![\"spring-cleaning-energy-savings\"](\"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/ma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/04\/Spring-Cleaning-2-1.jpg\")
Spring is a great time to refresh your home after a long, buttoned-up winter. While making your usual spring cleaning rounds, consider these tips for tidying up your home’s energy usage.<\/p>\nSpring is a great time to refresh your home after a long, buttoned-up winter. While making your usual spring cleaning rounds, consider these tips for tidying up your home’s energy usage.<\/p>\n
While you are cleaning baseboards, don’t forget to make sure that air vents are clean and not blocked by furniture, draperies, or debris. After giving your ceiling fans a wipe-down, ensure that each is working properly and that it turns counterclockwise during the warmer months to improve cooling. Make sure to also change your furnace filter so your cooling system runs efficiently.<\/p>\n
While you are cleaning and polishing your windows, make sure they close tightly and check for any air leaks<\/a> that need sealing. If you swap out heavy winter drapes for lighter shades, be sure they can effectively block out the harsh sun to reduce the need to run your cooling system on hot days. You should also consider installing blinds that can be raised out-of-sight when not in use and lowered during the warmest hours of the day.<\/p>\n Longer days mean fewer hours for your light bulbs, resulting in natural energy savings. Boost this impact by swapping out old light bulbs with efficient CFL and LED bulbs while you’re dusting lampshades. Use power strips to easily turn off multiple items at once, like a computer, lamp, and printer.<\/p>\n Your washing machine will probably get a serious workout during spring cleaning. Be sure to use cold water to give your water heater–and your energy bill–a break. You can also turn down your water heater temp to 120\u00baF. For every ten degrees lower, you can save up to 5% on your water heating costs. After you scrub your showers, consider installing low-flow faucets and showerheads to cut down on water usage. Ask your family to turn off taps while brushing their teeth.<\/p>\n If it’s been a while since your air conditioner’s last tune-up, it’s time to schedule one. If you don’t already have one, consider installing a programmable thermostat that can help you cut down on cooling costs without the hassle of continually adjusting the temperature<\/a>. Spring is also the perfect time to schedule your no-cost energy assessment<\/a>. That way you will have plenty of time to work on improvements before the peak cooling season hits.<\/p>\n Cleaning up your home is a great way to keep it looking great. Cleaning up your energy usage is great for the environment–and your bottom line. This year, when your spring cleaning checklist is complete, your home will be a fresh, clean, energy-saving machine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring is a great time to refresh your home after a long, buttoned-up winter. While making your usual spring cleaning rounds, consider these tips for tidying up your home’s energy usage. 1. Improve Air Flow While you are cleaning baseboards, don’t forget to make sure that air vents are clean and not blocked by furniture, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,18,36,61,15],"tags":[45,96,97,98,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1510"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10291,"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions\/10291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wattsonhomesolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}3. Cut Electricity Use<\/h3>\n
4. Efficient Water Use<\/h3>\n
5. Cooling System Tune-Up<\/h3>\n
Clean Home, Clean Energy Bills<\/h3>\n