Here's our top 10 tips for saving energy year-round, and most won't cost you a cent. This is because LED bulbs use less power and last longer. That means you spend less money and time replacing them. The Residential Efficiency Scorecard is available across Australia.

In the same way as a fridge or washing machine has a star rating, a Scorecard rating shows how much energy is used throughout your home. Whether selling or renovating, renting or just worried about high energy bills, a home energy assessment can help you save energy and money on bills by identifying your home's features that contribute to high energy bills and the improvements you can make.

In winter, set your thermostat to between 18 and 20 degrees. In summer, set your thermostat to 26 degrees or above. Save money by switching to more energy-efficient heating. The Victorian Energy Upgrades program allows rebates to install more efficient heating in your home.

If you have gas heating and a modern reverse cycle air-conditioner, try using your reverse cycle system in heating mode. This will reduce your winter bills and improve heating efficiency. Victorian Energy Compare is the Victorian Government's free and independent energy price comparison tool.

It compares offers from more than 20 energy retailers across gas, electricity and solar to help you find the best and cheapest energy offers. You just need access to the internet, a recent bill, and some information about your household. Victorian Energy Compare does the rest. You can also try the energy quiz on the website to learn more about your energy and bills.

An insulated ceiling can make a big difference to your energy bills. Find information about insulation at Sustainability Victoria. Using solar electricity you generate can reduce the amount of energy you need to buy from your retailer.

Solar hot water systems can also help you avoid gas charges using a gas-fired water heater. And as part of the same groundbreaking climate law, the U. The average U. Energy-efficient appliances can save families hundreds of dollars a year on utility bills.

In many cases, these long-term savings can make up for any price difference between efficient and inefficient appliances. The cost savings from energy efficiency are especially powerful for low-income rural and urban households, as well as renters, who typically face a higher energy burden —the proportion of income spent on energy—than that of higher-earning households partially due to lack of weatherization.

Energy efficiency can also help people live healthier, longer lives. When power plants burn coal, oil, and natural gas, they release tiny particles into the air that we breathe in; these particles are linked to asthma, heart attacks, and lung cancer.

Inside a home, inefficient ventilation and weatherization can also contribute to respiratory illnesses. Energy efficiency can even improve the comfort of everyday life , which may not be factored into most benefit statistics. On a larger scale, energy efficiency improves energy security by not only making our power grid more resilient but also making the country less dependent on foreign sources of fossil fuels and the critical minerals in batteries.

Ready to join the energy efficiency revolution? Be sure to check our consumer guide for how to take advantage of the latest tax credits and rebates for making changes big and small, as detailed below.

The Energy Star label , a voluntary program managed by the EPA and thousands of partners, can be found on plus types of products, including major appliances, lighting, and home electronics. For instance, a newer fridge with the Energy Star label uses 35 percent less electricity than a fridge reaching the end of its life span today about 15 years.

Energy Star washing machines use one-fourth less energy and one-third less water than standard models—cutting yet another utility cost. Consumers are getting a double bonus, because energy-efficient appliances like refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers are also becoming more affordable.

The Energy Star website can even direct you to rebates available in your area. Super-efficient electric heat pumps are a cleaner and more affordable option for both heating and cooling homes­ and businesses, particularly where oil and propane furnaces are the norm.

When you want to keep your home warm, the very same appliance can be kicked into reverse. As climate change fuels more extreme weather conditions, more and more people are making the move to purchase their first air conditioner. This is actually the best time for you to instead buy a heat pump that can replace both your standard AC and furnace and help reduce your utility bill.

So while the up-front cost of a heat pump might be slightly more than a standard AC without a heating function, the long-term benefits make it a worthwhile investment for your wallet and the environment.

In addition to swapping out major appliances, many homes are also installing smart thermostats for greater control— and savings. Ceiling fans can make a room feel cooler while using just a fraction of the energy of a central air conditioner. Finally, keeping cool in summer and warm in winter requires far less energy when your house is well sealed against the elements.

Consider consulting with a weatherization professional to find drafts, connecting with your local utility or government for an energy audit, or going DIY. Then add insulation where you need it.

The initiative saves 2, kWh per week from just one of the highway installations. Homeowners can take inspiration from Norway by using smart lighting throughout their homes.

