Some energy-saving solutions are ridiculously easy — so easy, in fact, that you may not have thought of them. Or if you did think of them, you
may have thought that easy is the equivalent of ineffective. Au contraire. This chapter offers ways you can become more energy-efficient with very little
work and little, if any, cost.

Turn Down the Thermostat
Lower the temperature in your home in the winter and raise it in the summer. Consider that most humans who have lived on Earth throughout the course
of history have not even had access to air-conditioning, and heating was spotty at best. They survived just fine. So can you.

Close Doors and Dampers
Close the fireplace damper when the fireplace is not in use. If you don’t, the warm air (which you’ve paid for in your heating bills) just gets sucked out
the chimney. It’s amazing how many people don’t do this, and it’s easy. Just make it a habit. You can also close off unused rooms and unused ducts. At a minimum, close the doors — even better, close the register.

Lower the Temp on Your Water Heater
You can save a lot of money by simply lowering the temperature on your domestic water heater. Most homes have the temperature set too high; 113°F
is hot enough.

Use Your Microwave
If you need hot water, use your microwave oven instead of using the stove or letting the water run from the tap until it’s hot enough to satisfy you. The microwave uses a lot less energy than the stove, and filling the water pipes with hot water from heater to tap just to get a cup doesn’t make much sense.

The microwave is a more efficient alternative for most cooking chores, too. Steaming vegetables, warming leftovers — even boiling water — takes less
energy in a microwave than it does on a stove top or in an oven. Using the microwave also reduces the amount of heat that gets released into the
room — definitely a consideration during the hot months when you’re trying to stay cool

Clear Kids’ Toys Out of Radiator Vents
Many radiator vents have obstructions on the inside. Kids drop their toys; animals drop their toys; that remote controller you can’t find has fallen down
in there. Or maybe a chunk of carpet fell in when you were remodeling. All you have to do is pull the vent cover off, get a flashlight, bend over, and look down inside. Removing obstructions makes a huge difference in the efficiency of the HVAC operation, and makes the room much more comfortable to boot.

Use Warm or Cold Water instead of Hot
By simply using warm or cold water instead of hot, you can increase your
energy efficiency and save money:
Wash clothes in cold water. Using warm or cold water in your washing machine can save quite a bit of energy. About 75 percent of the time you
don’t need hot water. Although this may not work for the dirtiest loads, it works just fine for most. Detergents especially made for cold-water
washing help, too. So give it a try, and see what comes of it. The worst that can happen is you have to run the clothes through again on a hotter
cycle. But you’ll probably find that most of the time it doesn’t matter.

Flush the garbage disposer with cold rather than hot water. The problem here is that most of the time when you turn your hot water on, you
have to wait awhile for the hot water to arrive from the water heater. During this time, hot water is actually filling up the pipes between the
heater and your disposer. This heat is then wasted. Even worse, in the summertime it ends up warming your home. If your air conditioner is on,
it has to work harder. You lose in every way.

Lock Closed Windows
Leaks in your home’s envelope are one of the biggest causes of inefficiencies, and can cost quite a bit of money in terms of energy bills. If you simply
lock your windows and doors when you close them, you’ll improve the seal. Granted, this isn’t a real big deal, but every little bit helps.

Do All Your Laundry at Once
Never do a partial load of laundry; it wastes energy. Fill up the machine. Even if the machine has a switch that adjusts for smaller loads, it isn’t nearly as energy-efficient as washing a full load. Always dry loads consecutively in your clothes dryer to take advantage of residual heat. When your dryer is cold, it takes a considerable amount of heat just to warm the machine up.

Clean the dryer filter before every load. Doing so is easy and makes a huge difference in terms of energy consumption.

Skip the Dishwasher Drying Cycle
Believe it or not, you don’t have to use the drying cycle on your dishwasher. Your clean dishes will dry very nicely, thank you, if you simply open the
machine up, especially in the summer.

When it’s very hot, use a fan to exhaust the humidity out of a nearby open window. Aim the fan out the window so that the humidity is sucked right out as soon as possible.

Plant a Tree Where It Counts
For around $30, you can buy a small deciduous tree in healthy, vigorous condition. Plant it in front of your big picture window so that it shades the summertime sun and allows for sunshine in the winter. Depending on how fast the tree grows, payback is between five and ten years,
which may not be rapid but is one of the best ways to increase your energy efficiency. You can’t do any better than planting a tree in your yard.