You watched ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. You changed your light bulbs. Now what?

Tired of being told to go green but not being told how? Phil Winters understands. He is one of two conscientious entrepreneurs at the heart of EnWise Power Solutions, a company created to help foster a culture of energy conservation. EnWise provides a one-stop-shop for Ontario homeowners to protect the environment, reduce home energy bills, collect government administered energy-saving rebates, and improve the value, comfort, and re-sale of their home. EnWise offers homeowners the following energy conservation tips as a good start towards reducing their ecological footprint:

Tip #1: “To make one change that’ll cause a big reduction in the quantity of energy you consume, proceed directly to your furnace,” explains Winters, president. “More energy is consumed in the average home by heating and cooling than anything else – 44 per cent to be exact – with the next largest being a 30 per cent combination of lighting, cooking, and all other appliances.”

Tip# 2: Still got that under-utilized, clunky ‘beer fridge’ in the games room? Is your cottage kitchen dominated by a wheezy, old 1970s Coldspot? It’s time to let it go. Replacing a fridge bought before 1997 with an Energy Star-approved model could save you $120 per year, and $150 or more if it’s older than that.

Tip #3: Are you missing a basketball? No need to check the roof of the garage – hypothetically, it could have disappeared through the wall of an average Canadian home. Make sure that all your weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows is properly applied – if not, then the combined holes and gaps could add up to form a hole in your wall the size of a basketball, and you could be paying 25 per cent more on your heating bills than you need to.

EnWise offers more energy conservation tips on the web at www.enwisepower.com or call 1-888-8-BE-WISE.

Word count 318.