Outdoor motion detection lights that turn on and off based on movement can help save energy on porches, garages, and other less frequented areas of the home. Reduced light mode technology, meanwhile, turns on fully when movement is detected and turns down to dim lighting after 20 seconds.

These are great additions for hallways because they let you easily navigate your home in the dark — an important feature for parents of young kids, and for that occasional late-night snack.

Try incorporating both motion detection lights and reduced light mode technology in your home to help reduce your energy consumption. The Dutch Central government gave its residents a neat exercise to find phantom electronics in their homes by telling them to turn off all the lights and be on the lookout for any shining light glaring back at them.

Think gaming consoles, phone chargers and TVs. Phantom electronics continue to use energy and add to your electricity bill even if not in use.

Homeowners can try hunting for phantom electronics and unplug less used appliances that blender you use every morning and electrical devices. All around the world, homeowners are proving that saving energy can be simple while adding comfort and value to your home. Whether installing a green curtain, unplugging phantom electronics or investing in ENERGY STAR-certified windows, these small steps can lead to big energy savings over time.

New Zealand and Australia have partnered to bring energy-efficient products to their residents with the E3 Programme. Under the program, minimum energy performance standards are set for a number of products such as lightbulbs, home appliances, electronics and more.

Only products that meet or exceed the standards set by the countries can be sold. To help consumers identify how energy-efficient a product is, an Energy Rating Label is attached to each E3 programme product.

The label includes a star rating out of six, the more stars a product has the more energy efficient it is. It also includes an estimated annual energy consumption of the product so consumers can easily compare energy use between similar models.

Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for as much as To increase energy savings, set your fridge to 37 degrees Fahrenheit and your freezer to 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Use energy-efficient light bulbs. Install energy-saving CFL or LED bulbs in your lighting fixtures to use percent less energy, compared to regular incandescent bulbs.

Clean or replace air filters as recommended. The air conditioner and heater are the biggest energy users in most homes, and these appliances have to work even harder with dirty air filters. Write the date of installation on the filter to help you remember when it needs to be replaced.

Do full loads. Make sure your dishwasher and washing machine are full before running them to get the most energy-saving use from each run cycle. Use smart power strips. Even when not in use, household electronics still draw power from outlets.

Energy-saving smart power strips, which shut down appliances that have gone into standby mode, help you cut down on phantom-load costs, potentially resulting in money and energy savings. Air-dry dishes and clothes.

And instead of using the dryer on a nice day, hang your clothes outside to dry. Bake with glass or ceramic pans. Cook using the right-sized burner. Cut down on air leaks in your home. Check your windows and doors for cracks and gaps, and seal them up with new weather stripping or caulk.

Keep your house a little hotter in the summer and a little cooler in the winter. A good rule of thumb is to set the thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and to 78 in the summer. More resources and tips on saving energy Check out these resources for more energy conservation ideas:.

Explore Energy Plans in Your Area. Zip Code is not valid. When it comes to saving energy through household upgrades, homeowners often overlook little things like light bulbs.

Hours: am - pm Mon-Fri ET am - pm Sat ET Closed Sun Chat Hours: am - pm Mon-Fri ET. Sorry, this plan is not available for your location. Click your state below to view offers in your area.

Tell us when you're current service will end, and we will email you a reminder two weeks ahead of your service end date. By pressing "submit", you're signing up to receive emails about our special offers and promotions.

You can opt out at any time by clicking "unsubscribe" in an email. We'll send you the details of this plan so you can review it again later. Please note: this offer can expire and is subject to change at any time. The 2. This all-in-one bundle provides roughly 7, Watt Hours of power for your portable home energy needs.

Equipped with a Yeti X, Yeti Home Integration Kit transfer switch, four Yeti Tank Expansion Batteries, and the Link Expansion Module. Enough to keep your critical circuits running for over 2. This is for disclaimer and any terms and conditions that we need to show.

Select a Category back Energy Saving Tips Energy Education Home Improvement Smart Home Green Living Weather Preparedness Safety Tips. Home Energy Savings Seasonal Energy Savings. Energy in Your Home Energy in Your State Prepaid Energy. Green Energy Green Living Green Home.

Storm Preparedness Seasonal Readiness Natural Disaster Guides. How To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient Change your light bulbs to LEDs. Wash your clothes in cold water if possible. Air seal your home. Clean or replace all filters in your home regularly. Dirty filters make your system work harder and run longer than necessary.

