Heating and Cooling Appliances to Keep Energy Efficient

Keeping your home at a comfortable temperature, especially during the hottest and coldest months of the year, requires a significant amount of energy. Using energy efficient heaters and air conditioners is an easy way to reduce the amount of energy required to heat or cool your home, but sometimes that isn’t enough to keep your electricity bill as low as you’d like it to be.

There are many ways to save energy with your heating and cooling appliances. After upgrading your older models to more energy efficient heaters and air conditioners, be sure to follow these steps:

1. Change your filters and check your vents. Even energy efficient heaters can suffer from inefficiency when your filters are dirty or your vents are blocked. Change your filters regularly, and occasionally inspect your vents to ensure proper heat flow throughout the house.
2. Localize your heating and cooling. Don’t heat or cool your whole house if you don’t have to. Close vents to rooms you don’t need to heat or cool, or use an energy efficient space heater to reduce the amount of space you need to heat.
3. Use a programmable thermostat to maintain control. Don’t heat or cool the house when you aren’t there. Use a programmable thermostat to run your heating and cooling appliances only when you need them.

With these steps, you should be able to reduce your energy consumption and lower your electric bill, even in months of extreme temperatures. For more advice on ways to save energy, be sure to sign up for our ECAP program—a free program for our customers to find new ways to save money on electricity.