Energy efficiency is a crucial part of long-term energy sustainability. Because of this more families are looking for energy efficient homes than ever before. You can purchase energy efficient appliances, windows, and heating and cooling systems to reduce your total energy use, and you’ll not only save environmental resources, but you’ll also save money on your energy bills and increase the resale value of your home.
But if you’re not in the market for a new home or a major appliance purchase, what can you do to reduce the amount of energy you’re using each day? If you live in a typical American home, your appliances and home electronics are responsible for about 20% of your energy usage. These include your washer, dryer, computers, dishwasher, home audio equipment, refrigerator, freezer, water heater, televisions, DVD players, VCRs, room heaters and air conditioners. That’s a lot of “stuff.” Here are some concrete suggestions that all add up to making a big difference.
• The quickest, least expensive and easiest way to reduce the energy you use for heating and cooling your home is to buy a programmable thermostat. You can set these thermostats to turn off automatically when you're not home and turn it on just before you arrive.
• When you upgrade older appliances, buy ones with EnergyStar ratings that have very low annual energy consumption.
• Insulate your home, and seal air leaks around doors and windows. This can cut your energy consumption by 10%. Don’t forget to check your attic insulation. The two things to look for are the thickness of your insulation and it’s "R-Value"—the higher the R-Value, the greater its insulation power. Visit your local home improvement store to find out how much insulation in different areas of the home is recommended for our region.
• Check that all heating equipment is operating properly. Is everything burning or firing cleanly? Are your filters clean? This maintenance allows air to flow most efficiently through your home.
• Minimize the phantom energy drains in your house. These are products that use electricity even when they are turned off (to give you stand-by power for an instant-on feature), and they include things like cell phone chargers, TVs, computers, printers, stereos/radios, hand-held vacuums that are plugged in when not in use, and any appliance that has a clock or a small light on it. Unplug any of these items you can if you won’t be using them for an extended period of time.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones.
• Choose liquid crystal display (LCD) computer monitors, the most energy-efficient, using 80-90% less energy than cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors.
• Shut down your home office when it is not in use- fax machines and printers too. Many new computers are now built with power management capabilities, but you have to manually go into your computer's control panel to enable these features and set them to “standby” or “hibernation”. It is better to turn your computer off completely when not using it since this will save more energy in the long run.
• Wash your clothes in cold or warm water, since 85-90% of the energy used by washing machines is for heating the water.
• Clean the lint filter of your dryer after every load. A clogged lint filter can increase energy use up to 30%.

Even if you can’t say “environmental sustainability” ten times fast, you now know what you and your family can do to move one step closer to reaching this goal.

For more information online, check out:
• The U.S. Department of Energy, http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/
• Energy Star's website, www.energystar.gov
• 10-Minute Energy-Saving Secrets: 250 Easy Ways to Save Big Bucks Year Round by Jerri Farris. Available on amazon.com.