What are some no-cost energy saving tips?

Heather Dietiker, from Black River Electric Cooperative, helps us find some no-cost energy savings throughout the house! Some of these solutions only take a few minutes to check or perform and can save your household big bucks annually! Take a listen!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:03

I've had to hide the toilet of paper roll for my son for, so that's why. Oh man, there's no tip for that. Is there

Speaker 2 0:09

No

Speaker 1 0:13

Welcome back to the power for your life podcast. I'm your host Harrison waters. And this is an awesome episode. If you're looking for saving some money. Well look no further. These are no cost solutions to saving some, uh, money on your energy bill. Take a listen. We are live with Heather Deak Kerr from black river electric cooperative, and she's gonna tell us about no cost energy savings. Thank you for coming.

Speaker 2 0:39

Yes. Thank you for inviting me.

Speaker 1 0:41

Welcome. Well, and I do not wanna forget to mention, I have Ashley Wood here, a co-host of the power for your life podcast that, uh, you know, we really like to focus on these topics. This is a fun one. Do you like this topic?

Speaker 2 0:51

I do. I love this topic.

Speaker 1 0:53

You know, we'd really do a great job of telling our members about all these, you know, you can hire someone to do this big change in your home and all of that. And here's some quick tips and all of that, but really who could beat a no-cost energy savings idea, right?

Speaker 2 1:08

That's right. Yeah. So all of our members are looking for ways, easy ways to save a little bit on their energy bills. And, um, you know, I think it's all about thinking differently, making small changes and those small changes over time can really add up to big savings.

Speaker 1 1:27

So how do you, how do you start, like, is there the easiest, smallest one to go, go ahead and do that. Everyone should just go run and pause a podcast right now and yeah. And get done. What would that be? What's the easiest quick one.

Speaker 2 1:41

So I think, um, you know, heating and, and air conditioning are usually the largest loads in our home. They make up about 40 to 50% of our monthly energy, uh, bills are on that. So probably the easiest thing that we can do is to adjust our thermostats. Now that's not easy for everyone, but it does probably make the most difference. Um, there's a most efficient temperature depending on the season. Uh, we like to say in the summertime, if you can set it at 78 degrees or as close to that, as you can get, um, that's gonna be the most efficient temperature. And in the winter that magic temperature is 68 degrees. So that might mean that you put on an extra sweatshirt or pair of socks, um, to be comfortable, but you're gonna be more efficient when you're close to that temperature.

Speaker 1 2:36

I like that. Okay. For my wife, that would probably be two pairs of socks and two, two, uh, two hoodies and Ashley would be wearing her parka indoors. I would be. So yes, I would be. But no, I like that. I think that's a, that's a good one. Now we, I know we put out these energy efficiency take control and save things and there's certainly all sorts of great tips. Mm-hmm<affirmative>, there's one in here says a five to seven minute shower

Speaker 2 2:59

That, yes, that is really hard for some of us to do.<laugh>

Speaker 1 3:04

I'll say if you've got longer hair, I think my wife, I think that's five minutes for the hair alone. So that's

Speaker 2 3:09

Yes. Maybe the guys can get away with that.

Speaker 1 3:10

We can make up for the,

Speaker 2 3:12

Okay. Yes.

Speaker 3 3:12

You get a two minute shower to make up for. Yeah, exactly. Okay.

Speaker 2 3:15

And I have a, I have a husband and three little boys at home, so I'm trying to train them now to take shorter showers. They don't understand why, but they will, when they're older that it's actually saving their parents money. So yes, five to seven minutes. If we can do that or get close to that,

Speaker 1 3:31

And that could be a lifetime of savings, if you can get convince them at that age, that could be well until they're old enough to move out and have to pay their own bills. That could certainly make a

Speaker 2 3:41

Difference. Yeah. They'll understand that more when they're paying their own bills. So anything we can do to help train them a little bit on, again, these just small changes.

Speaker 1 3:50

Now, what about, I know when I had a home energy audit, I, I had a, uh, had a gentleman come by that we, we paid for and, and he, he definitely checked the temperature of my like kitchen faucet to see how warm the water was coming out of there mm-hmm<affirmative> is there anything with, uh, water heater that we can do to be efficient?

