cut your energy consumption by 3 to 5 percent. 
• Myth: the higher you set your thermostat in the winter, the faster it will warm up; and the lower you set the AC in the summer the faster it will cool off. Not true. You will just waste energy.
• Myth: Once you turn your AC on, you have to leave it on all summer. Not true. If you want, you can turn it on only at night to help you sleep.
• Use your curtains – during summer, close them during the day to block out the sun. During winter, open them to let the sun in, and close them at night to keep the warmth in.
• Close off vents in unused areas of your home, and close the doors to those rooms.
• Make sure heating and cooling vents are not blocked with furniture or other items.
• In the winter, lower your thermostat (especially when you are not at home). Put more clothes on, snuggle under blankets, and wear slippers. Some utilities – like KCPL – offer calculators to estimate how much you can save per each degree lower you go.
• At night during the winter, lower your thermostat 7-10 degrees.

Home Appliances 

• Turn lights off when not in use. It is a myth that it costs more to turn them on, off, and on again. 
• Appliances can draw power even when you are not using them - this unseen drain is called a phantom load. Turn off and unplug TVs, DVD players, computers, lights, etc. when not in use. 
• The easiest way to do this is to group your appliances onto power strips (microwave, toaster oven, coffeemaker, etc., on one; printer, computer, iPod, cell phone charger, speakers, etc. on another; DVD, TV, stereo, cable box, etc. on another), and then turn off the power strip.
• If an item is charged, unplug it. Cell phones, PDAs, and iPods can lose 95% of the electricity just through phantom loads. Only plug them in when you need to charge them. When they are fully charged, unplug the charger from the outlet.
• Turn off your computer monitor if you aren't going to use the computer for more than 20 minutes. Turn off your entire set-up if you are not going to use your computer for more than 2 hours.
• Shorten the sleep cycle on your computer to the shortest possible interval. Use the dimmer function to lower your screen contrast to a lower intensity.
• Many home appliances – refrigerators, dishwashers, etc. – have energy-saving settings. Check your manuals for how to use them.
• Dorm fridges use huge amounts of energy. Try to share one between as many people as possible.
• It doesn’t just matter how much energy you use, it also matters WHEN you use it. Using energy during times of peak load – such as running your drier, dishwasher, AC, etc. all at once on a hot summer’s day – puts stress on utilities and the grid, and increases the need to build new power plants.

Kitchen 

• Use the microwave, Crockpot, and toaster oven more often. They either use much less energy than your stovetop or oven, or they cook foods quickly in very short amounts of time.
• Cook more one-pot meals. (Yay, an excuse.)
• When cooking on the stovetop, use lids as often as possible (especially when bringing liquids to a boil). Place pots on the correct size burner. Keep stovetop clean. Carefully use a pressure cooker for beans and legumes.
• Cook big meals, because it takes less energy to reheat leftovers in the microwave.
• For casseroles in the oven, start them out with tinfoil on top, then remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes of cooking time. Reuse or recycle the foil.
• If you cook with glass, remember to lower the recommended oven temperature by 25 degrees.
• Cover all items in your refrigerator to prevent moisture evaporation – extra moisture makes your fridge work harder.
• Move your refrigerator away from all heat sources, such as an oven or stove. Keep the coils clean.
• Do you have an extra freezer out in the garage? Keep it as full as possible – if not with food, then with reused plastic milk jugs, filled with water and frozen.
• Do you have an extra fridge in the garage? If it only holds pop or other nonessentials, get rid of it. Call your local municipality to arrange a special pick-up.
• Try to wean yourself from the electric coffeemaker. Experiment with methods that do not depend on as much electricity (ie, brew or percolate coffee and then pour it into a thermal carafe or thermos). Save the electric coffeemaker for when you have company. Unplug it when not in use.

Laundry 

• Lower the temperature on the hot water heater to no more than 120 degrees. 15% of home heating bills go to heating water. 
• Wash only full loads. 
• Wash your clothes (the ones that are normal dirty, not disgusting dirty) in cold water. Plenty of detergents are formulated to work just as well in cold water as hot – read your label.
• Dry your clothes on a clothesline, or drape them over wire hangers – they have plenty extra at Goodwill. “Snap” them to remove excess moisture first, and they will dry less stiff.
• If the drier is your secret weapon in removing lint and pet hair, you still can dry your items on the drying rack – and then afterwards sneak the worst ones into the drier for 5-10 minutes. It will still do the trick.
• Iron only those clothes that absolutely must be ironed.

Transportation 

• Consider walking, biking, motorcycles, public transportation, trains, or car pools.
• Combine your errands into one trip and plan your route carefully. If you just need one extra ingredient to throw dinner together, adjust the recipe and improvise. (Do you really WANT to go the grocery store more than once a week?)
• Are you a crazy driver? Cut it out. Speeding, accelerating quickly, and heavy braking can cut your mileage up to 33 percent. At today’s high gas prices, that’s more than an extra 73 cents per gallon.
• Use cruise control for highway driving (following the safety recommendations in your owner’s manual). This will help cut your fuel consumption.
• Unless you have a good reason, don’t carry too much junk in your trunk. An extra 100 lbs. can cut fuel economy by 1-2%. Also don’t carry items on the roof of your car. It messes with your wind resistance and lowers your mileage.
• Don’t idle your engine while outside a store, waiting to pick up kids from school, etc. Try not to drive during rush hours when you could get stalled in traffic.

Dream big

• Do you fantasize about solar panels on your roof? You can always afford to learn more about them. The local library or bookstore offers some wonderful publications to learn more about renewable energy and energy efficiency.
• Home Power and Solar Today magazines are great places to start. They also offer many solutions that are appropriate for commercial applications.