Summer is almost here, and the heat of summer is not far behind.  That means higher electric and water bills for the coming months, and this year, both utility bills are likely to be higher than ever. Electricity has to come from somewhere, and if that somewhere is a coal-powered electric plant that depends on trucks to deliver the coal to produce the electricity, then the same pressures that are spiking oil and diesel gasoline prices will begin to impact electricity prices too.  Water is already so scarce in parts of the Southwest and Western US that a serious crisis is already well under way.

So what can you do to keep your personal utility bills as low as possible this summer?

The following ideas are borrowed directly from the heating and cooling web page at the US Department of Energy:

Install Ceiling Fans

Using a ceiling fan will allow you to raise the air conditioning temperature by 4 degrees with no reduction in comfort. When the temperature is mild enough, use the fan without the air conditioning and open the windows for ventilation.

Install a Programmable Thermostat

These are inexpensive and you can install them yourself in about half an hour (or less if you’ve done it before). You can set the air conditioning to go to a higher temperature when you are out of the house at work and then cool back down just before you come home.

Replace Antiquated Window Conditioners

Installing an EnergyStar labeled product can save you up to 30% on your electric bill. If you are running a dinosaur air conditioner, consider spending your tax rebate on an energy-saving replacement. You can find retailers near you who sell these products at www.energystar.gov.

Install Solar Panels On Your Roof

Solar panels are not cheap, but you can take a tax credit for a portion of the cost of purchase and installation, and some states offer low cost loans to homeowners who want to go solar. In states that allow excess electricity generated by private solar systems to be sold back to the energy company, you can even receive and energy credit instead of a bill once your system is up and running.

Insulate and Seal Your Home

Make sure you aren’t trying to air-condition the great outdoors. Seal and use weather-proof caulk around doors and windows, check the insulation in your home and make sure it is at least the recommended depth and R-value to keep warm or cold air inside, where you want it.

Get Rid of Energy Vampires

Many appliance and electrical convenience items use energy even when you are not using them. Some of these items include programmable coffee pots, cell phone chargers, TVs, stereo equipment, and personal computers. Most people find it inconvenient to go around unplugging all these items every time they leave the house, but an easy and fairly inexpensive solution is to hook them all to a master switch (your ‘vampire switch’) that you can just flip on and off when you leave or go to bed. You will likely want to hire an electrician to set this us for you, but it isn’t a major expense and can save you tons on your electric bill.

Plant Shade Trees

This won’t help you immediately, but it will help you, and its good for the environment too. New suburban construction tends to be especially guilty of planting only small flowering ornamental trees, landscape shrubbery, and yews, all for decorative value only. Invest in a couple of well-placed, slow-growth hardwoods that are hardy in your part of the country to shade your home and ease some of the burden on your central air-conditioning.

Smart Meters

Utility companies in some parts of the country offer what are called ’smart meters’ that allow you to communicate with your energy provider in real time about your usage patterns. Often this will enable you to schedule certain activities to off-peak hours and save money on your bill.

Hang a Clothes Line

When I was a kid everyone dried their clothes outside in the summer months. If you also use cold water in the washer instead of hot, you save even more on your electricity bill. In my two person household, these two steps alone knocked $15 a month off of our electric bill.  That’s $180 a year. Who cares what your neighbors think?

Use Gray Water

Gray water is dishwater, bath water, and other waste water that doesn’t include human waste (such as your toilet water). You can use this water on garden plants and lawns without harm. Dish soap is actually an effective and frequently recommended insecticide. It’s not toxic for people but it keeps caterpillars and other bugs off your plants.

Check Out Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping is method of landscape design that uses only plants with very low water needs, combined with attractive hardscape elements such as patio tile, brick patios and paths, flagstones, and hardy decorative prairie grasses. If you live a part of the country where water is scarce, or even if you don’t, ask yourself if it is really worth the expense and effort of maintaining a lawn when the cost of everything else is going up so rapidly. Lawns are ‘monocultures’; meaning they are comprised of one plant only and so are susceptible to disease and damage, and require constant maintenance, lots of water, and lots of chemical fertilizers and insecticides that damage the water table and pollute rivers and streams.  They are labor intensive, wasteful, and very expensive right now.

Install a Rainwater Barrel or Cistern

You don’t have to be fancy about this. Any large barrel that you can allow to catch the water that drains off your home during a rain can be placed near your garden and used for outdoor watering.  This water, while not drinkable, is free, and perfectly safe to use in your yard or to wash your car.

Conservation is always the first and easiest way to save money on energy. Try to be aware of little things and see if you can change personal habits. Do you let the water run while you brush your teeth? Or do you wet the brush, turn off the water, brush your teeth, then rinse the brush? How about when you do dishes by hand? Do you let water run to rinse them in, or do you wash them then spray to rinse (which used much less water)? Do you leave lights on when you don’t need to? Little things add up. While energy was cheap, we could afford to ignore little things, but now that it’s at a premium, just paying attention can shave quite a bit off of your monthly utility bills.

Before you rush off to retrofit your 1950s home with solar, wind turbines, and what have you, take a look at how you habitually use energy and see if just breaking wasteful habits doesn’t help plenty.

For more great ideas, check out the DOE’s free material on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/.