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You need look no further than your own home to:

• Cut your monthly bills;
• Invest money for a return that beats the stock market;
• Reduce pollution;
• Make your home more comfortable for you and your family.

For every kilowatt hour of electricity used, a pound of global warming pollution is generated. Although we don’t generally think about it, our electricity comes from coal, oil, gas, and nuclear-fueled power plants that cause serious air, water, and toxic pollution. Our energy system produces smog, haze, acid rain, and nuclear waste. Hydroelectric power involves dams that stop the natural flow of Maine rivers, blocking fish passage.

The largest energy user in your home is space heating, followed by water heating, then refrigeration and lighting. It makes sense to focus on reducing waste in these areas first. You will find that you can save money and reduce toxics, and air and global warming pollution at the same time.

Check out Maine Home Performance with ENERGY STAR®! This program, now STATEWIDE, links Maine homeowners with qualified and certified contractors who provide one-stop shopping access to a whole-house approach to: reducing energy bills, improving comfort and safety, reducing maintenance costs, and improving the health of homeowners and residents. Check it out at www.mainehomeperformance.org.

Energy Audits and Weatherproofing
A first step in making your home more energy efficient is to identify where the problem areas are. A home energy audit performed by a certified professional will help you identify these problem areas and help you identify and prioritize the actions you need to take to make your home more energy efficient. List of Maine certified energy auditors.

Some of the needs a home energy audit may uncover could include: insulation, especially in the attic, weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows, installation of storm windows and storm doors and insulation of water pipes all to reduce heat-loss.

Energy-Efficient Appliances
It is easy to forget that appliances come with many price tags: one when you purchase the appliance, and another each time you pay an electricity or fuel bill. Generally, an investment up-front for a more energy efficiency product will have a fast payback period and provide big savings over time. Check out the Energy Star website at: Energy Star for a list of appliances, information on dealers, and savings calculators for refrigerators, freezers and other major appliances.

Refrigerators
Refrigerators use about 20 percent of a home’s electricity and an old refrigerator may be costing you as much as $250 per year in electricity. Today’s refrigerators use half as much electricity as 15-year-old models; replacing one can save you $50-100 every year.

When shopping for a new refrigerator or other major appliance:

• Look for the Energy Star logo. An Energy Star rating is awarded to the most efficient models on the market. Remember also to check the Energy Guide label!
• Don’t buy “side-by-side”refrigerators. These styles use up to 13 percent more electricity than the traditional design with the freezer on top. Chest freezers are more efficient than uprights.

More energy-efficient tips for minimizing refrigeration costs:

• Control the temperature. A fridge that is 10 degrees colder than necessary can use 25 percent more energy. Try setting your refrigerator to between 35 and 38 degrees and freezer to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Maintenance can save money. Make sure the gasket around your refrigerator door seals tightly by placing a dollar bill over the gaskets and trying to slip it out; replace the gasket if needed.
• Leave space so air can circulate around your refrigerator.
• Try not to install your refrigerator next to a hot appliance such as a dishwasher or oven because it will use more energy to keep the appliance cool.
• Cool hot foods on the counter before refrigerating or freezing.
• Minimize the time that the door is open, since this makes the fridge work harder to keep the temperature cool.
• If your freezer gets frosty, defrost it for better efficiency.

Heating Water

• Setting your water heater at 120 degrees or less, and wrapping an insulation blanket around your water heater will pay big dividends.
• Repairing leaky faucets and installing water-saving showerheads help, too.
• Up to 90 percent of the cost of washing clothes comes from heating the water, so, whenever possible, use cold water and wash full loads.
• When shopping for a new washing machine, consider an efficient, front-loading clothes washer that can save 100,000 gallons of water and more than $500 in energy and water bills over its lifetime.
• Surprisingly, the new, efficient dishwashers on the market can actually use more than 30% less water and energy than washing dishes by hand. When looking to buy, check out: Energy Star for the most efficient appliances.
• See solar rebates at: Maine Solar Rebate Program for cash rebates on solar hot water systems.

