Following are some tips and inexpensive energy solutions that can help you choose some effective ways to reduce energy bills in the summer. Some of these tips may not apply depending on the climate and region where you live, the age of your appliances and home, and improvements you may have made to your home.

The average home owner spends on the average of $2,000 - $2,400 a year on their energy bills. You can reduce that amount and do your part to help the environment. The following tips won't cost you anything but keep in mind there are also inexpensive energy solutions available that can save you even more money. You should also consider using renewable energy sources like solar and wind power.

~ Use your microwave to cook fast. Your microwave uses 2/3rds less power than your electric stove. A good inexpensive energy solution would be to replace that old microwave with a new energy efficient one.

~ Push a button when washing your dishes! What does that mean? That means using your dishwasher to wash your dish’s uses less water than when you wash your dishes by hand and if you turn off the setting for heat dry on your dishwasher and allow the dishes to dry by air. You can save even more. A dish towel for drying dishes is a very inexpensive energy solution.

~ Is your refrigerator half empty? This causes your refrigerator to work longer and harder to keep what little food there is cold. So, stock that refrigerator and keep it full. The same thing applies for the freezer.

Here are some more things you can do at home, at no cost you, that will help you cut back on unnecessary power use to reduce power consumption and save you money.

Thermostat, set it at 78 degrees when you are at home and when you leave set the temperature at 85 degrees or off for when nobody is at home. You can use ceiling fans for air movement which will help to keep rooms cool even when your thermostat is set at 78 degrees or higher. Replacing your thermostat with a programable one is an inexpensive energy solution and makes it easier to control the settings.

In those climates and regions of high heat there is a strain on the power grids due to excessive power consumption from air conditioners during peak hours you can help prevent power outages by not running your appliances during the peek hours 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m..

When you’re doing the laundry (again after 6:00 p.m.) use the warm or cold settings on your washer and always rinse with cold water. When you dry your clothes, try using clothes line outdoors clothes line again is an inexpensive energy solution. When you do need to use your dryer only dry full loads and use the moisture setting so the dryer will shut off as soon as the clothes are dry. Make sure the lint screen is cleaned before every time you use the dryer.

Do you have a swimming pool? Try cutting back the amount of time the filter and the cleaning crawler is run. Instead of eight hours cut it back to four to five hours and run them during off peak hours.

Don't waste energy by leaving appliances or lights on. Unplug chargers (like your cell phone charger) that are not in use as they still draw power when plugged into a wall outlet even if they're not plugged into your phone. You should try using a power strip to plug in those chargers then, all you need to do when nothing is charging is to turn off the power strip. If you don't have any power strips, buy some they are yet another inexpensive energy solution.

If you have a spare refrigerator or freezer in the garage that doesn't get used much unplug it or recycle it. This alone can save you as much as &150.00 a year.

With the energy crisis we face, every little bit we do to conserve energy will help prolong what little of our non-renewable energy sources are left.

By Tony Tedbos

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