5 winter energy tips to pass along to your customers

The energy experts at the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) have some great advice to keep households (and businesses) warm this winter without breaking the bank. Here are five tips worth sharing with your employees, families and customers — and perhaps even implementing at your office, too:

1. Turn down the heat when no one will be home. It may be tempting to come home to a toasty warm house, but by turning back your thermostat for 10° to 15° for 8 hours, you can save about 5 percent to 15 percent a year on your heating bill.
2. Seal leaks and gaps in unfurnished spaces like cupboards and closets. The same goes for chimneys and recessed lighting. (Editor’s Note: This sounds like a great exclusionary add-on service for the season!)
3. If your house has a fireplace, be sure to check the snugness of the flue damper and keep it closed when not in use. The Department of Energy also suggests that consumers “purchase grates made of C-shaped metal tubes to draw cool room air into the fireplace and circulate warm air back into the room.”
4. Draw back the blinds on south-facing windows, and take advantage of natural sunlight to heat and warm rooms during the day.
5. Change your air filter regularly during high-use times in the winter and summer. Energy Star recommends doing so at least every three months to keep from overburdening your heating and cooling system with excess dust and dirt.

Visit ConsumerEnergyAlliance.com for more information. Do you have energy tips to add? Have they turned into an add-on service, to boot? Sound off below, or email pmpeditor@northcoastmedia.net.