Ways to save energy?

[scfr]

We're in Texas where we use the AC a lot more than the heat. We use a stand-alone dehumidifier to keep humidity under control while keeping the temperature higher. When the dehumidifier bucket fills we use the water on outside plants.

One thing I SHOULD do but don't is use a slow cooker. It's more efficient and doesn't heat up the house as much as using the oven or stove.

[Outdoorsygal]

1. Have a second broken refrigerator (or working I guess) in winter which can keep your food cold. Place outside. Then don't use your fridge inside the home.
2. Electric Blankets
3. Hang clothes in front of fireplace instead of turning on clothes dryer. We toss our clothes dryer the last 5 min to unwrinkle them
4. Open the curtains for light instead of turning on lights


#2 A friend of ours who lives off grid SAVES A TON OF $$ about 2-3 months out of the year by using a broken refrigerator on her covered porch. It keeps her items cold for free. I am not sure if she unplugged the inside fridge or not. In wintertime she also hangs her clothes to dry in front of her wood stove but she looks like this ---> She goes back to looking normal again after wintertime.

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[Outdoorsygal]

One thing I SHOULD do but don't is use a slow cooker. It's more efficient and doesn't heat up the house as much as using the oven or stove.

Thank you for this!! I am home alone today and we have stuff in the house already for homemade split pea soup which is wonderful in the slow cooker.
I was going to go shopping but now we can get by for a few more days without it

[Outdoorsygal]

If you have an old fashioned fireplace

[StormRichards]

[StormRichards]

Growing up we put plastic on the windows in the winter, but it isn't something I have ever done in our house. We put draft dodgers at the base of the doors and use a programmable thermostat.

An area we need to improve on is turning off lights to rooms we are not in.

[Nutria]

1. Have a second broken refrigerator (or working I guess) in winter which can keep your food cold. Place outside. Then don't use your fridge inside the home.

Not when the average high temp in January is 77F.

3. Hang clothes in front of fireplace instead of turning on clothes dryer.

Smell like smoke?

[Outdoorsygal]

Smell like smoke?

Not yet

[bennkar]

It also comes at a premium. Gas is much more than electricity, at least in the cities I've dealt with it. And if you only have a gas furnace, then you have to pay a hookup charge all year long even if you don't use any gas.

I know this was covered by others above, but I want to reiterate that natural gas is less expensive everywhere in the US (for heating water and air) unless you are in a location where there is plentiful renewable electricity generation (think hydro, thermal, wind, or sometimes nuclear). Nat. gas is used for cheap electric generation, and getting the electricity to your house (after using nat. gas to generate it) includes various line loss and other inefficiencies and overhead that will always make it more expensive than using nat. gas directly to heat in your house. Yes, there is a monthly line charge, but there are line charges for electricity as well, so that is usually close to a wash and should be ignored when comparing. Now if you need a gas main extension to your house and the local utility wants to charge you for it, then electricity may be the better choice.