Introduction to Energy Saving - ...There are ways to decrease utility bills and save energy. There are a few things you can do on your own that will help to bring your bills down

contac t ERc foR EnERgy saving guidancE...c all us at: 719-591-07722

Introduction to Energy SavingMost homes built in the United States aren’t very energy efficient. The truth is that energy has been inexpensive in this country and it wasn’t really a concern for homebuilders.

But the average electricity bill goes up 5 to 7 percent a year, which far outpaces inflation and is decidedly more than most people’s incomes have increased.

Rising energy costs and flat incomes have created a lot of hardships for families in Elbert, El Paso,Fremont, Douglas and Teller counties – the areas that the Energy Resource Center serves. As of July 1, 2013, ERC also proudly have served the San Luis Valley. These counties include Alamosa, Rio Grande, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, and Saguache.

But it doesn’t have to be so bad. There are ways to decrease utility bills and save energy. There are a few things you can do on your own that will help to bring your bills down. Check out our tips for conserving energy and money section in this guide for advice.

ERC can help you as well. Whether you qualify for free services or want to support the work we do by paying for a skilled technician to conduct an energy assessment of your home or business, we can help you. Our trained energy auditors have evaluated hundreds of homes and identified areas we can improve that will make a big difference in energy consumption and bills.

TablE of ConTEnTS• Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

• How energy audits work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

• Why weatherize? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

• Conservation tips for heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

• Conservation tips for water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

• Conservation tips for electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

• Facts and information about energy consumption and costs. . . . 8

• What the Energy Resource Center can do for you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10


How Energy audits WorkWhether you qualify for free services or pay for a qualified technician to evaluate your home, the Energy Resource Center, will send the same auditors to do the work.

Our trained professionals evaluate your home and take measurements. They run the numbers and come back with a report of recommended home improvements along with information about how much energy and money each one will save, how much of an investment is required and how long it will take for the savings to equal the investment.

Homeowners who are using our fee service will be able to choose which improvements they want to make.

For income-qualified program participants, our technicians will perform all of the most cost-effective services free of charge.

What to expect in an energy assessmentWe typically send two trained professionals to conduct an energy evaluation of your home. They will need to be able to move freely inside and outside of the house for an hour or two. They will go into the attic to look at your insulation and will use tools to measure air leakage and energy usage and efficiency of everything from lights to appliances.

Auditors will need more time at larger homes and businesses using our fee services.

after the auditAfter the audit is complete, it’s time to do the work. The ERC will send a crew of skilled technicians to perform energy upgrades and home improvements designed to save energy and reduce utility bills.


Why Weatherize?The energy improvements the Energy Resource Center makes to Colorado homes are usually referred to as weatherization. We focus most of our efforts on making your home warmer and more comfortable during cold winter months.

Winter heating tends to be the most costly utility bill for residents in the counties the ERC services. Inefficient homes relying on inefficient furnaces can see skyrocketing expenses. And keeping a home warm and safe can quickly become cost prohibitive for many families.

That’s why weatherization is the ERC’s biggest mission when we work with income-qualified homeowners and renters. While cutting electric bills with more efficient lighting and other appliances can make a big impact on the bottom line of your utility bill, nothing affects your utility bill the way weatherization will.

What does weatherization involve?Our technicians use weather-stripping and caulking to keep warm air from leaking out through cracks in doorways and windows.

Many Colorado homes have insufficient insulation. It’s not the sexiest home improvement because you can’t show it off to visitors, but adding additional insulation, especially to the attic, will help your home hold heat inside and protect it from cold outdoor temperatures.

The Energy Resource Center almost always adds insulation to homes when it weatherizes them because we have found that nothing else makes as big of an impact to a home’s efficiency and comfort.

SavingsMore people have called United Way 2-1-1 to ask for assistance paying energy bills than for any other reason over the last eight years. ERC offers a permanent solution to this immediate problem.

Weatherizing isn’t just about saving energy and staying warmer. It’s also about saving money on your energy bill. Many residents pay more for natural gas to heat their homes in the winter than they pay for electricity, which means winter heating bills can more than double a family’s financial burden for utilities.

When the Energy Resource Center helps families weatherize their homes, they typically report savings of more than 20 percent. That kind of savings can go a long way and make a big difference, especially if you’re living on a tight budget.


fee servicesEven if you’re not struggling to pay your utility bills, you have probably noticed higher expenses in the winter and some drafty areas in your home or business. You might also want to do your part in making our community more efficient. Teaming with the ERC to make efficiency upgrades could mean fewer coal cars coming down the track from Wyoming.

