Cutting your home energy costs

By Marcia Luke

As the weather gets colder, you're sure to notice that your heating and electricity bills are increasing. Shorter days and dropping temperatures mean that your lights and furnace are working overtime for the next few months. No one likes to spend more money on bills than they have to, so how do you keep yours in check without freezing in the dark?

You can perform your own energy audit this winter. New homes come with many energy-efficient options that resale homes may not have, so if you've bought new or are currently looking at new developments, then you could already be ahead of the game. However, regular maintenance and other everyday considerations can drastically reduce your heating and hydro bills. And the good news is that they're simple things that you might not have thought about before.

Tanya Bruckmueller, spokesperson at Toronto Hydro, says the number one thing you can do to save energy?and money?over the winter is to switch your light bulbs to compact fluorescents (CFLs). "Lighting is the simplest thing to do; many other things you can't change, [so] you have to look for things that won't compromise your life," says Bruckmueller, noting that CFLs use 70 to 90 per cent less electricity than regular light bulbs. With the upcoming holidays, those who like to get into the festive spirit may find that their bills soar astronomically. "There's LED [Light Emitting Diode] light bulbs as well to gear up for the holidays, that use from 85 to 95 per cent less electricity." And though Bruckmueller acknowledges that not everyone likes the look of LED lights, she says that "it's a matter of behaviour shifting; people are used to the old lights but will?adjust to the new colours in time."

In fact,Toronto Hydro ran a promotional campaign recently where residents could exchange two strings of old holiday lights for one new string of LED lights. If you missed the exchange this year, be sure to mark it on your calendar for next year's season. While regular holiday lights cost one dollar for 15 hours of electricity, says Bruckmueller, LED lights cost one dollar for 15 days of electricity. That's enough to get even the biggest Scrooge into the spirit!

Other Toronto Hydro tips include using long, heavy drapes that have insulated liners to keep the heat inside your house keeping rugs on the floors, and replacing your furnace filter every month to ensure efficient operation. "Make sure, especially as a new home shifts, that you caulk, seal, and weatherstrip anywhere there's a potential for heat loss. You can also put plastic film on the windows that maybe wouldn't be opened in the winter," explains Bruckmueller. For more tips from Toronto Hydro, visit www.torontohydro.com

If you're really committed to saving energy this winter and you need a little help, you can have a professional home energy audit performed.Why would you need to energy audit a new home? Barbara Mullally-Pauly, chief of housing programs at Natural Resources Canada, says that "if a builder built a house at the minimum building codes standards for Ontario, then the house isn't very energy efficient. We strongly recommend that builders build houses that are 30 to 40 per cent more energy efficient than the minimum standards." Mullally-Pauly says that it's much easier and more cost-effective to incorporate energyefficient elements into a home during the building stage than it is after the fact. Fortunately, many builders already do.

As a homebuyer, you need to talk to your builder about what the EnerGuide rating of your home is and what you can do to improve it before you even turn on the thermostat. For new homes that are already built, it is possible to have an energy audit performed in order to increase its efficiency, as well as your comfort level. "The most common inefficiency that we see is that builders don't always put in the best windows, which is a shame because good windows can last upwards of 20 years," says Mullally-Pauly.

If you want to have an energy audit performed on your new home, the EnerQuality Corporation is the place to go. This company also works with Natural Resources Canada to provide R2000 homes, along with programs like the Energy Star rating system for appliances and EnerGuide rating system for new homes. Natural Resources Canada recommends that new homes achieve an EnerGuide rating of around 80.

Do-it-yourself energy audit checklist:

Here's a list of places to check and things to do around your home to minimize your energy bills while promoting energy efficiency this winter.

Inside your home

Do you lower your thermostat a couple of degrees during the day when no one is home and at night when you?re sleeping? Have you invested in a programmable thermostat?

Do you open your south-facing blinds during the day and close them at night?

Have you filled in cracks or holes in the walls, ceilings, and foundation left by your new home shifting and settling? Look at entry points for electrical lines, plumbing, gas lines or oil pipes, and windows and doors.

Have you replaced your incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent lighting?

Do you use timers for your indoor lights?

Do you use task lighting instead of overhead lighting?

Do the rooms in your home with high ceilings have ceiling fans to move the warm air downwards?

Do you use an oil, gas, or electric fireplace or wood stove that is airtight and that minimizes the indoor heated air being lost through the fireplace or chimney?

Do you regularly clean and/or vacuum vents, baseboard heaters, etc.?

Do you change your furnace filter monthly during the winter?

Will you put plastic film on windows that you don't use during the winter season?

Are your drapes lined?

Do you have area rugs and carpet runners on your hardwood, linoleum, or tile floors? They're especially important when your basement isn't finished or heated.

Are all of your hot water pipes, heating ducts, and water heater insulated?

Have you closed the heat vents in rooms that are seldom used? Do you keep these rooms closed in the winter? Do you keep your closet doors closed?

Does your new home have an Energy Star rating? What does it mean?

Outside your home

Have you cleaned your eavestroughs and downspouts to prevent moisture from entering your home?

Do you use motion sensors for your outside lights?

Have you inspected the places where the brick and siding or wood meet for gapping during the settling process?

Have you filled in cracks or holes in the walls and foundation left by your new home shifting and settling? Check around entry points for electrical lines, plumbing, gas lines or oil pipes, and windows and doors.