Infrared Inspection Technologies Series, 2009

February 26, 2009 Households in Ohio – and around the country – are "learning to be more green," taking obvious measures to decrease the carbon footprints of their homes, lowering their fossil fuel usage and practicing new habits and routines to lower their day-to-day costs and consumption of energy.

The average homeowner can save on their energy bills by simply lowering the temperature of their home by a degree or two in the winter, and being more conscientious when using air conditioning in the summer. Many families are replacing older style incandenscent light bulbs with newer CLF bulbs (compact fluorescent lamps).1 Fostering a habit of "turning off a light when you leave a room" can help a household's bottom line when it comes to the monthly electric bill. For each 10ºF reduction on your hot water heater, you can save between 3%–5% in energy costs (most households can get by with a 120ºF setting - most manufacturers sell hot water heaters with factory settings at 140ºF).2

Homeowners have a fairly good sense about "the obvious" when it comes to their energy use. Families (just as businesses and municipalities) which take a pro-active approach to energy use and costs, can appreciate an almost immediate "return on their investment" by changing some habits in their daily routines. However, for many homeowners the first real hurtles really are not about deciding to make these "obvious" changes. These are generally easy. The tougher decisions come when considering larger and more involved changes.

When we start to look more seriously at energy-efficiency and our individual home economies, we soon realize that some decisions will have a price tag that can make us "suspicious of our actual return on the investment."

It's one thing to take shorter showers or to turn off a light when leaving a room. It's quite another thing when we start thinking about making some improvements to the function and structure of our home. Whether it's replacing the older home thermostat with a new programmable one, or replacing single pane windows with newer, more efficient thermopane - these decisions can (and should) take some discussion and research.

The fact of the matter is that for most conservation and energy cost-cutting, the long-term answer to the problem is not simply about using less, it is about using what we have available more wisely.

¹ Compared to incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) last up to 10 times longer and use about one-fourth the energy.
² Reducing your water temperature to 120ºF also slows mineral buildup and corrosion in your water heater and pipes. This helps your water heater last longer and operate at its maximum efficiency.