Myths About Energy Conservation in the Home - True or False?

It is amazing how many wrong ideas that we have about saving on the cost of energy. I remember my dad hollering at us when we were kids for turning the lights on and off. According to him, it was more expensive to turn the light off and then back on again than it cost to simply leave the light on. Imagine my surprise when I found out that this was not true! Basically, if the light is on, it is costing you money. If it is off, it is not costing you money. How simple is that? And better yet - it makes sense.

The same is true with your furnace. The old energy-conserving-myth when it comes to furnaces is that you are better off leaving it at a consistent temperature than you are turning it off when you are not home and at night. Again, not true. Simply put, the energy used to reheat a space is always less than or equal to the cost of maintaining that heat. So turn that furnace down! And also - do not try to quickly warm that space up by cranking the thermostat to 80 when you get home. The house will reheat to 70 in the same amount of time if you turn it to 70 or if you turn it to 80, and if you are anything like me - you will probably forget to turn the darn thing back down which will not only result in wasting energy but in allowing the house to get uncomfortably warm.

And on the subject of furnaces - if you have to replace that furnace, always spend the extra money on the more energy efficient model. As a general rule, the extra money spent will be saved in heating costs in less than a year and at that rate, the entire furnace will be paid for in energy savings in no time at all.

Okay, one more furnace-related tidbit. Blocking off heating vents does not save money, it simply puts your heating system out of balance.

This last particular fact thrilled me - microwaves, which have long taken the rap for being energy-hogs - are actually the most cost-efficient way of heating a food or beverage! Yes! My laziness is now justified! When I don't want to cook, I can simply claim that I am much too concerned about the conservation of energy to turn on that stove and do it the old-fashioned, time-consuming way.