San Diego California Home Owners - Energy Saving Tips For A San Diego Summer

San Diego has been enjoying moderately cool temperatures of late but  heat will be returning soon and here are some ways to conserve energy that can be implemented now and help you remain comfortable as the heat begins to rise. While the San Diego climate is moderate year around, in the summer, our temperatures can very warm especially inland and away from the coast.

Living in San Diego, we need fans to circulate the wonderful breezes we are get living near the ocean. But if your windows are closed up and if you have no fans, you are missing one of the best features of living here in San Diego. Ceiling fans today are a very affordable alternative to air conditioning and reasonably easy to install.

So for starters lets turn off the air conditioning on those days when the temperature starts rising into the high 70’s and 80’s. Open up the windows and turn on the fans. Costco sells these portable misters and a quick shot on the face or neck and you will be cooled right down. The Misting Mates are made for outside, but if you don’t tell, I won’t. And don’t fear getting wet, just take a quick spray and with the air being circulated through your home you will feel very comfortable.

I would recommend that you invest in a programmable Thermostat. These can be purchased in the range of $30. You will save an energy costs the first year, as much as several hundred dollars. In a few years, we’re talking real money.

The cost of a new energy wise air-conditioning system on average runs in the range of  about $2500-$3000. It will only take a few years to earn all that savings back and there may also be some local and state tax incentives for upgrading. Making a phone call to your power company and following that up with a couple calls to the leading HVAC suppliers should give you all the information and related contact information you need.

Installing a whole house fan will also dramatically help lift up and out, a lot of warm air trapped near your ceilings or in your upstairs level. You will notice the change rather immediately once this is installed.

In the hottest summer months, lower the temperature on your water heater. The recommended temperature should be somewhere between 110 and 115°. Taking cooler showers will also make you feel cooler and save a lot of energy.

Consider doing most of your cooking outside on the grill. It keeps the house a lot cooler and saves boatloads of energy. Besides that clean up is a lot easier and you save using so much hot water in cutting the cooking grease that most of which burns off. I won't get into the potential of the increased carbon footprint at our homes because of the additional smoke we create when cooking outside but I do think this is a real energy saver. It's not like the smoke billowing from an energy plant.

Wash clothes in cold water. Even the dirtiest whites will come clean with the warm setting. Be sure to also reduce the amount of detergent. Less is more in most cases.

The summer months provide so many wonderful activities for outside. Turn off the TV or at least try watching it less. This may be too much of an editorial but I think we could all use a break from our TV's and computers alike. Turn em off and enjoy the fresh air, family and friends.

Overhead recessed lighting also generates a lot of heat and using these lights less will cut down on your energy bills. There is one way however that is proven to be very cost-effective. Change out all those incandescent bulbs to the new low-energy fluorescent. These bulbs may be a little more costly up front, but they last longer and they virtually give off no heat. Check with your city power companies. They have periodically set up free exchanges and that makes these new bulbs virtually free.

There are some other more permanent and longer range ways of economizing on energy. These would include having your home well insulated and it saves a ton of money on energy costs year around. Good insulation could cut your energy costs as much as 30% a year there is a website, simply go to insulate.com that would help you get even more ideas.

A good landscaping plan of planting leafy trees on the southwest side of the house will help the extreme heat from overheating the house. In the winter months after all the leaves have fallen, the trees allow the sun to keep the house warm. It’s also wise to avoid excessive use of rock, concrete and especially asphalt, particularly on the west and south side of the house. This heats up with the sun and radiates heat to the house making it even more difficult to cool.

The south and west sides of your home as I  mentioned gets the most sun and the heat can be reduced significantly by installing white blinds on the windows. The sun and heat are reflected back off of the windows and helps to keep the house a few degrees cooler as well. I have two curved windows that have no covering in the dining room. I located an opaque film at Home Depot and it looks handsome and does a great job in preventing the late day intense sun from damaging the fabrics. It also feels cooler with the direct heat of the late day sun. In the winter months, I simply remove it. In the Spring it goes up again.

There are many other heat cutting and energy savings ideas. If you know some, send me a comment and I can add them here. Thanks for sharing.

Editorial NOTE: A top real estate professional gave me a great suggestion to stay cooler in the summer months and also save energy and I am going to add it here. This is from Renee Burrows in Las Vegas.

GO TO THE BEACH