KEISHON: Saving energy leads to saving money

Winter is notorious for high energy usage. According to the US Energy Information Administration, December, January and February unleash America's highest energy consumption of any consecutive three-month period.

Remember the 80 degree days of November and December? With high temperatures come high energy bills, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to decrease energy consumption.

Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and costs more money than any other system in your home -- typically making up about 46 percent of your utility bill, according to the US Department of Energy. Yikes! That is almost half.

No matter what kind of heating and cooling system you have, you can save money and increase your comfort.

You probably change the oil in your car more than once a year; you should also have your heating and cooling system inspected by a qualified heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) professional. Regular check-ups and maintenance help to ensure your unit is safe, working effectively and efficiently.

Install a programmable thermostat. A programmable thermostat allows you to automatically adjust the temperature in your home. You can adjust the times you turn on the heating or air-conditioning according to a pre-set schedule. Programmable thermostats can store and repeat multiple daily settings.

In our home, the temperature adjusts before work and school and at night before bed.

Programmable thermostats can have six or more temperature settings a day.

Change is good, so change the air filter every few months. If you are an allergy sufferer like me, you may want to change the air filter more frequently. A dirty air filter makes your heating system work harder, which uses more energy.

The second largest area of energy consumption in the home is lighting, household appliances and electronics. We all remember our parents' admonishments to turn off the lights.

While they were right, you can usually save much more by changing standard incandescent light bulbs to more efficient models. Compact fluorescent light bulbs provide more light for less money. Fluorescent bulbs may be more expensive initially, but they are worth the investment.

According to the Berkley National Lab, most homes have at least 40 household devices drawing power.

Sure enough, they were right. Just looking in one room in my own home enlightened me to how much electricity my family uses. Here are a few tips to reduce wasted energy:

Turn off appliances, lights and equipment when not in use.

Unplug electronic devices and chargers when they aren't in use -- most new electronics use electricity even when switched "off." Turn computers and printers off at the power strip.

Curb idle time in devices such as computers and video game consoles. Simply set your computer to sleep mode or save a game and power down instead of leaving it paused for a prolonged period.

Use power strips. Power strips allow you to power completely on and off. This will allow you to control the power usage of clusters of devices so that they're not consuming electricity when you're not around.

Finally, when it comes time to send your old devices to the graveyard, you should also consider replacing them with Energy Star devices.

They have a lower standby consumption than your average device, and generally use less energy in all their functions -- a savings you should take into account when comparing similar products.

Contact county Extension agent Keishon J. Thomas at 478-751-6338 or thomaskj@uga.edu.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 8:37 PM with the headline "KEISHON: Saving energy leads to saving money ."