A simple question like “What are some easy ways to save energy?” can be difficult to answer. Where do you start? How much time or money do you want to invest? What lifestyle changes would you consider in the ways you use energy now?

Through the years, we seem to have become more emotionally involved in the price at the pump than in our monthly utility bills. People seem to accept rising home-energy bills, but they get upset when they pay even a penny or two more for gasoline for their car.

Yet the average Florida homeowners, for example, spend 5 percent of their after-tax income on their home-utility bills-bills that can easily reach $150 or more per month.

If you’ve been in your house for a few years, and if you keep files of your home expenses, dig out a couple of utility bills from four or five years ago and compare them with what you paid last month. If you live in a hot climate such as Florida’s, compare bills from last summer with bills from a few summers ago. If you live in a colder climate, check out your heating bills. You’ll find that home-energy costs have been creeping up for a long time, with occasional periods of “jumping” rather than creeping.

The shame of this is that you don’t have to pay bills that keep going up like this. You can do no- or low-cost things to lower your energy bills while making your home more comfortable and helping the environment.

Think about ways that you use electricity in your home now. In Florida, the average utility costs for a typical home with electric-resistance heating and a swimming pool are:

• Cooling: 33 percent

• Refrigeration: 15 percent

• Hot water: 14 percent

• Space heating: 10 percent

• Pool pump: 10 percent

• Lighting: 5 percent

• Cooking: 4 percent

• Clothes drying: 3 percent

• Other: 6 percent

If you want to save energy, you need to start with cooling costs, refrigeration and hot water, which account for nearly two-thirds of your utility bill.

Saving on cooling is easy, so here are tips to get you started.

• Whenever possible, use natural ventilation. Open the windows, turn off the air conditioner and enjoy the natural breezes. Depending on the weather, it’s often best to keep the home closed during the day and then open at night.

• Use ceiling fans instead of air conditioning, and try to use energy-efficient fans. Turn fans on when people are in the room – and off when they leave, and open windows as wide as possible. If you’re using the air conditioner, set the thermostat 3 or 4 degrees higher, and you’ll still feel as comfortable.

• Try to cut down on heat buildup from inside the house. Don’t use lights and appliances if they’re not needed. Light bulbs are better at producing heat than light.

and your air conditioner runs even harder to get rid of the heat from bulbs. Cut down on cooking too. Use your microwave or an outdoor grill when possible to keep from heating up the oven.

-Purchase compact fluorescent lamps to replace incandescent ones. This will cut your lighting costs by two-thirds, increase the lifetime of your lamps by a factor of 10 and reduce the demand for cooling if you are using air conditioning.

-Close your drapes and blinds tightly during the day to keep the hot sun out. Remember, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to keep the sun’s heat out than it is to get rid of it once it gets inside. Plant trees and shrubs and use trellises and awnings outside to help block the sun.

-Keep the indoor humidity low. When you’re cooking, use the kitchen exhaust fans. When showering, use the bathroom exhaust fans. Both strategies will lower indoor humidity.

-Have a whole-house fan installed to improve ventilation, cutting down on your home’s need for air conditioning. These fans are especially effective during the cooler nighttime hours. You also might look into solar-powered attic ventilation fans. They help keep your attic temperatures low while operating on power from the sun.

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(Ken Sheinkopf is associate director for the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa, Fla. For more information on energy efficiency and renewable energy, visit the center’s Web site at www.fsec.ucf.edu.)

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(c) 2004, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/. On America Online, use keyword: OSO.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-04-01-04 0625EST