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Holiday energy-saving tips

You can be festive and frugal with these holiday energy-saving tips.

Replace old holiday lights with LED light strings. Although they cost more initially, LEDs use a fraction of the energy of traditional holiday lights. Plus, they last up to 20 years.
Plug indoor and outdoor lighting displays into a timer set to run during the earlier evening hours.
If you don’t use timers, unplug lights when you go to sleep or leave home.
Rather than adding more lights to your tree, try enhancing the existing lighting with tinsel, mirrored ornaments and other reflective items.
Try floodlights on the outside of your home. LED fixtures and bulbs can be color changing for a festive look.
Use our holiday lighting calculator to estimate your energy costs.

Cook as many dishes as possible in your microwave, slow cooker, air fryer or toaster oven. Because they cook food quicker and are smaller, they can use as much as 75% less energy than a conventional oven.
When using your oven, check cooking progress by looking through the window. Opening the door for even a few seconds lowers the temperature inside by as much as 25 degrees.
If your oven doesn’t have a window, try not to open the door to check your food until it’s as close to the expected finish time as possible.
Turn off your oven several minutes before food is fully cooked. As long as the door remains closed, enough heat will be stored inside to finish cooking your meal.
If you use glass or ceramic pans, try turning your oven temperature down 25 degrees. Your dish may cook just as quickly.
When cooking on your stovetop, match the size of the pan to the heating element. More heat will get to the pan and less will be lost.
Keep your refrigerator and freezer well stocked. A full refrigerator or freezer saves energy by helping it hold a more consistent temperature.

Set your thermostat between 66 F and 68 F, a comfortable range for most people. Every 1 degree you lower your thermostat may reduce your energy use by 1%-3%.
Program your thermostat to decrease the temperature 8 degrees when you’re away from home and overnight.
Start the heating season with a new furnace filter, and clean or replace it monthly to keep your furnace running efficiently.
Open curtains during the day to allow sunlight to naturally heat the home and close the curtains overnight to reduce chill from the windows. Consider adding thermal curtains to reduce each room’s energy loss by up to 25%.
Setting your hot water heater to 120 F can cut water heating costs by 10%.
Open-hearth fireplaces draw heated air from your home, sending it and possibly your energy budget up the chimney. If you use your fireplace, install a snug-fitting set of glass doors and crack open a nearby window. Doing so reduces the amount of heated interior air drawn into the fireplace and improves efficiency by up to 20%.

Before hanging holiday lights, check for damaged sockets, plugs and cords. Replace anything that looks defective.
If you plan to string lights outdoors, be absolutely certain they are marked for outdoor use.
If you use a ladder when decorating outside, stay well away from power lines. The same can be said for lights; do not place them near power lines.
Fasten outdoor lights securely to your home’s exterior to protect them from wind damage. Use only insulated staples or plastic attachments to hold strings in place, not nails or tacks.
To avoid overloading electrical circuits, never plug in more than three sets of lights to one extension cord.
Don’t use light-duty flat extension cords, often brown or white, to power lights. Instead, use heavy-gauge UL- or FM-labeled round extension cords.
Never run electrical cords under rugs or carpeting.
Turn off electrical decorations before leaving home or going to bed.
Don’t let small children play with light strings.

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