Energy for lighting and household appliances accounts for 10% - 30% of the average American electric bill.
Steps:
Going room by room, examine your household lighting and appliances to determine:
if they are working properly. If not consider replacing older appliances Energy Star certified energy efficient ones.
if you could get by with less, e.g., you may have 100-watt (or larger) incandescent bulbs where 60 or 75 watt incandescent — or better yet, 12—16 watt compact fluorescent bulbs would do.
if you could install motion sensor/dimmer/sunrise-sunset switches and/or surge protector outlet strips (with off-switch) to save energy.
Do a similar inspection of your home’s exterior to identify ways you can save energy, for example:
Get rid of that old energy guzzling fridge/freezer in the garage.
Replace your low-wattage landscape lighting with solar landscape lighting.
Convert your area/security lighting to Good-neighbor compact fluorescent lighting.
