Check back often for new tips as they are added!
- Buy a programmable thermostat and set it to automatically adjust your home's temperatures, saving energy when everyone is away for the day or sleeping.
- Install ceiling fans, which use less energy than regular fans and cost about one cent for two hours of operation. In comparison, a room air conditioner costs about $0.17-$0.25 per hour, and central air, $0.67-$1.00 per hour.
- Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). You'll save about 66% in energy, and get about 10 times more life from them.
- Use one refrigerator. Having a second fridge in your home can add up to $150 per year to your hydro bill.
- To help save up to $85 yearly, dry your clothes either outdoors or on an indoor drying rack rather than in the dryer.
- Run your dishwasher only when it's full. Unlike rinsing a few dishes, your dishwasher uses about 40 litres of water, no matter the size of the load. However, a full load of dishes in the dishwasher uses less water than an equal amount of dishes washed by hand.
- Got a leaky tap? Fix it; a tap dripping one drip per second wastes about 10,000 litres of water a year
- Use a rain barrel under your downspout to collect water for watering the garden.
- Bring your own bag when you head to the store. More than 55 million plastic shopping bags go into homes across Canada...every week...