Winterizing Your Home – Energy Saving Tips

One of the best ways to winterize your home is to simply block obvious leaks around your house, both inside and out.

Check out these Green Irene’s Featured Energy Conservation Products

Blue Line Power Cost Monitor 
Our recommended home power cost monitor enables you to track and control your electric power consumption in real-time, cutting 6-18% off your monthly electric bill by giving you immediate feedback on your hourly electricity cost. It also allows you to determine which appliances and lighting use the most power, and you can adjust your consumption if you see an increase in your projected bill. This is the only unit on the market that does not need the services of an electrician to install.

Save $20 thru December 15, 2010. Now just $90!
Water Heater Insulation Jacket
This thick insulating water heater jacket fits easily around your heater and can prevent up to 45% of heat loss, saving 9% in heating costs. This energy-saving product is one of the best insulation values for every home, and it meets and exceeds the U.S. Department of Energy’s standards. Water heating costs can also be reduced by installing water efficient shower heads, faucet aerators and by simply lowering your hot water heaters temperature setting. For each 10ºF reduction in water temperature, you can save between 3-5% in energy costs, since most households usually only require a 120º F setting.
Water Heater Pipe Insulation
Insulating domestic hot water pipes is one of the easiest and most cost effective measures you can do. Tube pipe insulation may be used on domestic cold and hot water pipes. Pipe insulation will help to reduce heat loss by up to 80 percent through hot water pipes and will stop sweating on cold water pipes. Pipe insulation can also help reduce plumbing noise. It is pre-slit for easy installation (simply snapping onto the pipe), and may be trimmed with a utility knife. One package includes four 36 inch long pieces.
Self-Adhesive Invisible Door Sweep
In less time than it takes to peel a sticker, you can install this draft stopping Self-Adhesive Door Sweep. Seal in comfort, seal out drafts and save your heating and cooling dollars year round. There are no special skills or tools needed to install, just cut to size, peel, position and stick into place. Completely clear plastic, almost invisible!
Power Outlet Insulation Gasket
Seal out drafts that make their way into your home through your power outlet plates.

 

 

 

 

Exterior Air Conditioner Cover
Yes, there is cold air blowing out of your air conditioner, and it’s not just during the summer months. This durable, weather-tight, reusable Air Conditioner Cover protects the AC from the elements (rain, snow and ice) and you from heat loss during winter months. Designed to fit units 5,000 to 10,000 BTU.
Refrigerator Coil Cleaning Brush
This Refrigerator Coil Cleaning Brush has a unique tapered design that enables the efficient cleaning of refrigerator coils. Refrigerator coils and the fan area collect dust, reducing refrigerator efficiency and wasting energy. Regularly cleaning dusty refrigerator coils can improve refrigerator efficiency by up to 30%. Refrigerators account for up to 8% of your electric bill. The Refrigerator Coil Cleaning Brush a power saving product that cuts electric consumption.

For help winterizing your home or living green call us.

Shaping Spaces Group – (323) 864.5433 

www.theshapingspacesgroup.com & www.greenirene.com/griffinLA

Interior Design : Home Staging: Green Living Consulting

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Simple Eco-Friendly Home Solutions

10 Tips On Making Your Home More Eco Friendly

(from better Homes and Gardens: Real Estate)

Tip #1 – Turn off the lights when not needed, even as you go from room to room in the course of your day (or evening)
According to ENERGY STAR, as much as 20 percent of a home’s energy use comes from light bulbs. Using a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) requires about 75 percent less energy than incandescent, but lights that are turned off save the most energy of all.

Tip #2 – Wash clothes in cold water (and honestly, the new cold-water detergents do the job just fine)
According to the US Department of Energy, a washing machine uses up to 90 percent of its energy to simply heat the water in a laundry load, and the higher the temperature, the greater the cost to you and the environment. Keeping your cool will save energy and make your clothes last longer, by using cold water.

 

Tip #3 – Clean the lint filter in your gas or electric clothes dryer, to realize big savings.

Tests have shown that keeping the lint trap clean may provide savings of up to $34 in energy costs each year (ENERGY STAR).

Tip #4 – Better yet, use a clothesline or clothes ‘tree’ and keep the dryer shut off.

An outdoor clothesline costs only a few dollars. You might also want to consider buying an indoor drying rack, so you can keep up your energy efficient ways even when it’s raining.

Tip #5 – Some local utilities now have low-impact hydro-electric windmills and solar farms contributing ‘green energy’ to their grid.

Find out if your local utility has such a program and ask if they give a discount for purchasing power from these ‘green’ generators. Tied with this is doing your laundry and other energy-intensive activity in mid-day or late evening, when demands on the grid are less.

Tip #6 – Isolate your fridge, for its own good

If your fridge is beside a vent, stove or dishwasher (which give off a lot of heat) your fridge will have to work hard and use more energy to keep its cool. If possible, keep the fridge isolated and reap the financial rewards.

Tip #7 – Forgo cleaning products for plain old hot water and white vinegar – the ultimate green living product. If you need something more powerful, most department stores now carry lines of easily identifiable environmentally friendly cleaning products that are less toxic and come in recyclable packaging.

Tip #8 – Make the green grass of home a hardy perennial

Perennial ryegrass and drought-tolerant fescue are grass types that need less watering and chemical care. Use a healthy layer of mulch to reduce weed growth, retain moisture in the soil and keep roots cool, which again lessens the strain on the community’s water supplies. And don’t mind the beneficial bugs, birds, frogs and toads that might make your backyard their home as a result.

Tip #9 – Buy biodegradable pots for your home and garden

Buying plants already potted in bridgeable materials, like bamboo, coconut, rice or wheat fiber, rather than plastic, will eliminate another step in the recycling process.

Tip #10 – Whether it’s bedding, furniture, flooring or wall and window coverings, shop green and leave the plastics behind.

Draperies, window blinds, and shades are all now available in natural fibers such as cotton, hemp, linen, wood, reeds, silk or bamboo. Upholstered furniture containing silk, wool, latex or natural rubber are emerging, as are sofas and chairs stuffed with a foam product made from soybeans. In this manner, we can eliminate the need for petroleum-based foam stuffing in our houses, saving thousands of barrels of crude oil in the process.
Additionally, ask for ‘reclaimed wood’ in new flooring or furniture. Reclaimed and recycled wood from salvaged timbers found in old barns, homes, bridges and even sunk at the bottom of our creeks and rivers can also be used to reduce chemically-treated wood for floors, furniture and construction supports.

 

 

 

 

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