10 ways to save energy and lower your bill in cold weather

Winter weather means your heating system will be working harder to keep you and your family warm. Here are easy ways to conserve energy around the home and make sure your heating system is operating efficiently.

• Set your programmable thermostat as low as comfortable in the winter.
• Clean or replace furnace filters as recommended. A dirty air filter makes a heating system work harder, which uses more energy.
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  LED lights are energy efficient and last longer than traditional bulbs.
  Clean air registers and baseboard heaters and make sure they are not blocked by furniture or drapes.
• Turn off kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans after 20 minutes.
• Open drapes and shades on south-facing windows during the day to allow the sunlight to enter and close at night to reduce the chill.
• Replace traditional incandescent bulbs with ENERGY STAR® qualified LEDs. They are energy efficient and last as much as 24 times longer.
• Seal air leaks to keep the heat in and the cold out. Caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows; caulk and seal air leaks around chimneys, plumbing, ducts or wiring around walls, floors, and ceilings.
• Unplug devices you don’t use often such as a second television set, stereo or DVD/Blu-ray player.
• Operate ceiling fans in a clockwise direction, which pushes warm air down into the room.
• Wash clothes with cold water. Ninety percent of the energy used by washing machines goes into heating the water, but most clothes don’t require hot water to get clean.