Brian Ripp ~ Your Bay Area & Fremont Real Estate & Financial Agent

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Here are some suggestions to ensure that your home is energy efficient and ready for the colder winter weather.

Test your homes energy efficiency.  You can perform a simple audit of your home’s energy use by following the guidelines at EnergyStar.gov. You can also have PG&E or a home inspector evaluate the home.

Turn down the heat.   Save money on your heating billsby setting your thermostat to 55 degrees when you are away from home for more than 4 hours.  Alter the setting manually, or for $80-$120, purchase a programmable thermostat for your heater.

Avoid drafts.  Plug air leaks with caulk or weather stripping to limit heat loss in your home.  Check for leaks by holding a lit candle near vents, doors, window frams and mail slots.  If the flame changes direction, there’s a leak.

Water works.  To save money, set your hot water heater heater at 120 degrees.  Electric and gas units can be covered with an insulating jacket for about $20.  The isulation can help cut heat losses by up to 45 percent.

Related articles

• Energy efficiency tips for landlords (confused.com)
• Easy, Low-Cost Ways To Save More Energy Around The House (connectyourhome.com)
• Reducing Electricity Use in Your Home (furniturehomedesign.com)

Don’t wait until your house is so cold that you wear your winter coats indoors – fix drafty windows before the winter season arrives.

 According to the Department of Energy, more than 40 percent of annual energy expenditures are consumed by heating and cooling in a typical house.  Proper selection of windows, doors and skylights can significantly affect how much money is spent or saved every year keeping homes bright and comfortable.

Work with a local window expert to determine if your windows are giving you the biggest bang for your buck.

Check with your local utility company.  They may offer incentives to homeowners who make energy-saving improvements.

Ask about insulating features.  Some high-tech energy-efficient solutions argon gas dual pane windows or a Low-E coating. 

Spending a few hours guarding against draft can be well worth the price – your energy costs will be lower and your home will be comfortable.

Did you know that heating and cooling account for 44 percent of the average home’s energy use?

Insulating your home is your best protection against high heating and cooling bills.  It’s also the best way to keep your home comfortable in very season.

Start by adding insulation to any unfinished attics and crawl spaces.  Then consider insulating the ceilings and walls between your living space and an unheated basement or garage.

Finally, don’t forget that windows and doors can be some of your home’s biggest energy wasters.   Make sure the weather-stripping is in good condition at all times.  Install storm windows and doors to help keep your home draft-free.

With these quick measures, you can increase your energy-efficiency and keep your home comfortable and climate-controlled for less.

Does switching the lights on and off use more energy than leaving them on? The answer is no, despite the common misperception that turning a light on creates a power surge. The thinking is that it’s more economical to just leave a light on rather than pay the costs of flicking it back on.

In reality, that “surge” lasts for only a fraction of second, according to Francis Rubinstein, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Any “start-up” energy costs are minuscule at best and are more than offset by the money you save from turning your lights off, even if it’s only for a short time.

So if you’re strictly concerned about saving energy (and money), you should turn your lights out when you’re not using them.

The bigger issue with turning lights on and off frequently, though, has to do with shortening the product’s lifetime, says Christina Kielich at the Department of Energy.

It doesn’t affect the lamp life of an incandescent bulb very much, says Rubinstein. So it makes sense to always turn them off when you a leave room, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, on the other hand, are a somewhat different story. Flicking them on and off repeatedly will affect how long they last, although, Rubinstein points out that the impact is minimal for most households.

How much flicking on and off is too much? The general consensus is that it’s best to turn off CFLs when you are leaving for 15 minutes or longer. In fact, Energy Star recommends installing fluorescent bulbs in fixtures that are used for at least 15 minutes at time. So it doesn’t make sense to use them in places where you’d need to switch them on and off constantly.

The rule of thumb is a little different when you’re at the office, according to Rubinstein. Turn out fluorescent lighting when you’re leaving for at least 5 minutes. The reason? Full-size fluorescent systems aren’t as sensitive to frequent cycling as CFLs and won’t impact the life of the bulb as much.