Ask A Boston Expert: Five Ways To Lower Your Energy Bill
HEET
(516) 900-HEET
www.heetma.org
HEET is the Home Energy Efficiency Team, a Cambridge organization that is committed to educating locals on energy efficiency. It is a non-profit organization that offers its services free. This not only helps local schools, families and businesses save money, but it helps the city do its part to reduce its effect on the environment. Audrey Schulman of HEET has offered five easy tips that will help Boston lower its energy bills.
Program your thermostat to turn the temperature down at night and when you aren't home. For every degree you can turn your temperature down for eight hours per day during the winter, you will reduce your heating bill by 1 percent. Thus, if you lower your temperature 10 degrees at night (from 70 degrees to 60) when you're cuddled under blankets, you will save 10 percent of your bill. Program your thermostat to warm up your home an hour before you wake up and you'll never know the temperature was lower.
Switch out all of the light bulbs in your home for LEDs or CFLs. LEDs will emit "warm" light that looks like the light you are used to, and they will last for 15 to 30 times longer than incandescent light bulbs.
See if the attic in your building needs to be "air-sealed" (closing up holes that cause drafts). Sometimes, plumbers or other contractors leave holes in your attic that can let the heat in your home out. Because heat likes to go up, these holes will let heat fly out quickly. The holes can be sealed easily with spray foam and other materials.
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Insulate your attic to R38 (depending on the type of insulation, this should be about 12 feet high) and your walls. Make sure there are no gaps in the insulation. A 5 percent gap can reduce how effective the insulation is by 50 percent. This makes sense if you imagine wearing a parka outside with a big hole in it.
If you want to save time, and your own energy too, just call up Mass Save and schedule a home energy assessment. They are free, paid for by a surcharge on your energy bill. The assessments will install programmable thermostats, give you free LEDs and see if you need insulation or air-sealing. If you do need insulation or air-sealing, the work will be rebated 75 percent.
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Shelly Barclay is a professional freelance writer and amateur author. She writes on a variety of topics from food to mysteries. She loves to share the culture and rich history of her birthplace and home, Boston, with the rest of the world. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.