Speaker 2 4:06

Yes. Yes. So your water heater, again, that's an area where you, um, it's, it's a chunk of your energy bill. So the magic temperature for that is 120 degrees. If you can get close to that, um, then you're going to see savings. Really. It doesn't have to be scalding hot. You know, doesn't have to be higher than that. If you can get it close to one 20, and then for households with one to two members, you can really get by with like 115 degrees for that setting.

Speaker 1 4:34

So this is taking any of your ordinary thermometers, putting it under the sink, whenever you believe it's at its hardest, seeing what it's reading. Now you see that it's maybe 130 degrees. Most people probably don't know much about their water heater. Can they go out straight outside to their wherever their

Speaker 2 4:49

Water, water? I believe their water heater has the temperature in terms

Speaker 1 4:51

Set

Speaker 3 4:51

On it. It should, it should have a temperature. It should say on the water here,

Speaker 1 4:55

See

Speaker 2 4:55

Harrison, you learn something today every

Speaker 1 4:57

Day, no more. You

Speaker 3 4:57

Know, I always say, if you don't know, you know, maybe Google it and you can, you can figure out exactly where that's at on your,

Speaker 1 5:03

I am speaking on behalf of the members. I wanna make sure that, um, I mean, I definitely, you know, usually don't know about all this, but I'm learning along the way. That's

Speaker 2 5:11

Good. And as far as, uh, water goes, you know, just little things like turning the water off when you're brushing your teeth. Um, you know, that can make a difference too.

Speaker 1 5:20

I'm already a stickler of my son, cuz yeah. He'll first thing. First step he'll choose the hot water side and then just full blast wa and he hasn't even got soap on his hands. And so yeah, we've, we've cut down on that, but um, yeah, those are great tips. See, this is, you know, who knows what you could save in a year if you do right. Just a simple ones we've already been talking about. And yet we still haven't spent a penny. That's right. Fantastic. What else, what El, what are some other ones we're missing?

Speaker 2 5:46

Well, let's move on to the kitchen because, uh, when we're talking about water, you know, we rinse our dishes. We can do that in cold water. Mm-hmm,<affirmative> save a little bit because we're not using that hot water that we're paying to heat, right? So, and then in the kitchen, you know, you can use your microwave or a slow cooker instead of, you know, firing up the oven or using the stove, burners, just little things like that. Especially if you're cooking for a smaller group, um, using different appliances can really save.

Speaker 1 6:13

Now, Nick saner tried to tell me to turn off the heating element on the drying for my dishwasher. And I thought I was gonna get in the doghouse with my wife, cuz there's no way she's gonna hand dry the, the dishes. But I bet that I bet that could be a good cost saver for sure.

Speaker 3 6:27

You're gonna get in the doghouse for just saying stuff like that. Oh no, you better hope she's not listening to the podcast. Sorry Brie.<laugh> we have, uh, one of those ninja air fryer things too. Yes. We use those. We use that for a lot of meals instead of turning down the oven too. I,

Speaker 2 6:43

I use my air fryer and mm-hmm<affirmative> the instant pots. Um, yeah, a lot, especially in the winter time. Mm-hmm<affirmative> yeah. Uh, you know, those types of meals just feel a little cozier. Um, but yeah, our members are really saving money when they choose to use those types of smaller appliances, then they're larger.

Speaker 1 6:59

Well, and if you're not cooking a meal for a lot and that you don't need the, I mean an oven is pretty large and a lot of things you can get away with, if you've got a little toaster oven or a mm-hmm<affirmative> or a little small Insa pot or something. So I could certainly see how heating up that section versus an entire oven. Right. Would be beneficial for sure. Mm-hmm<affirmative> well, great. Great. I'm trying to look at, oh, there is right. Tip number six. Use the air dry cycle instead of the heat dry cycle on your dishwasher. Ashley, what do you got?

Speaker 3 7:28

Well, I was gonna ask Heather, you've got another room. Should we move on to the next room?

