Save Energy And Money With These 5 Tips And Wind Power

With the economy the way it is today with many unemployed, many who may be facing unemployment, and trying to keep up with rising costs, it becomes even more important to cut costs wherever we can. Therefore, here are five tips you can use with or without the use of wind power to help cut costs year round.

1.Whether you live in a mild climate and use your furnace more than the a/c or in a hot climate and use the a/c more than the furnace, it is important to have your a/c and furnace serviced once a year. Having the units serviced yearly can keep them running efficiently, saving money, and can keep them in good running condition prolonging their life, again, saving you money on a repair bill. On top of having your units serviced regularly, change the filter once a month, more frequently in dusty environments. A dirty filter, even if it is only partially dirty will make both the a/c and furnace work hard, wasting energy and money.

2.Many people turn their thermostats for a/c in the summer off or way up, and the furnaces in the winter (normally) to an extremely low temperature. Doing this is fine if you do not go to extremes, turning the thermostat off or to extreme high or low temperature will cause your units to work twice as hard to cool or heat the house back to a comfortable level. A programmable thermostat is more affordable today then they were many years ago so, consider changing that old manual thermostat with a programmable one. Then program it to reasonable temperature that will not cause your units to run for excessive periods to bring the temperature back to a comfortable level.

3.In order to keep the cool/warm air in the house, depending on the season, you should seal the air leaks. This can be done in several easy inexpensive ways such as, caulking around exterior doors and windows, placing foam gaskets behind outlet and switch covers that are on outside walls. These two things alone can go a long way to seal up the house and keep your furnace or a/c from running excessively. You can get the caulk and gaskets (ones they use behind the covers on switches and outlets that are located outdoors) by making a quick trip to the hardware store.

4.This will only apply if you have and use a fireplace, and is more of a precaution than a savings tip. Using a fireplace, if you have one, can save you a considerable amount of money in the winter. However, the more you use it the higher build up of creosote you will get, and if you do not have the chimney cleaned regularly you stand the chance of chimney fires. Another thing you should look at is the top of the chimney, is there a screen cover and cap. If there isn't you have the possibility of birds, that sit on the chimney for warmth, becoming overcome by fumes and falling in the chimney which can block it causing smoke to backup into the house.

5.Using wind power to cut the power bill makes sense because, with the technology of today, you can build a roof mounted wind mill for three hundred dollars or less. You can cut you power bill in half or more, depending on how much wind you get, obviously the more wind, the more power is produced, and the less power you will need to buy from the power company. So, when trying to reduce your power bill, consider wind power as a way to cut it in half or more.