Energy Mines and Resources

Energy Efficiency Tips

Here are some of the best tips we’ve found for increasing every-day energy efficiency, saving money on energy bills and reducing the environmental impact of using energy. We first ran this list of tips on Yukon radio stations during the summer and fall of 2007. Costs are all calculated using Yukon energy prices during that time period.

Appliances

  • Most ENERGY STAR ® rated appliances have energy saving settings. Use these settings on your refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, and clothes dryer to save energy and money.
  • Replace aging, inefficient appliances with those having ENERGY STAR ® ratings. Take the guesswork out of shopping for the most energy efficient appliances. Look for the ENERGY STAR ® logo and save.

In the laundry room:

  • Wash clothes in cold water. This gets clothes just as clean as hot water in most cases and you could save over $100 a year. Use cold water detergents and wash full loads whenever possible.
  • Clean the lint out of your dryer. By cleaning out your dryer’s lint filter before each use, you can cut down on your energy bill, dry your clothes more quickly and cleanly and eliminate a potential fire hazards.
  • Use a clothesline. A dryer is usually the second-biggest electricity using appliance, costing about $85 a year to operate. It’s easy to see that letting the heat of the sun dry your clothes can save you a lot of money.

In the kitchen:

  • Get rid of your beer fridge. If you have more than one refrigerator or freezer and one doesn’t get much use, unplug it and save money. By simply unplugging a second fridge you save yourself as much as $100 a year.
  • Keep your fridge and freezer clean and well ventilated with space at the top, back and sides to shed excess heat. Ensure door seals are kept clean and are well sealed.
  • Check the temperature of your fridge. The recommended operating temperature for a fridge is 3 to 5 degrees Celcius. Any colder and it costs more to operate and creates unwanted frost. Any warmer and although you will save energy, food will spoil more quickly. Check the temperature of your fridge's freezer compartment too. It should be operating at -15 to -23 degrees Celsius. Any colder and you will use more energy and could cause mechanical problems with your fridge.
  • Choose appropriate cooking methods. Use a microwave where practical and use an electric kettle instead of the stovetop. Fill the kettle with the minimum amount of water needed.

Electronics:

  • Turn off your computers and electronic games. Teach children to turn off their computer games or television sets when they’re finished rather than leaving them on, or in standby or sleep mode.
  • Turn off your power bar or unplug equipment with remote controls such as televisions, stereos, and computers. All of these electronics combined use a lot of energy when in standby mode.

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Building Envelope (doors, windows, etc.)

  • Use caulking and weather-stripping to seal cracks around doors, windows, plumbing stacks and other vent openings.
  • Keep warmer in winter by installing plastic film or a storm window on single or double pane windows.
  • Install foam gaskets behind the cover plates of any light switches and electrical outlets that are on outside walls.
  • If you are upgrading windows, choose the most energy efficient units. ENERGY STAR ® qualified windows can reduce your energy costs by up to 12%.

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Home Heating

  • Turn down the thermostat. Turning down the heat at night by even 1 degree will reduce your household energy heating bill by about 2%.
  • Install a programmable thermostat to turn down the heat at night and when the house is unoccupied.

Furnace:

  • Pick up a copy of the oil burner checklist from Yukon Housing or borrow the guide from our library. Check out our home oil furnace tips too.
  • Keep furniture, clothes, toys and other things off your heating system supply and return grills so that your furnace can work as efficiently as possible.
  • Have your oil furnace professionally serviced once a year. This should include a combustion tune-up, cleaning and filter change.
  • Make sure your furnace technician provides you with a combustion efficiency record and notes all repairs. Keep the record by your furnace for future servicing.
  • When it is time to install a new heating system in your home ask an energy advisor to help you size your furnace properly.
  • Furnace filters should be checked monthly during the heating season and changed whenever they appear dirty. Pleated paper filters perform better than standard fibre filters.
  • Have a professional home energy evaluator advise you on how best to retrofit your home for improved energy efficiency.
  • Look for the EnerGuide label when purchasing a new heating system. It shows how much energy your appliance will consume in a year of normal service.

