Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings

If you want to replace your appliances in your home this is your book to find the most energy efficient products on the market. It rates the products as well as explaining how they work. Tons of information for the everyday consumer. We have used it to help us decide upon which kind of washer & dryer to buy as well as the installation of a heat pump, which replaced the 30 year old forced air furnace. It covers all the types of heating systems as well as cooling systems. For the washer it compares vertical axis with horizonal axis right down to cost per load, electric and gas, wash and rinse cycle options and even laundry tips. There is a whole chapter on lighting, both incandescent and compact florescent bulbs. Hot water heaters are covered: gas or electric, storage types, demand, water pump, tankless, indirect and even solar. It discusses replacing & sizing water heaters for your home and how you use hot water, insulation and how to lower the water temperture. We went as far as to put a timer on our hot water heater so that it only heats water when we need it most, early morning for showers and evening for cooking and dishes. It even covers windows, home insulation, energy audits and how to read the Energy Guide labels on all products. We have found this book both informative and a keeper. We have had friends borrow it and some have even gone and purchased their own. This is our 2nd one, we almost wore out the first one which was the 7th edition. The new 8th edition brings us up to date. We gave the old one to friends who were happy to have it.

I have a house under construction and I need information on windows types, heating and cooling appliance options as well as insulations. This book is over 5 stars. I borrowed a copy from a library and am planning to buy one for reference collections.

This book covers both the house itself (insulation, windows, etc.) as well as appliances, furnaces, and lightbulbs. Written in 1999, it lists major appliances, windows, furnaces, boilers, and air conditioners by brand name and model number in table format showing the energy ratings of each one. This saves you the time of running around town or making dozens of phone calls to collect this info. It also explains all the information contained on energy labels when you go shopping. In particular, I found the section on windows most beneficial. It details what tests are done to obtain the ratings, which tests are most relevant and which ratings you should pay particular attention to, as there are several ratings on each window.It also was bold enough to say which things you should be spending your money on and which things are nice to have but not absolutely necessary.