@ House
lighting
Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. They use less energy and emit much less heat.
Appliances
Wash your clothes in cold water using cold-water detergents whenever possible.
Wash and dry full loads. If you are washing a small load, use the appropriate water-level setting.
Heating and Cooling
Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable in the winter and as high as is comfortable in the summer.
62 in the winter, 78 in the summer.
During the heating season, keep the draperies and shades on your southfacing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.
During the cooling season, keep the window coverings closed during the day to prevent solar gain.
Water Heating
Install aerating, low-flow faucets and showerheads.
@ Work
To maximize savings with a laptop, put the AC adapter on a power strip that can be turned off (or will turn off automatically - Smart Strip Power Strip ); the transformer in the AC adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not plugged into the adapter.
On The Road
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%.
