Making your energy dollar count

Orange (WTNH) - In these tough times, you're probably looking for ways to save some money. At the SmartLiving Center in Orange, everyone from homeowners to school students can learn how to conserve electricity.

"They can find out about how to be energy efficient in all aspects of their home," explained Kirsten Brooks of United Illuminating.

Saving energy means saving money. It can be as simple as changing your light bulbs.

Your old incandescent bulb makes your electric meter spin and spin. Change it to a compact florescent bulb and the meter spins a lot slower. The newest LED bulbs hardly move the meter at all.

But that's just a lightbulb. A hairdryer blowing hot air sends your meter spinning like crazy, but use it on the cold air setting and it will save you a bundle.

Bigger appliances can mean bigger savings if you use appliances that meet Energy Star efficiency standards.

"The Energy Star washer for example uses less water and less energy overall," Brooks said. "It also spins more of the water out before it goes into the drier, so that's what makes it more efficient."

When you visit the SmartLiving Center for your free tour, you take home not only knowledge but a kit full of things to help you make your home more efficient. One of them is a refrigerator thermometer.

"In your refrigerator, you don't really know what temperature it is," Brooks said. "It's 1-9 and you don't really know, you make it colder, you make it less, but this actually tells you what the temperature is, and it should be set at 37 degrees for your refrigerator and 5 degrees for your freezer."

The kit also has some tools the pros use to close air leaks in your house, but there's also a low-tech device -- an hourglass to time your showers.

"It's 5 minutes," Brooks said. "That not only saves on water, but it actually saves on your energy bill as well."

A charge on your energy bill actually funds the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund, and that fund pays for the weatherization kit and everything else here at the SmartLiving Center.