Use your microwave instead of your stove when cooking. During warmer months, close blinds, shades and drapes on the sunny side of your home to help keep your home's temperature cooler and reduce the work for you AC.

Open shades during cooler months to let the sun warm your home. Don't peek in the oven while baking! Every time you peek, the temperature can drop 25°F , making your oven use more energy to bring the temperature back up.

Use natural light when possible. Control your fixtures with a photocell or a timer to assure dusk-to-dawn only operation of your outdoor lights. Don't leave your electronics on all day long. Only turn on your computer, monitor, printer and fax machine when you need them. Setting your thermostat to a lower temperature than normal will not cool your home faster.

Using your ceiling fan will allow you to raise the thermostat setting about 4°F with no reduction in comfort. Refrigerators and freezers actually operate most efficiently when full, so keep your refrigerator and freezer as full as possible using water bottles if nothing else.

Be careful about overfilling them as this will reduce airflow and cause the appliance to work harder. and 6 p. and reduce the chance of an emergency! Turn off heated dry on your dishwasher and air dry instead.

Set your refrigerator temperature to the manufacturer's recommendation to avoid excessive cooling and wasting energy. Don't leave bathroom or kitchen ventilation fans running longer than necessary.

They replace inside air with outside. Replace your windows. If your home has single-pane windows, consider replacing them with more energy efficient windows, or adding solar shades or tinting film.

Install a programmable thermostat that will automatically adjust the temperature according to your schedule. Turn off the lights when they're not in use. Don't leave your mobile phone plugged in overnight.

It only takes a couple of hours to charge. Turn off the oven a few minutes before cooking time runs out. Your food will continue to cook without using the extra electricity.

Watch your appliance placement. Avoid placing appliances that give off heat, such as lamps or TVs, near a thermostat. Dress for the weather.

Make sure each person leaves the water in the tub when he or she is finished. Then check the height of the water.

You can mark it with a bath crayon or with colored tape. Or you can measure it with a ruler and record the level. Next, have everybody take a shower. Ask them to plug the drain before they start so the water doesn't run out. Measure the amount of water left in the tub when each person is finished and mark or record it.

Now compare the average amount of water used for each method. The one that required less water is the one that will save more energy -- and the one you should recommend for use in your household. Think of ways you could save even more energy.

What if you turned off the shower when you're soaping? Using a low-flow shower head, which can put out as much as 72 percent less water, can make a difference, too [sources: Energy Information Administration: Saving, titanheater. com ]. Insulating your house holds heat in, so you run your furnace less often when it's cold outside.

However, insulation can also keep things cold -- your refrigerator, for example, is insulated to keep the heat out. Either way, insulation saves energy by keeping your appliances from having to work as hard to maintain the temperature.

This experiment helps you find out which materials make the best insulators. Start with two cardboard shoe boxes. Tape black paper to the outside of the bottom of each. Place the top of each box upside down in a sunny location. Lay a thermometer on each top.

Now, fit the bottom of one box over the top so that the black paper faces up toward the sun. This uninsulated box is your control. It shows what happens without insulation. Next, take the material you want to test, shape it to completely fill the bottom of the second box and tape it to make sure it stays in place.

You can choose almost any material to test, including Styrofoam, a towel, layers of newspaper, a piece of bubble wrap or some artificial fleece. Fit the box over the other top. Make sure the two boxes receive the same amount of sunlight. After 15 minutes, open the boxes and record the temperature in each.

The inside of the insulated box should be cooler than the control box. The greater the temperature difference, the better the material works as an insulator. Repeat the experiment with different materials.

Finally, think about why some materials insulate better. For example, maybe they trap dead air spaces that don't allow heat to circulate [source: Energy Information Administration: Insulation]. Can something as simple as shade from a tree or paint help save on home energy bills?

This experiment will help answer that question. The "house" in this case will be a small cardboard box. A watt bulb in a reflector lamp will play the role of the sun. First, set up the box. Make sure it has a lid that shuts tightly.

Put a thermometer inside to measure the temperature. Then, arrange the light so that it shines directly on the box. After 20 minutes, record the temperature inside the box. Next, set a house plant between the lamp and the box so that its shadow rests on the "house.