Energy Efficient Lighting
Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) save 66 percent in electricity costs and last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

• Replacing an old-fashioned 100 watt incandescent bulb with equivalent light to a 25 watt compact fluorescent light bulb will save you as much as $30-$175 per light on electric bills over the bulb’s lifetime.
• If every American home replaced just five commonly used light bulbs with compact fluorescent models that have earned the Energy Star rating, each family would save more than $60 every year in energy costs, and together we would keep more than one trillion pounds of global warming pollution out of our air – equal to the emissions of 8 million cars. That's a $6 billion energy savings for Americans, equivalent to the annual output of more than 21 power plants.
• Click here to see NRCM’s “top staff picks” of CFLs:  see which bulbs we like the best and how much energy and global warming pollution you can save!
• Click here to find out about CFLs and mercury: where to drop off CFLs for recycling.

Home Heating

• Regularly clean your boiler or furnace and have it tuned up. Annual cleanings save fuel, extend the life of your heating system, and ensure that it is operating safely.
• You may want to consider alternative sources of heat. Natural or LP gas can pollute less than kerosene or home heating oil. A wood stove can reduce fuel costs and provide heat if there is a power failure.
• Is it time to replace your old, inefficient heating system? If your annual fuel bill is $1,300, replacing a 65 percent efficient unit with a 90 percent efficient one will save you $350 per year. If the new system costs $2,500, that’s a 14 percent return on investment tax –free, a very respectable return that will only get better if fuel prices go up.

Heat escapes every home through leaks around windows, doors, foundations and plumbing and wiring entrances. These drafts can be plugged cheaply and easily with caulking and weather-stripping, available at any hardware store. You may want to consider replacing leaky windows and doors with new models. Over the last 15 years, new windows and doors have been developed that reduce heat loss by 50 percent.

Heat itself also flows through roofs, walls, windows, and doors. If you have not already done so, now is a great time to bring your attic insulation up-to-snuff and insulate walls. An energy services contractor can inform you about the energy savings and pros and cons of different approaches in your particular situation.

Lastly, think about planting trees on the west and north sides of your house -- on the west for shade from the hot summer sun, and the north for protection from cold winter winds.

Traditional and Wood Pellet Stoves

With the increasing price of home heating fuels and their harmful impacts, including global warming, many people are turning to an alternative fuel such as biomass or wood. Because trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, the net global warming pollution emitted is very small when wood is harvested sustainably and burned efficiently for heat, which makes it much more climate-friendly than fossil fuels.

EPA-certified stoves and fireplaces are much cleaner burning due to a 1988 EPA regulation. Go to: EPA Wood Stoves for more information on wood burning technology.

Instead of logs, pellet stoves burn a renewable fuel made of ground, dried wood, or other biomass wastes compressed into pellets. They are some of the cleanest-burning and most efficient appliances available today. Because they pollute so little, pellet stoves do not require EPA certification; some manufacturers, however, voluntarily seek this certification. Unlike wood stoves and fireplaces, most pellet stoves need electricity to operate, and can be easily vented through a wall, unlike log-burning stoves. For more information on wood pellet stoves go to: Wood Pellet Stoves

100 Percent Renewable Power for your Home, Business, or Nonprofit Organization
Because of deregulation of the electricity market, you now can choose to purchase “green power” from a number of different renewable energy sources for your home, business, or nonprofit organization. Choose from “green tags” or purchase directly from a supplier in the form of wind, biomass, hydro, and solar- generated power. If you choose to buy electricity that includes hydropower, we recommend that you stick to those options that have been certified by the Low Impact Hydro Institute. Click here for more information: Maine Green Power.

Cash Rebates Available When you Purchase Solar Energy Equipment
In 2005, Maine passed the “Solar Rebate Program” in which Maine residents who own or rent residential or commercial buildings are eligible for rebates on solar photovoltaic electricity producing systems or solar thermal heating or hot water systems. Solar photovoltaic system buyers are eligible for rebates of $3 per watt on the first 2,000 watts of installed capacity and $1 per watt for the next 1,000 watts. Solar thermal systems designed to heat water or air, are eligible for rebates of 25% of the cost of the system, including installation, or $1,250, whichever is less. Click here for more details: Maine Solar Rebate Program.