Question?

Ever had a question about energy use and not known where to go for information?

The aptly named "The Home Energy Saver Answer Desk," here on this site, the Berkeley Laboratories (experts in Energy savings) have brought many of their FAQ pages to a single location so that homeowners can find information on practically any energy question.

Visit them for yourself: http://hes.lbl.gov/hes/answerdesk_dat.html

They highlight questions from how to save energy on your second home to how much savings you can expect from energy star appliances. Here is an interesting Q & A

"What's the single biggest user of electricity in my house? If your house has central air conditioning, the air conditioner will probably be the biggest user by far. Although used only a few months of the year, the annual cost can be much greater than the annual cost of your refrigerator, which is typically the next largest user. In hot climates, the annual air conditioner cost can exceed a thousand dollars. You can get a very rough idea of what your air conditioner is costing you by subtracting the electric portion of your bill in a spring month when you aren't using your air conditioner from the electric portion of the bill in the summer when you do use it. This gives you the monthly cost. Multiply this by the number of months you use your air conditioner to arrive at your approximate annual cost. Refrigerators are typically the largest users in houses without air conditioning or in climates where the air conditioners are used only a few days of the month during the cooling season. If your refrigerator is more than ten years old should consider replacing it. New efficiency standards went into effect in 1992, and older refrigerators are typically two to three times more expensive to run than a new unit. For more information go directly to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's list of most efficient refrigerator-freezers. See our list of typical energy use costs for various appliances and equipment."

Being that your central AC can be the largest energy guzzler in your home (and if not that, your refrigerator) it is important to the bottom line of your energy bills that those appliances are energy star. The higher the SEER on air conditioning units, the more money you can possibly save! What about using heaters to bring that thermostat down? Does it work?

"Should I use portable room heaters to lower my energy bills? With rising energy prices, it's tempting to think about using portable room heaters. It's also worth considering a programmable thermostat, if you don't already have one. If your central heat is electric, you'll almost certainly save money by using portable electric heaters. In fact, part of the savings come because valuable heat isn't being lost in the ducts before it reaches your living area. If your central heat is gas, you might be able to save money by using portable electric heaters, but it's not something to take for granted. Your local energy prices and desired comfort level will determine the answer. Also, a typical central furnace will provide about 20-times as much heat as a portable, depending on its efficiency. Keep in mind that even if the hourly cost of using portable electric heaters is lower than for your furnace, you will be dramatically increasing your home's overall power demand, which contributes to regional power shortages that ultimately can trigger blackouts and price increases. We've put together the following chart to help you find out how much your heating bill could be reduced by using portable electric heaters. To use the chart, follow this four-step process: 1. Find your gas price on the left hand vertical scale and read over to the right until you hit the scale marked "Your Heating Bill." This is the hourly cost of running a 100kBtu/hour central furnace. 2. Next, find your electricity price on the horizontal scale and read upwards until you hit the yellow line corresponding to how many portable heaters you would like have on at one time (one to five). 3. Next read from this point over to the "Your Heating Bill" scale to find the hourly cost of running a typical 1000 Watt portable electric heater. 4. Compare the two hourly operating costs to see which is lower. In the illustrative example provided, a home paying $0.75/therm of gas and $0.25./kWh would save money if using two portable electric units. They would break even using three and would have an increased heating bill for using more than three portable heaters.

So, it all comes down to energy efficiency... This site has a wealth of information in questions and answers. Even if you don't have a question at the moment, it might be a good site to bookmark just in case you ever have questions.