Check the temperature again after 20 minutes. Did the shade keep the box cooler? Try different plants with different types of leaves.

Which makes the most difference in temperature? To test paint's energy effect, take two identical boxes and paint one white and one black or a dark color. Put each an equal distance from the light and record the temperature inside after 20 minutes.

Which box gets hotter? How would this affect energy usage if it were an actual house? Basically, choosing the right shade trees or exterior paint color could help save energy if they keep a house cooler in summer and cut the need for air conditioning.

In winter, however, it might be better not to have shade, so that the house could absorb heat from the sun. In that case, trees that lose their leaves in winter might be the best energy savers [source: Energy Information Administration: Sun].

You can make your own hot water using only the power of the sun. You'll start with a flat box that's about 3 feet 90 centimeters square and 2 or 3 inches 5 or 7. Paint the inside black or line it with black paper. Next, take 20 feet 6 meters or more of flexible black tubing. Make two holes in the sides of the box, one near a corner and the other near the opposite corner.

Insert the end of the tube through one hole. Shape the tubing into flat loops that don't overlap but run up and down the bottom of the box. Keep looping until you've used up most of the length. Pass the end out through the other hole. Place a glass cover on the box. Tape the edges to hold it down.

You now have a solar collector like the ones you might sometimes see on rooftops. Put the box in the sun. Immerse one end of the tubing in a bucket of water. Suck on the other end to fill the tube and start a siphon action.

Keep the end you sucked on lower than the other and let the water trickle into another container. Use a clothespin to crimp the tube and limit the flow to a trickle.

Place a thermometer in each container of water to track the temperature change. Does the angle of the box toward the sun make a difference? What if you use a longer piece of tubing and make more loops?

The warmer the water coming out, the more heat it's absorbing from the sun. If you were using water heated this way in your home, you would take the load off your electric, gas or oil water heater , saving energy.

You might have seen giant wind turbines spinning on hilltops. Well, with this experiment, you can make your own model turbine to try generating electricity from wind. Then add insulation where you need it. But heat pump technology—the same technology that can heat and cool your home—is also the most efficient way to get that shower hot.

Heat pump water heaters are more effective than electric resistance heaters and far cleaner than gas and propane water heaters, as they emit zero greenhouse gas emissions or toxins like nitrogen oxides while in operation.

Today, half of U. homes are brightened with efficient LED light bulbs. To help consumers, NRDC has long worked to create and champion state and federal energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, collaborate with cities to cut energy waste in larger buildings, encourage utilities to promote efficiency, and push for efficiency improvements in building codes.

For your part, by finding ways to reduce your personal use of fossil fuels , you, too, can play a role in creating an energy-efficient future that improves the health of people and the planet. This NRDC. org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer s must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.

We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. Skip to main content. Energy Efficiency: The Clean Facts.

September 20, Credit: iStock. Lora Shinn. Share this page. Jump to Section What Is Energy Efficiency? Why Is It Important to Use Less Energy? Energy-Saving Tips Energy Efficiency: For Today and Tomorrow. It cuts carbon pollution Boosting energy efficiency in buildings, vehicles, appliances, and equipment is an inexpensive, low-impact way to reduce climate pollution, including carbon dioxide CO2 emissions, on a grand scale.

It creates jobs As of , more than 2. It lowers electric bills The average U. It improves lives Energy efficiency can also help people live healthier, longer lives. It strengthens independence On a larger scale, energy efficiency improves energy security by not only making our power grid more resilient but also making the country less dependent on foreign sources of fossil fuels and the critical minerals in batteries.

Heat and cool efficiently U. Learn More: Energy Efficiency at Home. A Consumer Guide to the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Energy-Efficient Home Makeover. Switch to LED bulbs Today, half of U. A worker spraying blown fiberglass insulation between attic trusses.

Energy Efficiency: For Today and Tomorrow. Related Issues. Related Stories Skip carousel items. What Are Heat Pump Air Conditioners? August 25, Explainer United States Alejandra Mejia Cunningham, Alex Hillbrand.

Even better, they double as carbon-slashing heating systems. August 22, Explainer International, United States Patrick Rogers. How to Ditch the Biggest Fossil Fuel Offenders in Your Life August 8, How-To United States Courtney Lindwall. Here are some high-impact ways to reduce your personal use of oil and gas and gain a little energy independence.

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