The easiest, cheapest and cleanest source of new energy is energy efficiency, yet this obvious energy source is often overlooked. Improving energy efficiency is a win-win strategy for both consumers and businesses. The basic principle is simple: reduce the amount of energy consumed for necessary uses such as home and water heating, indoor lighting, cooling, refrigeration, transportation, etc. This can be done in a myriad ways: weather stripping old doors and windows, adding new insulation to building, using compact florescent light bulbs, replacing old appliances like washers and refrigerators with more efficient ones, and much more. In the long run, adopting efficiency measures saves money, while also conserving energy and alleviating the need to build bigger and more polluting power plants and to drill in pristine wildlands.

In most homes there are a number of things you can do for little or no cost that can add up to substantial savings and reduced environmental impact.

• Replace the incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs. (Please remember that compact fluorescent bulbs do contain mercury and should be carefully disposed of.)
  
  
• Walk, bicycle, take transit, combine trips, and carpool whenever possible.
  
  
• About 15% of an average home energy bill goes to heating water. To save hot water, take five-minute showers instead of baths, and make sure your water heater is well-insulated.
  
  
• Cut down on your dryer use by air-drying clothes when possible.
  
  
• Your televisions, DVD player, VCR and other devices each contribute to your energy tab. Consider using a power strip for all your electrical devices, and turn off when not in use.
  
  
• Running a computer and a monitor 24 hours a day uses some 1,100 kilowatt hours annually. Putting them on sleep mode, or turning them off could cut CO2 emissions up to 1,250 pounds a year.
  
  
• During hot months, keep window coverings closed on the south, east and west windows. In winter, let the sun in.
  
  
• Set thermostats lower at night and when you are away from home. You can do this automatically by installing a programmable thermostat, which can pay for itself quickly.
  
  
• In summer, use fans whenever possible instead of air conditioning (AC), and ventilate at night this way when practical. Using fans to supplement AC allows you to raise the thermostat temperature, using less energy. Fans cost less to use than AC.
  
  
• Set your water heater lower -- to 120 degrees Fahrenheit if it's currently set higher