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Everyone is always looking for ways to keep their costs down especially with gas prices on the rise. Here are some easy things to do that cost little or nothing to save energy.

Open windows and use portable or ceiling fans instead of operating your air conditioner. Even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer — you should feel the air blown downward.

Use a programmable thermostat with your air conditioner to adjust the setting at night or when no one is home.

Don’t place lamps or TVs near your air conditioning thermostat. The heat from these appliances will cause the air conditioner to run longer.

Install a whole house fan or attic fan. This will pull the cool air in and get the hot air out.
Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day.

Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but not block the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses less electricity.

Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents; they produce the same light but use a fifth the energy and heat.

Air-dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher’s drying cycle.

Use a microwave oven instead of a conventional electric range or oven.

Caulking and weather stripping will keep cool air in during the summer.

If you see holes or separated joints in your ducts, hire a professional to repair them.

Add insulation around air conditioning ducts when they are located in unconditioned spaces such as attics, crawl spaces, and garages; do the same for whole-house fans where they open to the exterior or to the attic.

Check to see that your fireplace damper is tightly closed.

For more energy tips check out the US Department of Energy’s website.

With gas prices on the rise we all can use as many tips about improving gas mileage as we can get. Here are some tips from the US Department of Energy.

Driving Tips

Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions.

Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking) wastes gas. It can lower your highway gas mileage 33% and city mileage 5%.

Avoid high speeds. Above 60 mph, gas mileage drops rapidly. The fuel economy web site shows how driving speed affects gas mileage. As a rule of thumb, you can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas.

When you use overdrive gearing, your car’s engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces wear.

Reduce drag by placing items inside the car or trunk rather than on roof racks. A roof rack or carrier provides additional cargo space and may allow you to buy a smaller car. However, a loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by 5%.

Car Maintenance Tips

Keep tires properly inflated and aligned to improve your gasoline mileage by around 3.3%.

Get regular engine tune-ups and car maintenance checks to avoid fuel economy problems due to worn spark plugs, dragging brakes, low transmission fluid, or transmission problems.

Replace clogged air filters to improve gas mileage by as much as 10% and protect your engine.

Combine errands into one trip. Several short trips, each one taken from a cold start, can use twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.