- Caulking & Weather Stripping
- Electric Water Heater Blankets
- Electricity Control Products
- Energy Meters
- ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs
- LED Task Lights
- Low-flow Toilets
- Pipe Wrap
- Seasonal LED Lights
- Solar Technologies
Caulking & Weather Stripping – Quick & Easy Dollar Saving Improvements
Caulking and weather stripping are two of the least costly but more effective ways of making the place you call home even more energy efficient. Eventually, all buildings could benefit from fresh caulking to fill in gaps and cracks. Checking and repairing caulk should really be one of those ongoing maintenance activities on your annual to do list. Warm air that leaks into your home in the summer and out during the winter can blow through and waste a substantial portion of your energy budget. By sealing up the very spaces and places where cold air sneaks in with caulking and weather stripping you’ll be taking easy and practical steps toward reducing your heating bill.
- Take the time to focus on any cracks in your walls or foundations.
- Check for gaps behind bathtubs, under sinks and around floor drains, fireplace dampers and bricks and any holes where electrical, plumbing or natural gas line pass through your outside walls.
- Watch too for the gaps around the dryer vent, air leaks around recessed lighting and a drafty attic or door hatch.
The simple act of sealing these and any other areas up will help you to save money while increasing home comfort. While saving energy, it also prevents moisture and even insects from entering your walls. This is one snug fit that will actually feel good all around.
While in store, talk to your local retailer for advice about the specific products now available to help you get this job done right.
Electric Water Heater Blankets
Most domestic hot water systems are “stand-by systems” meaning the water is always kept hot and ready to go when needed. And a great deal of energy is consumed to keep the water at its desired temperature, particularly if your water heater is in an unfinished basement or garage. Inexpensive and effective, an insulating blanket will add another layer of insulation that should further reduce heat loss to the surrounding air – even if your water heater is already insulated. These blankets are easy to install and they quickly earn their keep. Depending on your usage, this additional insulation on your hot water tank could save up to 270 kilowatt hours every year - a small step that’s worth taking. Make sure the blanket you buy is CSA certified for use on all CSA approved electric water heaters. A properly installed hot water tank, with either built-in foam insulation or an external insulation jacket, can reduce your energy bills without jeopardizing comfort or convenience.
Many people use hot water for relatively short periods of time in any given day. A water heater timer could further reduce the energy dollars spent on hot water. Timers turn the water heater on for high-use time and off during low-use times. Most timers can accommodate several on/off times a day and the manual override switch would allow for water heating on demand.
Money Saving Tip
To help reduce heat loss, be sure to insulate your hot water pipes, especially where they run through unheated areas like basements and crawl spaces. Take care to insulate the first three metres on cold water pipes and the first two metres on hot water pipes running to and from the tanks. This can save you about 2% on your heating bill and can reduce pipe-sweating in the summer.
Be safe and not sorry. If your water tank is heated by gas, be sure to start the pipe wrap insulation 15cm away from any exhaust vents at the top of any the water heater and never insulate any plastic pipes.
Energy Meters
The amount of electricity being used at home is becoming a concern to many. An energy meter is an inexpensive tool that will help you keep a watchful eye on the cost of running home or office appliances and lighting.
- Use your energy meter to monitor and calculate the amount and cost of the electricity being consumed. By wrapping a sensor around the master lead running into your home, your energy meter will tell you the kilowatts being used. This real-time information is a potentially powerful means to help change electricity using behaviour and reduce electricity consumption.
- Understanding how electricity is being used is an important step toward reducing your overall electricity use and then, your electricity bills.
Talk to your local retailer to learn more about the value energy meters could bring to your lifestyle.
ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs
Able to last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, these energy efficient dynamos are now available in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colours. Along with a dramatically improved selection of CFLs, you’ll also have a number of different models to choose from – options for almost anywhere in your household. While CFLs may initially cost a bit more than their inefficient incandescent counterparts, the electricity savings you’ll achieve make the CFLs worthwhile.
Did you know that a typical house in Ontario has 30 light bulbs that use about $200 of electricity annually? By replacing those old incandescents with CFLs, you’ll be on your way to saving money and electricity. The more you invest in energy-efficient lighting, the greater your long term savings will be. Simply replacing 5 standard incandescent light bulbs with CFLs saves about $30 every year. This is definitely something worth doing.
Best Places for CFLs?
- Any location in your home where lights are on for more than 3 hours a day like the kitchen, family room, recreation room or your workshop.
- Lights in hard-to-reach places like a recessed dome in a high ceiling, or where a fixture has been taken apart to replace the bulb.
- Where outside lights are on for much of the night (be sure though that the CFL you’re considering is specifically labelled for exterior use).