Wood Heating:

  • Never let wood smoulder in the stove. Burn quick, hot fires using plenty of kindling and well dried wood.
  • Check the chimney of your wood stove frequently and keep it clean.
  • Use a bit of newspaper to start the fire, but after that burn only wood. Never burn garbage.
    If you are buying a new woodstove buy an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved woodstove sized for your house. EPA stoves can use 1/3 less wood than other woodstoves.

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Hot Water Heating

In the bathroom:

  • Water heating is a major energy use in a typical home. You can minimize your shower water heating by installing a showerhead that uses less than 9 litres (2 gallons) per minute.
  • Fix leaky faucets. If you have a leaky faucet, you’re pouring money down the drain. A slow drip can waste up to 2000 litres of water a month and if that’s hot water it’s costing you money.
  • Replace your showerhead. Installing low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators is the single most effective water conservation measure you can take for your home with a potential savings of about $100 a year.

Hot water heater:

  • Turn down the temperature of your electric water heater to 55°C and you’ll cut your water heating costs by 6-10%. This could save you as much as $60/year.
  • If you are going away for a week or more, turn off the hot water tank breaker at the electrical panel. A hot water tank accounts for over 25% of electricity consumed in your home.
  • Insulate your water heater. Wrapping the tank in a blanket of fibreglass insulation will reduce heat loss by 25 to 45%.

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Lighting

  • Switch off a light if you aren’t using it. A single 100 watt light bulb left on 24 hours a day will cost you about $100 per year.
  • Replace your old bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFL). Each CFL that replaces a traditional bulb will save you approximately $50 over the life of the bulb.
  • Replace incandescent Christmas lights with LED lights. LED Christmas lights can use 95% less energy than traditional lights and are less of a fire hazard.

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Miscellaneous

  • Reduce, reuse, and recycle as much as possible to decrease the amount of energy and pollution that result from making new products.
  • When you need to make purchases, buy locally, if possible, to reduce the amount of fuel and pollution that goes into transporting goods to market.

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Transportation

Driving:

  • Save money and reduce pollution by trying another way to get around. Try bicycling, walking, jogging, riding the bus, or sharing a ride with a buddy.
  • Avoid the drive-through. Instead of idling in line for several minutes, save gas and pollute less by going inside for your order.
  • Drive smoothly. Accelerating and decelerating smoothly reduces fuel consumption and cost by up to 25%.
  • Slow down a little to save fuel and money. Driving at 100 kilometres per hour uses 20% less fuel than driving at 120 kilometres per hour.
  • Save fuel, money, and time by planning your trip carefully to combine errands and avoid high traffic periods.
  • Idling for more than 30 seconds is hard on your engine. Once a vehicle is running the best way to warm it up is to drive it, slowly at first.
  • On winter days the only way to warm up your vehicle's mechanical systems is to drive for at least 5 kilometres, but drive those first 5 kilometres slowly.
  • Use public transit whenever possible. A single city bus can take 40 vehicles off the road and keep 25 tonnes of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere each year.
  • Bus and truck drivers can save a lot of fuel by using auxiliary power units instead of idling to keep the interior warm while parked.
  • When driving, give yourself time. Racing against the clock causes you to brake hard, accelerate quickly and drive too fast -- all of which wastes fuel.

Maintenance:

  • Properly inflate your vehicle’s tires to decrease fuel consumption and your fuel costs by 5%.
  • Check tire pressure regularly, especially after there has been a sharp drop in temperature.
  • Keep your vehicle well maintained with regular service checks for 10-50% fuel and cost savings.

Purchasing:

  • If you’re buying a new vehicle, check the EnerGuide label for its fuel consumption rating. EnerGuide labels are now affixed to all new light duty vehicles sold in Canada.
  • Buy the smallest, most fuel efficient vehicle that will suit your needs.
  • If you are buying a new outboard motor, buy a four stroke motor. These are much quieter, more durable and more fuel efficient than two stroke marine engines.
  • If you are buying a new snow machine, buy a four-stroke or fuel-injected two-stroke machine. They burn cleaner and use less fuel.

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Yard

  • If you have a lawn, use a push reel mower instead of a gas or electric mower. You’ll reduce air pollution and noise pollution while you save money.
  • Plant leaf trees on the south side of your house to help shade it in the summer but not in the winter.

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