Speaker 2 7:33

Well, at my house, the laundry room is off of the kitchen. So let's move there. Um, there's a few things you can do in the laundry room. Like, um, only do full loads in your washer and use cold water. Now I have boys. So for those really dirty loads, hot water, warm water is probably best. Um, but if it's just kind of a typical load use, cold water, whatever you can, you're gonna really see the savings there. And then with when you're dryer, um, you always wanna empty that lent trap after every load that you do for efficiency, but also for safety.

Speaker 1 8:09

Yeah. Is that something, do they recommend yearly disconnecting the dryer, pulling it out from the wall and even cleaning out the, the back vent? Cuz I've heard that that is something mm-hmm<affirmative> I'm, I'm sure that that one's quickly forgotten by a lot. I know I'm due. I probably haven't done that in two years. So mm-hmm<affirmative> um, that's, that's a safety thing too. I don't know about efficiency as much as that's a safety cuz that could probably be a fire hazard

Speaker 2 8:30

On I'm sure's efficiency as well. But yes, that is a, a safety concern. You don't want, um, the lint built up in there and then make sure that all those connections are tight because you're gonna, you're gonna lose heat that way, which makes it run harder and longer. So yeah, that's a great point.

Speaker 3 8:47

So if you pull that out and you're cleaning that out, make sure when you put it back, you put

Speaker 1 8:51

It back, right. See that thing back on for sure. Absolutely. Okay. So we've done the laundry room to kitchen. What's the next room? What should we, anything else we should tackle?

Speaker 2 8:59

Yeah. Um, so the living spaces, um, you know, fans, ceiling fans, you always want to, um, run your in the summertime. You want them blowing down, um, and then blowing up in the winter and then if you leave the room, you know, you wanna make sure that ceiling fan is off or any other fans that you have because fans are designed to cool people, move air around, not cool, the rooms. And then, uh, some of us have fireplace, um, that enjoy fireplaces. And so we always want to, um, turn down your heating system when you've got your fireplace going, when it you're not using it, make sure that flu damper is closed. Um, and it it's basically like having a, a window open if that damper is open.

Speaker 1 9:44

Yeah. It's always, it's nice to enjoy the fireplace, but I definitely could see, you know, that is the first place to get cold or when you, when it's windy outside, you can certainly tell when that thing mm-hmm<affirmative> and that the metal on the front of there certainly gets cold pretty quickly. So mm-hmm<affirmative> yeah, I like that one. Um, I'm definitely a fireplace user, so yeah. Um, that's the first thing I need to check and see if there's a mm-hmm<affirmative> um, I, I saw that they sell plugs for the flu as well. So like if you don't even have anything that, or if it's just like a metal flap that closes that off, I saw that you could actually buy an insulated plug to kind of help with that. Mm-hmm<affirmative> granted, that's still spending money. We're sticking with no cost here.

Speaker 2 10:23

Yeah. No cost

Speaker 1 10:24

<laugh> yeah, no cost don't even have to buy

Speaker 2 10:25

That. Well, I've got another tip for the living room. Okay. And really any room in your house, your shades, you know, pulling the shades to, um, at night to keep the heat in during the winter and then, um, keeping your shades and blinds, um, open during the day to catch that solar heat in the wintertime is really helpful.

Speaker 1 10:43

Mm-hmm<affirmative> take advantage of the windows. Yes. Awesome. All right. Do we need to go to another, another room?

Speaker 2 10:50

I do have a tip that you could probably use in any room of your home is just turn it off.

Speaker 1 10:56

<laugh> turn it off.

Speaker 2 10:57

So I go behind my boys all the time, turning lights off in the room, but when you leave a room, you should turn the light off mm-hmm<affirmative>. And I know our lighting is so much more efficient these days, but it's still a good habit to have. Um, so just turn it off. And then when, um, you know, our, my kids leave the TVs on a lot.<laugh> when they leave the room, turn those large, um, electronics off, or there's a lot of settings now for appliances that allow you to, you know, energy saving modes and, and things that will turn it off partially to help you save a little bit there.

