Home Energy Practices

With the Northern Virginia weather change this fall, here are some key tips to remember on your energy practices in your home:

Be careful not to overheat or overcool rooms. In the cooler months, try to set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night. A programmable thermostat may be a wise investment. In the warmer months, try to stabilize your thermostat at 78. Lowering your thermostat just two degrees during winter could save up to 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That's a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home.

Try to clean or replace air filters as recommended. Advice we offer in the PIM/PDA age is to put a reminder on your electronic calendar for the day/week to change your filter. Energy is lost when air conditioners and furnaces/heat pumps have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air filter can save up to 5 percent of the energy used. That could save 175 pounds of CO2 per year.

Saving CO2 emissions is just a start - it also will save you on energy expenses!