Reduce your electricity use with the energy-saving tips listed below.
Easy Ways to Reduce
Avoid using the oven. Use microwave or other less energy intensive food preparation methods.
Turn off all unneeded lights, computers, monitors, appliances, heaters, motors, fans, electronic equipment, pool heaters, and pool pumps.
Use laundering, dishwashing, cooking and other appliances until later in the evening.
If you must use your air conditioner, raise temperature set points to 78 degrees in the summer when at home and awake. Turn your air conditioner down or off when away from home or asleep.
Reset automatic light timers to come on after 8 p.m. or just before dark.
Do not open refrigerators or freezers unless necessary.
Inexpensive Tips
Install Uninterruptible Power Supplies for computer equipment.
Keep lights low or off.
Install compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in table lamps, ceiling and wall fixtures and protected porch light fixtures.
Longer Term Ideas
Replace your appliances with ENERGY STAR certified units.
Add insulation to your ceiling and walls and get a rebate.
Upgrade your furnace to a more efficient one and get a rebate.
When buying new electronic equipment, make sure it is ENERGY STAR certified.
Cool Ideas
Keep all windows and doors shut while the air conditioner is on.
Close window shades, curtains, and blinds on windows that get a lot of afternoon sun during the summer. Keep them open in the afternoons during the winter.
Have your air conditioner and heater serviced (at least once every 2-3 years) to maintain efficient operation.
Pool Savings
Cover your pool. A proper pool cover can cut heat loss by 50 to 75% and can also reduce water loss by up to 90%.
Turn off your pool heater, if you have one.
Reduce filtration time to six hours per day. You can save 50% or more of the energy used for filtration.
Heat pool only when you use it. If you only use your pool on weekends or special occasions, turn off the heater or lower the thermostat setting to 68 degrees during the week. You can turn on your heater the night before, or the morning of the day you plan to swim.
Re-evaluate the frequency of backwashing. Most people backwash more than needed. Some pool filters do not have to be backwashed; they can be taken apart and cleaned.
Be sure to follow the pool manufacturer's instructions.
Protect the pool surface from wind without blocking sunlight by using fences, cabanas, and, planting trees. The difference between a fully sheltered pool and one exposed to a mild breeze of 7 miles per hour can be 400% higher energy use!
Have your pool heater inspected annually; a properly maintained heater will use energy efficiently.
In the event of possible widespread outages in California, all electric utilities in the state may be required to reduce a portion of their entire electric load. In this event, involuntary rolling localized blackouts may be implemented. A rolling localized blackout is when power is systematically shut off for a few hours in one area, then the next, and so on by outage block. In Palo Alto, our system is divided into 20 rotating outage blocks.
