Tip of the Month

Current Tip:

EPA Offers Tips to Save Energy and Fight Climate Change this Summer

With summer and the high costs of cooling right around the corner, EPA is offering advice to help Americans reduce both energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions by one third through Energy Star. The energy used in an average home costs more than $2,200 a year and contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than a typical car.

Here are some tips to save energy and help protect the environment at home and at work:

• Set your programmable thermostat to save while you are away or asleep. Using it properly can save up to $180 per year in energy costs.
• Run ceiling fans in a clockwise direction to create a wind-chill effect that will make you “feel” cooler. Remember that ceiling fans cool people, not rooms -- so turn them off when you leave the room.
• Inspect your duct system for obvious signs of leaks and disconnections (most houses leak 20 percent or more). Seal any leaks with foil tape or a special sealant called “duct mastic.” Also consider insulating ducts in unconditioned areas (like the attic, basement or crawlspace).
• Seal air leaks around your home to keep the heat out and the cool air in. The biggest air leaks are usually found in the attic or basement, but also come in around doors, windows, vents, pipes and electrical outlets. Use caulk, spray foam or weather stripping to seal the leaks. And add more insulation to keep your home cooler this summer.
• Maintain your cooling system. Check your system’s air filter every month at a minimum and change the filter every 3 months. Remove leaves, dirt and other debris from around the outdoor components to improve air flow and efficiency. Have a qualified professional tune-up your system with a pre-season maintenance checkup and, if it’s time to replace your old system, look for models that have earned EPA’s Energy Star.
• Turn off office lights and equipment when not in use so they don’t generate unnecessary heat.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs in your desk lamp with Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs which use two-thirds less energy and generate less heat than conventional bulbs.

More tips on to how to save energy at home: http://www.energystar.gov
More tips on how to save energy at work: http://www.energystar.gov/bizcooling
More hot tips for a cool summer: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/hi-summer.htm

Source: EPA

Past tips:

Maintain Your HVAC System

As temperatures begin to warm up, your household may start to run your air conditioning more and more. Just as a tune-up for your car can improve your gas mileage, a yearly tune-up of your heating and cooling system can improve efficiency and comfort.

Learn more:

Maintain your equipment: a checklist

Finding the right contractor: 10 tips

It also helps to check your filter every month, especially during heavy use months (winter and summer). If the filter looks dirty after a month, change it. At a minimum, change the filter every 3 months. A dirty filter will slow down air flow and make the system work harder to keep you warm or cool — wasting energy. A clean filter will also prevent dust and dirt from building up in the system — leading to expensive maintenance and/or early system failure.

As much as half of the energy used in your home goes to heating and cooling. So making smart decisions about your home's heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system can have a big effect on your utility bills — and your comfort. Take these steps to increase the efficiency of your heating and cooling system. For more information, see Guide to Energy Efficient Heating & Cooling from Energy Star.

Source: Energy Star - "Heat & Cool Efficiently"

Sealing Air Leaks

Warm air leaking into your home during the summer and out of your home during the winter can waste a lot of your energy dollars. One of the quickest dollar-saving tasks you can do is caulk, seal, and weatherstrip all seams, cracks, and openings to the outside. You can save on your heating and cooling bill by reducing the air leaks in your home.

Sources of Air Leaks in Your Home

Tips for Sealing Air Leaks

• First, test your home for air tightness. On a windy day, carefully hold a lit incense stick or a smoke pen next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weatherstripping.

• Caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows that leak air.

• Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducting, or electrical wiring penetrates through walls, floors, ceilings, and soffits over cabinets.

• Install foam gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on walls.

• Look for dirty spots in your insulation, which often indicate holes where air leaks into and out of your house. You can seal the holes with low-expansion spray foam made for this purpose.

• Look for dirty spots on your ceiling paint and carpet, which may indicate air leaks at interior wall/ceiling joints and wall/floor joists. These joints can be caulked.

• Install storm windows over single-pane windows or replace them with more efficient windows, such as double-pane.

• When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes—24 hours a day!

