Energy

Save the environment and money with these energy-saving techniques!

energy

 

Did You Know?

  • You use 3 to 5 percent more energy for each degree the air conditioner is set below 78 degrees.
  • Every year, more than $13 billion worth of energy leaks from houses through small holes and cracks, more than $150 per family!
  • Across America, home refrigerators use the electricity of 25 large power plants every year.

 

What Can You Do?

Here are some tips to help you conserve water, listed easiest to most difficult. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself!

1)   When shopping for an air conditioner, consider an ENERGY STAR® qualified model. They use at least 10 percent less energy than standard models.

2)   Use the right sized pot on the right sized burner when cooking. A 6” pot on an 8” burner wastes 40% of the burners heat. Also cover pots and pans to keep heat in.

3)   Install ENERGY STAR qualified fixtures or replace standard light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). If you replace your five most frequently used light fixtures with ENERGY STAR approved ones, you save $70 each year in energy costs.

Want more tips? Visit Betty’s Home Menu for ideas, and take the pledge to green your home!

Betty Blogs

Want to know more about what Betty has to say about energy? Check out the energy-related blogs below:

External Links

Here are some great resources to learn about water use and what you can do about it!

Questions?

Ask Betty! Betty’s energy efficiency correspondent, Becky Duff has all the answers to your energy-related queries!

beckyduffFor the past 14 years, Becky has worked in support of U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR Labeled Products program.  A Senior Manager at ICF International, she helps to develop and promote energy and water efficiency specifications for residential and commercial products.  Whether it be a vent fan, computer server, vending machine, or ceiling fan – find an ENERGY STAR label on a product and odds are, her team worked to identify its energy saving potential.  But her commitment to making a difference started many years ago, serving on a green committee in college, educating students on ways to save energy and reduce waste.  Her commitment to making the world a better place led her to a MS in Environmental Sciences and various jobs in pollution prevention and waste management prior to landing in the exciting, dynamic world of energy efficiency.  Eventually it was her love of the natural environment that brought Becky and her family to Charlottesville from Washington, DC three years ago.  When she’s not working to identify the next big energy saving widget or sticking her head in a refrigerator to see how it works, she is working on saving her own energy chasing around two kids under the age of 5.