Last month, I discussed how to save energy and be environmentally friendly while traveling during the summer. Now I want to focus on how to keep your empty home green while you are away.
Saving energy in your house is a great way to reap some monetary benefit, giving you more spending money for vacation. But, you also want to make sure you don't arrive home to find your garden, grass and indoor plants brown and dying.
Assuming you don't have pets (and a pet sitter) needing to be kept cool while you are away, turn your air conditioner off completely. As nice as it may be to arrive home to a cool house, it really won't take much time to cool your house if you turn the air conditioner back on after your trip. With fewer lights on and people letting in the heat from outdoors while you are away, your house might not get as hot as you might think.
Which brings me to the next suggestion. Draw all curtains and shades before leaving so the sunlight doesn't heat up your home. Your house will remain cooler for your return, reducing how hard your air conditioner has to work to cool it back down again.
Turn off your hot water heater at your fuse box or circuit breaker (assuming you don't have a tankless water heater). A typical water heater keeps the water heated constantly so that it's ready when you need it. There is no need to use electricity or gas to heat the water when no one needs it. Consult your owner's manual for the proper way to turn off your heater.
Turn up the temperature setting on your refrigerator, or, if you're going to be gone for an extended period of time such as an entire month or more, clean it out, turn it off and leave the door open (as long as you don't have pets). Do the same for your freezer, too.
Check the weather report for your hometown. If rain is in the forecast, turn off any automatic sprinkler system you may have so you aren't watering in the rain (of course, you should be making sure you don't water in the rain even when you're not on vacation). If dry weather is in the forecast, then set the sprinklers to go on to keep your grass and outdoor plants and garden from dying while you are away. You don't want to arrive home to find all your vegetables dead and useless after all the work you have invested in growing them.
Suspend your newspaper subscription while you are gone. Having newspapers pile up outside your home not only becomes litter, but it also alerts everyone who goes by that you are away, making your house more likely to be a target for burglary. If you don't want to miss an issue, have a trusted friend or neighbor pick up the papers from your house daily and keep them for you. Suspend your mail service or have a neighbor retrieve your mail for you as well.
Unplug all unnecessary electronic devices, including alarm clocks, radios, microwaves, coffee makers, toaster ovens, lamps, computers, printers and televisions (unless, of course, you have TiVo or another digital recording device that is set to record programs while you are away). As always, hot items like irons, hair straighteners and curling irons should be unplugged.
You may want to put your house lights on a timer so they go on at varying times to give the impression of someone being home. Or ask a friend or neighbor to come by occasionally and turn on a light, especially outdoor lights that illuminate the entrances to your home. Energy-wise, this is greener than keeping many lights on the whole time you are away, and it's also safer to have different lights turned on and off, indicating activity in the home.
Check that all faucets are turned off completely and nothing has been left dripping. A steady stream of water running down the drain for a week will easily waste all the water you are saving by having no one showering in your home during your trip.
Turn off all ceiling fans. You may think you'll be returning to a cooler house by leaving them on, but fans only cool people — not rooms. They actually can make rooms slightly warmer because the electricity they use gives off a small amount of heat.
To keep your indoor plants healthy, you will probably need someone to come in every two to three days to water them. Also, keep the house at a temperature no warmer than the mid-80s (though always check the care needs for your particular types of plants if you are unsure of the temperature they need to survive). If maintaining the right temperature necessitates leaving the air conditioner on, you may want to consider bringing your plants to a friend's home to care for while you are away.
A little bit of forethought and effort before heading out on your vacation not only helps your pocketbook, but can reduce your negative environmental impact as well.
• • •
Bill Goss is the owner of Quality Systems Consulting Group in Amesbury. His Web site is www.merrimackvalleygreen.com. If you have any questions regarding Going Green, send them to merrimackvalleygreen@comcast.net, and he will answer them in upcoming columns.
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