[Matc]

Any tips on saving energy that most people wouldn't have thought of. We all know about lightbulbs and only boiling the correct amount of water. But are there any novel ways you've come across?

[horselover]

Unplug any non essential items especially when you're away for long periods of time. Which should be a common snese idea to most people.

Um, don't use electrical stuff. Be like the Amish if you can, which is probably impossible for most people.

[Matc]

If it's hot and you don't need the whole place cool you can take a fan and a thin t-shirt, soak the t-shirt and attach it to the fan. I just used some rulers and string. The air blows through the wet t-shirt being cooled as it goes. It uses a lot less power then AC for the whole room.

[horselover]

I've never heard of that one, but I like it. I'll have to think about that incase I need something like that next summer.

[Raptor235]

electronic thermostat is a must... you can schedule your ac/heating on when you're home

[Matc]

Fancy kettles. They have one water store, you tell it say, you want one cup of coffee, it takes that amount of water into a separate heating compartment and boiled that only. The waste heat warms up the surrounding water for later use. It means you boil exactly the right amount in the kettle.

[horselover]

Wish we had one of those here but we don't even have control over the hydro.  That's what you get for lving in a basemenmt.

[3rdRockFromSun]

It is so expensive to run our gas furnace in the winter and because of wood-burning (which contributes greatly to our "brown cloud" problem) bans in the Mile High City, we were prompted to find energy-savings relief through alternative heat sources, and have found great success with our gas fireplace. It has helped us to enjoy energy savings by helping us get the most out of our fuel dollars.

Gas fireplaces create between 18,000-45,000 BTUs—enough heat to warm several rooms of your home, if the gas fireplace is properly maintained and serviced annually to maintain proper combustion ratio and fuel efficiency. We had a blower installed to help circulate the warm air more efficiently and to keep fireplace components cooler during operation.

On average, gas fireplaces cost approximately 16 to 32¢ (U.S.) an hour to burn, compared to a gas furnace, which costs approximately $1.20 to $1.40 an hour to run. You can see the potential for savings. Installers and utility companies agree that you may be able to recover the cost of a new gas fireplace insert in just two heating seasons when using them in a “zone heating” program in your home.

Fall and winter are excellent times to experiment with and learn the practice of zone heating. This involves turning your thermostat way down, as low as 58 degrees, and utilizing an alternative heat source to warm the portions of your house that you spend the most time in.

Improving heating-system efficiency is a simple, yet cost-effective energy saving improvement. Might want to look into it!

[savinggreen]

first two are not very timely in my part of the world as they are for summer coolness.

1. get a cold air return installed in your basement (drop a duct down to floor level with a register) and run your furnace as a fan in the summer instead of air conditioning. this will circulate cold air from your basement through the rest of your house.
2. my friend calls this one "ghetto air conditioning". take a chunk of ice and stick it in a bowl in front of a fan. very cheap room air conditioning.
3. run ceiling fans in the winter, but do it in the right direction (if you think of the fan blades as a knife, then in the summer, they should be turning as though they're icing a cake, and in the winter, as though they're scraping the icing off the cake). This will help to circulate the warm air throughout the room, making it feel warmer. This is especially effective for rooms with high ceilings. For old homes without a cold air return on the 2nd floor, a ceiling fan above the stars can really help.
4. check the dampers on the ducts leaving your furnace. Often both a small and a large room have full-sized registers. In my house, this meant that my bathroom was a good 5 degrees warmer than the living room. Each duct running off the main should have some sort of lever to adjust the the level of dampening. I set mine to fully open for the main living space (living room, kitchen, office, dining room and bedrooms), and to half closed for the spare room and bathroom. I closed it entirely for the front hall.
5. not so creative, but check the temperature setting on your hot water heater. They are often WAY higher than they need to be.

[shadowbot]

Heres an unusual one: Many people have electronic vents or fans in their bathroooms and many also have the 2 connected to the same switch so when the light turns on the fan is also running. But how often are you in the bathroom and dont need something to be vented? The 2 things that need to be vented from the bathroom are stink and steam (because of mildew and mold). If you are in the bathroom brushing your teeth, you dont need the fan. If you are in there to clean it, you dont need the fan. What im trying to say is that if you install these 2 things, install them on separate switches and only use the fan when you specifically need it instead of having it run constantly.