Heading out for the holidays? Don’t forget to prepare your home before you leave. Check out these five ways you can keep energy usage down when you’re away from home.
- With everyone out of the house for a few days, set the thermostat between 50 and 60 degrees. Any lower than 50 and you run the risk of frozen pipes in cold weather.
- Walk around your home and unplug ALL unnecessary electronics and appliances — from big things like entertainment centers and computers to smaller things like coffee pots.
- Speaking of the little things, leaving a light on is a smart way to keep your home safe from burglars, but leaving it on all day is wasteful. Instead, try automatic timers programmed to turn on from dusk till dawn and by all means, make sure it’s an LED bulb to save energy.
- Raise your refrigerator temp to 42 degrees and the freezer to 5 degrees. It’ll still keep temperatures just right and give you a little extra savings.
- If you’ll be away for more than three days, turn your water heater down or turn it off. For an electric water heater: Turn the temperature dial down or turn it off at the circuit breaker panel. For a natural gas water heater: Turn it down to “low” or set to “vacation mode.” NOTE: You may need a few hours to heat the tank when you return.