The Energy Resource Center can help you identify and improve trouble spots resulting in significant utility savings that will be good both for your wallet and for the environment. This is community serving community!

Conservation Tips for HeatThe Energy Resource Center can help you make home improvements that will save you money on your heating bills. But there are several things you can change about the way you live in your home that will also help reduce heating costs. Some of these suggestions may seem obvious, but they’re still worth mentioning. Others might be things you wouldn’t have considered.

Most of these are free or low-cost changes you can make yourself. Some might require a small investment and some of your time. But the savings will be worth it.

• Keep your thermostat set to 68 degrees or lower. You can save up to 5 percent on your heating bill for every degree you lower your heat between 60 and 70 degrees.

• Turn your heat down to 55 degrees at night or when you go away.

• Replace or clean your furnace filters every four to six weeks.

• Set your hot water heater to the “normal” setting or 120 degrees.

• Caulk leaky windows.

• Open window coverings on sunny days.

• Use heavy drapes to cover windows at night.

• Install weather-stripping around drafty doors.

• Insulate the piping coming from your water heater.


• Check for gaps where heating vents come through the walls and seal them.

• Close heating vents in unused rooms and close doors to the rest of the house.

• Wear warm clothes and use blankets to keep warm at cooler temperatures.

• Insulate heating ducts in unheated areas.

Carbon Monoxide DangersBe careful about how you heat your home. Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can kill. Anything that burns could emit it if it’s not in good repair and some will emit the gas all the time and should only be used outdoors or in well-ventilated areas.

Avoid using gas space heaters indoors and never bring your barbeque grill inside or use a gas stove to supplement heat.

Conservation Tips or WaterWater is an increasingly precious resource. With growing populations in a lot of the communities the Energy Resource Center serves, utility companies have had to invest in new water infrastructure and the cost of water has increased. Those rising water bills paired with environmental pressures resulting from a prolonged drought have made water conservation key for many homeowners.

The Energy Resource Center helps residents make home improvements and replace things like toilets and water shower heads with new ones that use less water. But there are plenty of simple changes you can make on your own that will help you to save water and reduce your utility bill.

• Repair leaky toilets and faucets. A single drip per minute can waste up to 220 gallons of water per month.

• Fill the dishwasher before running it.

• Consolidate clothes into as few loads as possible before washing.

• Heat water in a microwave or on a stove-top rather than running water until it flows hot.

• Wash dishes in a sink full of soapy water rather than running water for each dish.

• Turn the water off while you brush your teeth.


• Don’t linger in the shower.

• Water your lawn or garden in the early morning before the sun rises.

• Replace your shower-head with a low-flow option. Some are quite affordable.

Conservation Tips for ElectricityElectricity is probably the easiest of all the utilities to save money on without making big investments. The trick is realizing that every little thing adds up. None of these simple little things you can do will seem significant at first. And individually, they probably wouldn’t noticeably impact your electricity bill. But put together, these simple little suggestions can save you big on your utility bill. • Turn lights off when you leave a room.

• Don’t let frost build up in your freezer.

• Always cover water when you boil it on a stove-top.

• Use the stove-top instead of the oven when possible.

• Slowly replace standard light bulbs with CFLs or LEDs.

• Use one big light instead of several small ones.

• Unplug appliances like coffeemakers, toasters and mixers when they are not in use.

• Turn your computer off when you are not using it.

• Avoid using space heaters.

• Turn off ceiling fans when you leave a room.

• Open the windows at night to cool your home in the summer, so you can run the air conditioner less.

• Use fans to circulate air so you can run the air conditioner less.


• Cook outdoors in the summer to avoid heating the house up.

• Use power strips for appliances like televisions and DVD players so you can easily control their power supply. Keep them off except when you want to use them.

• Fill, but don’t overstuff, your clothes dryer.

• Keep the dryer vent clean.

facts and Information about Energy Consumption and Costs

Energy costs in the United States have been steadily increasing over the last four decades, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And there is no indication that the increases will stop or reverse in the near future. That means the burden utility bills put on the average household will continue to grow, especially if utility rates increase faster than the rate of inflation.

The average Colorado household spent $1,551 on utilities in 2009, according to the EIA. That’s an average of about 74 cents per square foot of home and the lowest rate in the Western region of the country.

While lower than most of the country, utility bills are still not easy for most families to manage and they don’t have to be as high overall as they are. There are a lot of great ways to save money with some minor investments.

lightingAbout 12 percent of the average household utility bill in the U.S. goes to lighting, according to the EIA. That’s about $264 a year. Inefficient incandescent bulbs waste about 98 percent of the energy they use and compact fluorescent bulbs are typically about 75 percent more efficient. That means changing all the bulbs in a house could reduce your annual lighting bill from $264 to $66, according to calculations from MSN Money. Switching to LED bulbs could reduce the lighting bill to as little as $26 a month.