Sorting Out the Whites
When it comes to CFLs, they’re either in a soft, warm or cool-white category. If you’re replacing an incandescent bulb and would like the light to be similar, look for a CFL that’s soft or warm white. For a much whiter light, you’ll want a CFL that’s a cool white. When in doubt, ask your neighbourhood retailer for guidance.
The Low Down on Lumens
Light output is measured in lumens but the electricity that’s used is measured in watts. When it comes to CFLs, the higher the lumens rating, the more powerful the light output. A 15 watt CFL, for instance, produces as much visible light as a 60 watt incandescent but uses only a quarter of the electricity because it’s so much more efficient. You’ll find the lumens on the packaging of both incandescent and CFLs.
What About the Safety of CFLs?
While incandescent light bulbs can reach high temperatures making them unsafe to handle, fluorescents can be handled without hurting your fingers so they’re safer to use.
Is There Really Mercury in CFLs?
CFLs do contain some mercury. At the end of the bulb’s long life, most of the trace amounts are absorbed into the glass and metal parts. Even so, proper disposal of CFLs is important. Contact your local municipal waste management for the details on safe and suitable disposal of used or broken CFLs. For more information see Natural Resources Canada.
If In Doubt, Check It Out
While CFLs are an excellent source of light energy, they may not be suitable for every application around your home.
- Some standard CFLs aren’t compatible with electronic timers and photocells but work just fine with mechanical timers. When selecting a CFL for use with a dimmer switch, read the packaging to make sure it’s been designed for use with one.
- If you’re looking for a CFL for an outside fixture, it’s important to double check the packaging to determine its suitability. And CFLs that are used outside need to be covered or shaded from the elements.
Remember too that the Canadian government has pledged to phase out inefficient incandescent bulbs by 2012. Taking steps toward achieving optimal efficiency throughout your home begins with small, simple steps – actions that add up to make a big difference.
Shopping for Bulbs?
Here's a guide for choosing replacements
| Current Fixture/Bulb Type | Locations | CFL Suggestions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outdoor Type A 40-60 W |
 |
|
9-15 W CFL |  |
| Table and Floor Lamps Type A 40-100 W |
|
|
9-26 W CFL | |
| Pendants over tables, Type A 60-100 W |
|
|
15-26 W CFL |  |
Globe fixtures over bathroom Mirrors and on ceilings |
 |
|
8-15 W Globe shaped CFL |
 |
LED task lights
ELEDs are small, solid light bulbs that are wonderfully energy efficient. They provide focused lighting, making them a great choice for task specific lighting such as reading lights, desk lamps, night lights, spotlights, security lights, signage lighting and the like.
- They do not radiate light in 360 degrees as an incandescent does. The light will be bright where you point it.
- LEDs are long-lasting, durable and cool.
- And they’re easy on your pocketbook too. LEDs can reduce energy consumption and costs by 95% compared to an incandescent bulb. They use a fraction of the wattage of incandescent bulbs.
- Thanks to the low power requirement of LEDs, using solar panels now becomes more practical and less expensive than running an electric line or using a generator, making lighting in remote areas a lot easier.
Low-flow toilets
Toilets have proven to be one of the biggest water guzzling appliances in your home. For those looking for options, low-flow toilets have emerged as a more environmentally friendly alternative. In the case of low-flow toilets, they use less water for an equally forceful flush.
- By just replacing your older, large volume toilet with a low-flush alternative that only uses 6 litres per flush, your water usage in this area could be reduced by up to 70%.
- Today’s toilet manufacturers have stepped up to make efficient bowl designs and increased flushing velocities responsible for removing waste instead of counting on a large amount of water to get the job done.
- When you combine low-flow toilets with any number of other water-saving mechanisms, your total household water consumption could plummet by up to 40%.
Speak with your local retailer to learn about the many options and savings that are possible when replacing the number one seat in the house.
Money Saving Tip
Water is a valuable resource - clean, safe and piped directly into your home. Even a small leak can add up to a lot of wasted water. Since you pay for all the water that enters your home whether it is used or wasted, fixing leaks and practicing conservation can add up to savings on your water bill. Pumping and treating municipal drinking water and sewage treatment are big electricity users. When you save water, you also save electricity.
Electricity Control Products
Less Really Is More – 3 Straightforward Steps That Save Energy
Easy to install and safe to use, dimmers now come in a number of eye-catching designs – rotary, slide and switch styles that’ll meet your needs and enhance your decor.
Super efficient, today’s dimmers allow almost all of the electricity that flows into the switch to get used by the bulb while other light switches can waste electricity converting it into heat. You’ll realize further savings as the dimmer extends the life of the bulb. Dimmers will work with all incandescent lights but not all CFLs. Look for the CFLs specifically designed for use with a dimmer switch.
