HERE'S THE DEAL Cool savings heat up Honolulu Star-Bulletin

17.05.10

But it's still Hawaii and it can still get hot.

It's never too early to start thinking of ways to lower costs on your electricity bill, and HECO has a number of ways you can lower costs.

Some are pretty obvious.

"Keep the windows open and let the tradewinds cool your home instead of using the air conditioner," Pai said. "Use fans to circulate the air in your home."

Other tips aren't as obvious. This was a new one to me.

"Plant native trees in the east, west and south ends of your home," Pai said. "That's going to create the most shade for your home. It's just the way the sun moves across the sky."

You should also set your air conditioner to the warmest comfortable temperature. Each degree above 75 degrees will save you about 3 percent of the energy used to cool your home.

Make sure the air-conditioner unit you use is the right size for the room it cools. Large rooms would overwork smaller units, hiking up the energy bill further.

Source:

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