• For new construction, reduce exterior wall leaks by installing house wrap, taping the joints of exterior sheathing, and comprehensively caulking and sealing the exterior walls.

• Use foam sealant around larger gaps around windows, baseboards, and other places where warm air may be leaking out.

• Kitchen exhaust fan covers can keep air from leaking in when the exhaust fan is not in use. The covers typically attach via magnets for ease of replacement.

• Replacing existing door bottoms and thresholds with ones that have pliable sealing gaskets is a great way to eliminate conditioned air leaking out from underneath the doors.

• Fireplace flues are made from metal, and over time repeated heating and cooling can cause the metal to warp or break, creating a channel for hot or cold air loss. Inflatable chimney balloons are designed to fit beneath your fireplace flue during periods of non-use. They are made from several layers of durable plastic and can be removed easily and reused hundreds of times. Should you forget to remove the balloon before making a fire, the balloon will automatically deflate within seconds of coming into contact with heat.

Source: U.S Dept. of Energy, "Energy Savers"

Find out where your home uses the most water with a Home Water Use Survey.

Want to conserve water but don't know where to begin?

A great place to start is by finding out where you use the most water. This home water use survey from the St. Johns River Water Management District helps you calculate how much water is used in your home daily.

This survey is located on the back of your January utility bill insert, and in the UC lobby.

Other resources to help you save water:

SJRWMD's Water Conservation Guide

UCNSB Water Conservation Center

Source: St. Johns River Water Management District

Avoid putting foods, especially fats, down the drain!

Food waste that is rinsed down the drain can cause pipe blockages, both in our system and in your home's plumbing which could result in expensive plumbing bills and may lead to sewer overflows in our community.

As a general rule, avoid pouring fatty or greasy foods down the drain or garbage disposal.

What can't go down the drain:

• Fryer oil. Instead, let the oil cool then pour it back into the original containers and place them in the trash.
• Meat pan drippings. Use paper towels to absorb the pan drippings/grease that is left over and throw in the trash. You could also scrape the drippings into a container you are already throwing away.
• Salad dressing, ice cream, cream sauces, and butter. They contain lots of fats and oils.
• Food solids. Always remove any food waste from the drain instead of poking it down the plughole.

When using a garbage disposal, always use cold water. Cold water helps prevent fat-related clogs by causing the any fats going in to solidify and be chopped up into smaller pieces that won't later clog the pipes. Cold water also prevents the garbage disposal from overheating.

Sources: JEA and Roto-Rooter

Save money & energy with a white roof

Dark-colored, low-reflectant surfaces reach temperatures of 150-190°F and contribute to:

• Increased cooling energy use and higher utility bills;
• Higher peak electricity demand, raised electricity production costs, and a potentially overburdened power grid;
• Reduced indoor comfort;
• Increased air pollution due to the intensification of the "heat island effect"; and
• Accelerated deterioration of roofing materials, increased roof maintenance costs, and high levels of roofing waste sent to landfills.

In contrast, white roofs (also know as cool roofs) stay up to 70°F cooler than traditional materials during peak summer weather. Benefits of cool roofs include reduced building heat-gain and saving on summertime air conditioning expenditures. By minimizing energy use, cool roofs do more than save money – they reduce the demand for electric power and resulting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Residents and building owners can save 20-70% in annual cooling energy use.

An estimate of cool roof energy savings can be determined by considering the following factors:

• Air conditioning: cool roofs can reduce summertime energy use in air conditioned buildings. In buildings without air conditioning, cool roofs can improve comfort by reducing top-floor temperatures.
• Roof insulation: cool roofs save more energy when installed on buildings with low roof insulation.
• Attic radiant barrier: these structures reduce the energy saving potential of cool roofs.
• Attic ventilation: buildings with low attic ventilation see a greater benefit from a reflective roof.
• Local climate: cooling energy savings are typically greatest in areas with long, sunny, hot summers.

Sources: EPA and Berkeley Lab

Related links:

Cool Roofs from from EPA

Benefits of a White Roof Study from Berkeley Lab