Easy Ways to Save Energy

At Home

Turn your thermostat down. Lowering your heating temperature is the most effective way to save energy. Each degree you lower your thermostat can reduce your heating energy consumption by as much as two percent.

Turn heat off in unoccupied rooms. If you can adjust heat on a room-by-room basis, turn it down to 55 degrees in rooms you're not using.

Replace furnace filters regularly. Stop drafts. Make sure your doors and windows are kept closed during the winter. Install or repair weather stripping or caulking to eliminate cold drafts.

Turn lights off when a room is vacant. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs where you need light for long periods.

Turn electronic appliances off. When you're not using stereos, televisions and other electronics, turn them off. Turn off computers and monitors if you don't need them in the next couple of hours

Reduce unnecessary exterior lighting. Turn off unnecessary ornamental lighting. Turn off exterior lighting during the day.

Turn your hot water heater down. Setting the water heating thermostats to 120 degrees reduces standby loss and lowers the risk of scalding.

Reduce hot water use. Showers use less heated water than baths. Try shortening your showers by a few minutes. Install low flow showerheads and faucet aerators if you don't already have them. Run your clothes washer and dishwasher only when full.

Contact DEC's Electric Answer Center at 1-800-233-2733 or e-mail us for information on all of our energy management programs and schedule a free energy audit with one of our energy services representatives.

For more ways to save energy at home...

At Work

Turn off equipment and tools. Turn off unneeded computers, printers, and copiers at night. Turn off processing equipment during off shifts or when it is not needed. Activate energy saving features on computers, copiers and printers to save energy during the workday.

Turn off lights when you leave a room. Flip off the light switch at night, or during lunch and when out of your work area. The most savings occurs when you manually switch off lights every time you leave an area.

Turn off electric space heaters. Always turn off all electric heaters at night, at lunch, and on weekends. For fire safety, disconnect unattended heaters.

Reduce exterior lighting. Maintain photo cells or set time clocks so exterior lights are off during the day.

Reduce work area lighting. The human eye is highly adaptable to reduced lighting levels. Lights near windows can often be completely off during the day.

Turn lights off after hours. After business hours, turn on only the lights in occupied work areas. If you get to work early or work after regular hours, use only the lights you need.

Adjust the thermostat. During occupied hours, set thermostats at 68-70 degrees for heating and 74-76 degrees for cooling. After hours, adjust the thermostat to 55-60 degrees for heating and 80 degrees for cooling.

Close doors and windows. When the weather is either hot or cold, air from outside can have a big impact on energy bills. Keep doors and windows closed when heating or cooling is needed.

Use window blinds. Direct sunlight can overheat spaces, making the building's air conditioner work harder. Close or tilt blinds to block direct sunlight. Close blinds at night in winter to reduce heat loss.

Provide building system training for operation and maintenance staff. Smart operators make a big difference in the comfort and energy efficiency of a building.

Use Energy Smart Maintenance. Take regular maintenance actions like regularly changing filters, verifying economizer operation, resetting time clocks for daylight savings time, cleaning lamps and light fixtures and tuning up air conditioning units.