- Category:
Home Energy Savings - Published:
June 20, 2011 - Updated:
May 5, 2021
5 easy ways to save energy around the house this summer
Closing the blinds or curtains for all or part of the day can help cool a room more easily.
This week, summer officially begins. While the summer heat has already begun in some areas of the country, it’s that time of year when we may be thinking of ways to keep ourselves cool, conserve energy within our homes, and keep our electricity bills low. Want to make all of this possible? Then, you may want to follow these easy tips.
- 1. Keep your blinds and curtains closed. When your blinds and curtains are left open, the sun shines through and heats up the room. Keep them closed throughout the day to block the sun from coming in and the room will stay cooler.
- 2. Insulate and seal air leaks. A lot of the time doors, windows, and walls can have cracks in them, allowing the hot air to enter your home and the cool air to escape. Sealing these cracks is a quick fix and will improve your energy efficiency.
- 3. Upgrade and replace old cooling equipment and filters. Older equipment and filters can significantly increase your energy usage because they work harder and slower. New equipment and filters may be costly at first, but will work faster and more efficiently, saving you more money in the long run.
- 4. Don’t keep the oven on for too long. Your oven can quickly heat up your kitchen if used for too long. Try not to slow cook food in the oven during the summer so your kitchen can stay cool. Use a toaster oven instead when cooking smaller portions.
- 5. Utilize your ceiling fans. Ceiling fans can help circulate the cool air from your air conditioner throughout your house. To create a cooling effect, set the ceiling fan in the counter-clockwise position.
Are there any tips that you’d like to share? If so, leave me a comment and who knows, maybe your tips will be published in a future blog post.
SOURCES: U.S. Department of Energy & BGE HOME. BGE HOME is a subsidiary of Constellation Energy. BGE HOME is not the same company as BGE, a regulated utility.
