It’s summer vacation time — a time for getting away and forgetting your worries for a while. But don’t forget to prepare your home before you head out. 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 to 85 or turn it off completely.
- Walk around your home and unplug ALL unnecessary electronics and appliances — from big things like entertainment centers and computers to smaller things like lamps and coffee pots.
- Speaking of lamps, 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.
- Raise your refrigerator temp to 42 degrees and the freezer to 5 degrees. It’ll still keep everything cold and frozen and give you a little extra savings.
- Close blinds and windows. This will help keep extra heat from coming in.