At this years NESEA Building Green 07 conference I got the chance to listen to Larry Harmon, from Air Barrier Solutions, and Peter Talmage, from PE Energy and Design. Both men are very knowledgeable about home energy use and they put on a great talk about easy ways to reduce home energy use. In this the first of a two part series, I will lay out their no cost ways to reduce energy use in your home, in the second article we will cover ten more expensive (but still very affordable) options.

So here in no particular order at the top ten most effective ways to reduce your energy costs without spending a dime.

1. Set your thermostat lower:

It sounds obvious, and it should be, but the lower you keep your heat the less energy you will use. Often called the “sit in the dark and freeze” method by its detractors, lowering your thermostat even a little will save you energy. Every degree you lower your thermostat reduces your energy use by 4% (on average). In a week of experimenting you can figure out a comfortable temperature, if you have a programmable thermostat you can set it lower in the night while you are sleeping and have it warm up before you get home from work. With a little planning you can reduce your energy use by 10-15% with almost no effort.

2. Don’t heat the whole house:

Who says you have to keep all of your home warm? If you have the ability, shut off guest rooms and other side rooms that are not used often. Heating the whole home and only living in 75% of it means you are wasting a lot of energy keeping rooms no one lives in warm. Always heat rooms with water pipes in them.

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