Prepare your money plan_7

150 The 1-2-3 Money Plan to your vehicle. They claim to improve your gas mileage. But they don’t work. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Consumer Reports have tested them. None of these additives and devices makes much dif-ference in fuel economy. Morning fill-ups. A common tip is to fill your gas tank in the morning, when the fuel is cool, rather than in the heat of the day. The theory is that the cooler gasoline will be denser, so you will get more for your money. But the temperature of the gasoline coming out of the fuel nozzle changes very little, if at all, during any 24-hour stretch. Any extra gas you get will be negligible, Consumer Reports says. Home Heating and Cooling Most energy savings in your home will come in one of two ways: You can take steps that allow you to adjust the thermostat and use less energy or, keeping the thermostat the same, you need your furnace and air conditioner to turn on less often, mostly by keeping your paid-for air indoors longer. Those sound like simple concepts, but they are fun-damental to saving money and energy. From the Library of Wow! eBook Green Means Green 151 Home Heating and Cooling, 1-2-3 1. Make a thermostat plan. 2. Seal leaks. 3. Avoid big-ticket fixes. 1. Make a Thermostat Plan Many of the usual tips about home heating and cool-ing are useless unless they allow you to do one simple thing: Adjust the thermostat to use less heat and air conditioning. Call a meeting of everyone in your household and devise a plan for controlling temperature in your home. Agree on what times of day you can set the thermostat really low in the winter—without risk of freezing pipes, of course. While you’re home, can you set the tempera-ture at 68 degrees instead of 72 if everyone in the house-hold agrees to wear sweaters and slippers around the house? Can you be comfortable at 66 degrees? Will flannel pajamas and an extra blanket on the bed allow you to lower the temperature into the 50s at night? If someone is home all day, make it a routine to open drapes to let the sun’s heat in and otherwise close drapes to help further insulate windows. The opposite is true in summer. When can you use less air conditioning and allow the house to get warmer? Will everybody agree to wear light clothing to reduce the need for cooling? Will everybody be con-scious about when it’s bearable to open windows to get a breeze rather than use air conditioning? From the Library of Wow! eBook 152 The 1-2-3 Money Plan These steps seem obvious to me and they might to you too. But ask yourself why on so many gorgeous spring or fall days at perfectly comfortable temperatures so many of your neighbors have their windows closed and heat or air conditioning running? Somebody is not getting the message or there are a lot of people who close up their homes because they suffer from outdoor allergies. If your household is undisciplined about turning the thermostat up and down and has a routine schedule, buy an Energy Star-rated programmable thermostat. This device is easy to install and costs about $100. It’s basically just a timer that sets your thermostat to a pre-scribed temperature at various times during the day and night. For example, you could let the house get warm in the summer while you’re at work and start cooling it before you arrive home. You could make back the cost of the $100 programmable thermostat in one year’s worth of energy savings. However, if you’re diligent about controlling temperature the old-fashioned way— by walking over to the thermostat and setting it by hand—you don’t need a programmable thermostat. This adjusting of the thermostat won’t work unless people in the household—or at least those who control the temperature—are on board with the plan. 2. Seal Leaks This too seems like obvious advice, but you have to actually take the time to find and seal leaks. That’s so you can keep your paid-for air indoors longer. From the Library of Wow! eBook Green Means Green 153 Walk the exterior perimeter of your home to look for cracks and unsealed seams, not only around windows and doors, but in pipe cutouts to the outdoors, chim-neys, and the foundation. Indoors, carefully hold a candle, stick of incense, or other flame near seams in your windows and exterior doors. If the flame and smoke blow, you know you have a leak. Caulking, weather-stripping, and foam sealant will plug those leaks. Also check recessed lights, baseboards, electrical out-lets to exterior walls, and unfinished spaces behind cup-boards and closets. Seal leaky air ducts at joints, starting at the furnace air handler, and insulate ducts that run through unheated basements or attics. In a typical house, about 20 percent of the air that moves through the duct sys-tem is lost due to leaks and poorly sealed connections, according to the federal government’s Energy Star pro-gram. But duct tape isn’t the answer. It’s actually a poor way to seal duct cracks and seams. Use a mashed potato-like sealant called mastic. Or use the water-based kind. You paint it on duct joints and tiny holes, and it hardens. You could also use metallic duct tape with a UL-181 rating. Search the EnergyStar.gov site for the online brochure, “Duct Sealing.” Use appropriate insulation for your climate. It can increase your comfort and reduce your heating costs up to 30 percent. Start with attic insulation, followed by exterior and basement walls, floors, and crawl spaces. Learn more about insulating at www.simplyinsulate. com. Also, see the publication “A Do-it-Yourself Guide From the Library of Wow! eBook 154 The 1-2-3 Money Plan to Energy Star Home Sealing” by the Environmental Protection Agency. Call 1-888-782-7937 or get it online at EnergyStar.gov. 3. Avoid Big-Ticket Fixes Always calculate the breakeven point for any energy-savings effort. For example, replacing old windows will save energy, but they’re so expensive it might take decades before you earn back enough in energy savings to pay for the windows. The same goes for replacing a functioning furnace or central air-conditioning unit. If you’re upgrading or replacing for other nonmone-tary reasons, such as the attractivness of the windows or because you want to help preserve the environment, that’s fine. Just know what it’s actually costing you. Little Things Mean a Lot So much of what we can do to save money and the environment doesn’t come via grand one-time efforts, but through our daily habits. Little Things Mean a Lot, 1-2-3 1. Replace your five most-used bulbs with CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps). 2. Buy rechargeable batteries. 3. Don’t buy bottled water. From the Library of Wow! eBook ... - tailieumienphi.vn