Speaker 1 11:30

What is it like, you know, being a mom to three boys, mm-hmm<affirmative> what is it like for you to try and instill the energy efficiency in them? You know, how important is that? Is that something that you hope that they learn from you and, and also, um, yeah, become good stewards of that.

Speaker 2 11:46

I think it's just good. Like you said, good stewards, just having good habits of, of saving, uh, energy, saving money, you know, our, our kids are, um, hopefully learning those little things that make a big difference in the long run. So both just as good habits, but also, you know, saving a little money for mom and dad. Right?

Speaker 1 12:07

Yeah. Well, and I think there's a third aspect to it is like we, we are striving to have a cleaner planet mm-hmm<affirmative> and, and go greener and all that. But if we do not have to produce as much, you know, because we're not wasting as much mm-hmm<affirmative>, if everybody took these tips and did it, that would certainly cut down on, you know, emissions and everything that we're trying to do better on. So yeah, the, the more we don't let energy just, you know, slip between the cracks or leave the TV on, that's still being produced somewhere for us. So mm-hmm<affirmative> um, I like that I'm already pretty hard on, on my kids are still very young mm-hmm<affirmative> but if you get on'em early, um, mm-hmm<affirmative>, you know, you'll see the benefits, I guess, longer down the road. Mm-hmm<affirmative> if you could come up with one to keep the kid, you know, from using so much toilet paper<laugh> I've had to hide the toilet paper roll for my son for a little bit<laugh> so that's when I full role, I mean a full role. Come on. Oh man. There's no tip for that. Is there? No, you know what it is disconnected toilet paper roll and put it on his shelf above, and then he has to like request it and it's taken some time, but we're getting there. Mm-hmm<affirmative> okay. What are we missing, Ashley?

Speaker 3 13:17

I mean, you can do a walkthrough and do a no cost energy audit kind of a on your own mm-hmm<affirmative> you ever advise your members of things that they can do in that aspect?

Speaker 2 13:27

Well, I, you know, touchstone has a great little brochure, 101 ways, easy ways to save energy and money. We have this on our website. We have brochures in our office and it's a great resource. So I love to give this to our members. Um, it helps give them some easy, no cost ways to save energy in their home. And then that saves them money. So,

Speaker 3 13:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2 13:52

So win-win

Speaker 3 13:53

Use your local co-op as a resource mm-hmm<affirmative>

Speaker 1 13:55

Yeah. You know, one that I don't get here, we haven't touched on outside and outside. I have several neighbors that feel like they need to light up like the entire night with security lights and everything like that. I mean, we're talking 15 to 20 light bulbs on all through the night. Yes. I didn't know if there's any other outdoor tips that we could focus on,

Speaker 2 14:15

You know, uh, one thing outside the outdoor heat pump or air conditioning unit, mm-hmm<affirmative>, uh, make sure that that's clean of debris. You know, sometimes you can get leaves in there keeping that cleaned out that will make a difference. Mm.

Speaker 1 14:28

That and the lights I tell you what mm-hmm<affirmative> mm-hmm<affirmative> okay. So if you go to touchstone energy.com, they have their own home efficiency, uh, analysis tool to be able to break down, I believe, room by room and kind of look for these things.

Speaker 2 14:41

A lot of these things you can do today. Yeah. You know, it's not something that you have to set up or save the money to invest in, you know, these, these different changes. You can

Speaker 1 14:50

Do them right away. So, and if you've got kids, this is the lesson right now mm-hmm,<affirmative> start'em young. Yes. And you could save just tremendous amounts of money in the future by, by corralling their energy efficiency and, um, and making a better stewards for our, not only our environment, but for the energy company too. Right. That's right. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Heather, for coming in. Thank you. Uh, it's been a pleasure speaking and, uh, that's a wrap. Thanks. Well, that's our show. Thanks so much for tuning in, and if you have any ideas for a great topic or someone who needs to be on here, uh, just send us an email. We'd love to hear from you members first@aci.org. Once again, I'm your host Harrison waters. And until next time, thanks for listening.