Little places where heat loss adds up

Are you sure that you've done everything you can to save energy and lower utility costs in your home? Consider the following facts:

Ten percent of the cold air filtering into a house can come through wall sockets not covered with insulating pads.

A door not weatherstripped allows as much air into a room as a 3-inch hole in an outside wall.

Windows and glass doors are the single largest sources of heat loss in an insulated house. Curtains should be closed except those which receive sunlight.

Direct sunlight can increase the warmth of a room by 80 percent.

Storm doors and windows can reduce heat loss by 50 percent and cut cold-air infiltration by 25 percent.

A properly adjusted oil furnace will decrease fuel consumption by a minimum of 10 percent.

Gas heating units, when adjusted properly, will use 14 percent less fuel.

If a furnace is operating at 50 percent efficiency, then 50 cents of every heating dollar goes up the flue as smoke.

Insulation of heating ductwork can net a 9 percent savings in fuel costs.

For each degree a thermostat is lowered during a 24-hour period, there is a resulting saving of 3 percent on monthly fuel use.

If a thermostat is lowered only at night, a 1 percent saving is possible for each degree lowered.

Air near ceilings is 7 or 8 degrees warmer than air at the floor. By pushing ceiling air down to floor level, additional warmth is added to the room.

An open damper in a 4-foot-square fireplace means a loss of 8 percent of the household heat up the chimney.

Maintaining a humidity level of 30 to 40 percent will make the room temperature feel 2 to 5 degrees warmer.

Fluorescent lights produce 31/2 times more light and last 12 times longer than incandescent bulbs of the same wattage.

A square floor plan is the most energy-efficient shape for a house.