Soon our days will see less sunlight. That’s just one reason why the fall is a great time to make the switch and save. While installing your CFLs, kick up the savings by also installing a motion sensor switch in place of the on/off wall switch or motion lighting fixtures. Motion-activated lighting brings enhanced safety, security and convenience. The lighting turns on when movement’s detected, then after a certain period of time, switches off.
This is an ideal solution for areas that aren’t regularly used or where the lights might not get turned off on a regular basis. High wattage bulbs are used in outdoor lighting typically so this type of control will produce effortless energy savings. Think too about the areas around your home that don’t require continuous light – areas like entrance doors or garages which are perfect places for motion controlled lighting. Motion sensors add an extra level of security in your absence. That unwanted intruder looking to take advantage of the darkness around your home could have his mind changed when he triggers that bright light.
Since the lights are only on when you need them, electricity costs are lower. And the lamps themselves will last longer, reducing replacement costs.
Whether greeting visitors, rummaging for your keys and juggling parcels, or ensuring home safety and increased energy savings, motion sensors are a proven choice for turning lights on exactly when they’re needed.
Before heading to the check-out, double check the packaging to make sure the motion sensor you’re considering works with CFLs.
These clever devices are able to provide significant electricity savings by allowing lights and appliances to be powered on only when they’re needed. Timers ensure that your lights and appliances automatically turn on when you’d like them on and are automatically turned off at all other times. They now come in many, many different models – plug-in, hard wired for lights switches, outdoor models for block heaters and holiday lights. There’s even a timer created specifically for use with your pool or spa pumps.
Timers are so versatile! Here are just a few ways timers can make a difference around your home this winter:
• Since it’s likely to be dark when you get home from work, have your porch and indoor lights programmed to come on when you’re likely to arrive
• Achieve added security by having your lights go on and off at different pre-set times while you’re out of town or away for long periods of time
• A few hours before you’re due to leave for work in the morning, set your block heater to come on and warm your car’s engine
• Putting a timer on your home computer system means it’ll only use standby power in the evening when it’s most likely to be used
• Since you don’t need hot water when you’re sleeping, install a timer on your hot water heater to save electricity – and hot water – for when you actually need it.
Ask for help or clarification when considering timers for products that use CFLs.
Pipe Wrap
Insulating your hot water pipes, especially where they run through unheated areas like basements and crawl spaces, will help reduce heat loss.
- Take care to insulate the first three metres on cold water pipes and the first two metres on hot water pipes running to and from the tanks.
- This can save you about 2% on your heating bill and can even reduce pipe-sweating in the summer.
- For safety reasons, if your water tank is heated by gas, be sure to start the pipe wrap 15cm away from any exhaust vents at the top of any the water heater and never insulate any plastic pipes.
Insulating the entire length of your hot water pipes will not only reduce your energy bills, but will also allow you to get hot water more quickly when you need it. The hot water in your pipes will be less likely to cool off between uses.
Seasonal LED lights – Watch These Seasonal Superstars Shine
Now there’s even more to celebrate this holiday season. You’ll be able to set the right tone with environmentally friendly holiday lights – lights that use a new technology called light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. These LED lights deliver massive operating cost savings when compared to standard incandescent mini lights because they use 95% less energy.
A 70 light string of incandescent bulbs will cost about $7.70 to operate for 200 hours, while a string of 70 LED lights will cost about 8 cents to operate for the same length of time.
When you stack seasonal incandescent light bulbs up against seasonal LED bulbs, you’ll find that the LEDs:
• Use up to 95% less energy to produce brilliant colours
• Last at least 10 times longer
• Are far more durable with no glass bulbs to break or replace
• Cool to the touch because they produce almost no heat
While these LEDs come in a wide variety of shapes, the most common style is shaped like a raspberry or a strawberry and are known as a C-6 (designates the width of the bulb which in this case is 6/8 of an inch). You can find the bulbs in red, green, yellow, blue and white. The strings generally have between 35 and 70 bulbs. The older incandescent lights usually come in three sizes and the very old, much larger bulbs are 7 watts. The smaller incandescent bulbs are 5 watts and the minis are half a watt.
Solar technologies
There is a way to create electricity, hot water and heat for our homes and businesses without hurting the environment - and that’s by channelling the power of the sun. The sun is a clean, reliable and safe energy source that could be effectively harnessed using the solar technologies that now exist. A solar-powered system, whether it’s thermal (usually used for heating water), or photovoltaic (used to generate electricity), can be installed easily and is more affordable than you might think. Whether it’s one or many panels on your roof to meet a portion of your energy needs to reduce your bill, the possibilities are endless for utilizing the sun’s energy. By doing your homework today, you could be changing the way you access electricity in the future.