A homeowner may notice that the price of natural gas used to heat the home and provide heat to appliances like water heaters and clothes dryers rises and falls over time. Conservation efforts in the home help reduce the monthly bill, even when the price fluctuates. Take measures in your home to keep the gas bill low throughout the year and help reduce overall energy costs for your own home. Spread the word about your conservation effort and help drive the overall cost of energy down when many consumers start to use less natural gas. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Replace older gas appliances with new energy-saving appliances such as a furnace, water heater, and clothes dryer as your budget and situation allow. Check for tax credits that may help reduce the cost of appliance replacement.
2. Reduce the maximum temperature of your gas water heater. Set the temperature to no greater than 140 degrees if you have a dishwasher or 120 degrees if you wash dishes by hand. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket to prevent heat loss.
3. Dry your clothes on a line instead of in your gas dryer during good weather, if possible. If you can't line dry your clothes, load the gas dryer to its capacity with each load of laundry, and dry loads in succession keeping the dryer warm to maximize its efficiency. Clean the lint trap between each load.
4. Install a lower-flow shower head to reduce hot water use in the shower. Reduce the time of your showers and avoid baths where you need to fill the tub with hot water.
5. Run your dishwasher only when it's full and on the shortest cycle possible to clean your dishes.
6. Apply weather stripping to exterior door frames and windows to trap heat indoors and prevent drafts. Install energy-saving window treatments and keep them open during sunny days to allow sunlight to heat the house and close them at night to keep heat indoors.
7. Close heating vents in rooms rarely used and keep the doors closed to those rooms. Do not run the furnace when the fireplace damper is open.
8. Set your furnace to 68 degrees or lower as your health allows.
Tags: help reduce, water heater, your water heater, each load, heat indoors, your clothes