Of course, the bulbs are more expensive. CFL bulbs average $2 a piece, versus 75 cents for an incandescent light bulb. But the energy savings will pay for the price difference between the bulbs in two to three months, according MSN Money calculations.

Cost of waterThe average American uses about 50 gallons of water a day, according to an analysis from usagreen.org.

The typical Colorado Springs Utilities customer paid $35 a month for water in 2009 or about 0.75 percent of the average income. With bond issues to pay for the Southern Delivery System, a pipeline brining water to El Paso County from Pueblo, the percentage of household income committed to water is expected to increase to 1.25 percent, according to a third-party report produced for the utility in 2010.

Saving waterAbout 54 percent of the water we use in Colorado is used for landscaping, according to a report from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Experts estimate that 15 to 50 percent of it is wasted by overwatering or using inefficient methods. Toilets make up another 13 percent of our water use. Laundry and showers each account for 10 percent. And faucets take another 7 percent. About 5 percent of our water is lost to leaks.

• landscaping: To reduce the amount of water you use outdoors, minimize grassy areas that need to be watered. There are several attractive and somewhat low-cost ways to replace grass with rocks, mulch or even vegetation that doesn’t require watering. Colorado Springs Utilities has a conservation center 2855 Mesa Road where you can learn more.

• Toilets use the largest amount of water inside the home. Older toilets use more water than newer ones. Many of those produced before 1980 use 5 to 7 gallons per flush. If you replace an old toilet with a new low-flow option, you could save 3.4 to 5.4 gallons of water per flush. That’s 68 to 77 percent. That will add up quickly on your water bill, especially when toilets account for large chunk of water usage. Most utilities also offer rebates for low-flow toilets.

• faucets and laundry machines that use less water will save you on your water bill. Low-flow aerators are estimated to save about 13,000 gallons of water each with regular use, according to manufacturer’s websites. Energy Star-rated clothes washers will save both water and electricity.


fastest paybacks for energy efficiency improvementsThere are many improvements you can make that will save you money on your utility bill. Bankrate.com calculated some of the improvements that will have the biggest return on investment and pay for themselves quickly. Here are a few highlights.

What the Energy Resource Center Can Do for You

Even with some of the lowest utility costs in the country, more than 114,000 households applied for Colorado’s Low-income Energy Assistance Program in 2012 to get help paying their utility bills. Each household received an average of about $300, according to statistics published by LEAP.

Almost 16 percent – more than 18,000 – of the LEAP applicants in 2012 lived in El Paso, Elbert, Fremont, Douglas or Teller counties. Those are the five of the eleven counties the Energy Resource Center services.

While LEAP can help people pay their bills, that’s not a long-term sustainable solution for families having a hard time keeping up with utility costs. That’s why the Energy Resource Center automatically qualifies anyone who receives LEAP funds for its energy audit and free weatherization program.

The Energy Resource Center will evaluate homes for income-qualified residents in any of the 11 counties we serve, determine the best ways to save energy and make home improvements designed to increase energy efficiency free of charge. On average, income-qualified homeowners and renters who work with the ERC will see a 20 percent reduction in their utility bills.

Months Modification Return on Investment

average annual saving Cost per unit

3 High-efficiency shower-head 400 percent $32 $8

13Fireplace pillow

to stop air leakage

91 percent $32 $35

14 Bathroom faucet aerator 84 percent $1.68 $2

17 Attic insulation 69 percent 45 cents 65 cents


fee ServicesThe Energy Resource Center has been helping families make their homes more energy efficient since 1979. We have developed a lot of expertise over the years.

In 2012 we launched our fee for service program that will allow homeowners and businesses to utilize our expertise even if they do not qualify for free services. The money we earn making energy improvements for those customers help to fund our free services.

Contact the ERCIf you would like to learn more about how you can make improvements or change the way you live in your home to reduce your utility bills, contact the Energy Resource Center for some guidance. We will also be happy to talk with you about our income-qualified energy audit and weatherization services. If you qualify, we can schedule your audit now.

If you do not qualify, contact the ERC about our energy efficiency and home improvement fee for service options.

We have been helping families stay warm since 1979.

Call us at 719-591-0772.

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Introduction to Energy Saving - ...There are ways to decrease utility bills and save energy. There are a few things you can do on your own that will help to bring your bills down