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Save energy while keeping cool

GOING GREEN:

July 02, 2012|By AMANDA WHEELER | Contributing columnist

During this heat wave, it's important to stay cool. Just because you have to blast the air conditioning to keep your house bearable doesn't mean you can't be smart about it and save some energy along the way.

Air conditioning battles heat, but everyone doesn't realize heat doesn't just come from outside — it can come from inside, too.

The fewer heat-producing things you run in your home, the more effective your air conditioning can be. The more effective your air conditioning is, the less you're negatively you're impacting the environment. Your electric bill will be lower, too.

One thing that really heats up your home is the oven. During the hot summer months, the less you use your oven, the better. Here are a couple of ways to avoid your oven as much as possible:

Cook lots of food at once and then refrigerate or freeze the leftovers. This uses the heat you're generating more efficiently and allows you to use your oven less frequently.
Use a small toaster oven instead of a conventional oven when possible. A toaster oven still produces heat, but it does produce less than full-sized oven.
Use your microwave instead to avoid releasing heat into your home.
Instead of boiling water for tea, make it in your coffee pot or make sun tea outside in the heat.
Cook your meals outside in portable cookers like a slow-cooker or electric grill. A slow-cooker can be left outside all day to cook your dinner, but make sure it's protected from animals and the weather.
Use your gas or charcoal grill as much as possible. Grilling out is a fun summer pastime, and it also helps keep the heat outside your home.

Dryers also produce lots of heat. Make sure to dry full loads when you do use your dryer in order to reduce the number of times you have to run it. Better yet, hang your clothes out to dry on a clothesline. Make sure to double-check the weather before you hang your clothes out.

Another way to keep unnecessary air-conditioning use down is to turn your thermostat up during the day if no people or pets are going to be home. Bump it up five or six degrees (or more) as you walk out the door and your air conditioning will have a much easier time during some of the hottest hours in the day.

Other heat-generating items you should try to avoid or use as little as possible include hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, powerful computers and heavy-duty electronics.

Amanda's Animal Fact of the Week

African elephants keep cool in the heat by flapping their giant ears. Their ears have very thin skin allowing airflow to cool blood as it flows through the ears.

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