House too hot or too cold? Button up your home for comfort.
You can make your house feel more comfortable by weatherizing your house: adding insulation, sealing ductwork, and sealing drafts (especially around basements, doors and windows). You can do-it-yourself with inexpensive insulation, caulk, tape and foam products. You can also get a professional home energy audit to find those drafts and learn which home improvements are most cost effective. Info on Home Energy Audits:
With inexpensive improvements, you can feel more comfortable and save money on your energy bills. 42% of your home energy use is spent on heating, so think about how much you can save.
If you purchase energy-efficient appliances or heaters, you may be able to get rebate money back from PECO: or the government  .
Low-rate financing for energy-efficiency home improvements may also be available.
By saving energy, you can save money on your utility bills, such as for gas and electricity. By changing light-bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs, you can save about 20%. You can save even more by insulating and sealing drafts in your home, using programmable thermostats, insulating hot-water heaters, turning off electronics and chargers, and replacing old appliances with energy-efficient ones.
By saving energy, especially during the summer when air conditioning use is high, you will also be help lessen energy problems such as energy shortages, energy affordability, pollution and climate change. By saving energy, you will help reduce greenhouse gases. In Abington, human energy use is the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Generating electricity by using fossil fuels, petroleum fuel use, and natural gas use all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. You can also help by purchasing cleaner energy and renewable energy.
- Walk, bike, skateboard, or take public transit whenever possible
- Have you children ride the schoolbus instead of driving them to school.
- Avoid allowing your car to idle. If waiting for more than 30 seconds, turn off the engine (except in traffic).
- Don’t take the drive-through, park the car and walk inside.
- Service your vehicle regularly to keep emission control systems operating at peak efficiency. Check air filter monthly, and keep tires adequately inflated to maximize gas mileage.
- Avoid short airplane trips—take a bus or train instead.
Adopt energy-savings habits:
- Use a programmable thermostat for your home's heating and cooling system. Keep thermostat relatively low in winter and higher for air conditioning in summer. Clean or replace dirty air filters as recommended to keep the heater or air conditioner operating at peak efficiency.
- Unplug your electronics when not in use. To make it easier, use a power strip. Even when turned off, items like your television, computer, and cell phone charger still sip power.
- Turn off lights when leaving a room.
- Dry your clothes outside whenever possible.
- Make minimal use of power equipment when landscaping.
- Defrost your refrigerator and freezer regularly (most are automatic).
- Choose clean, renewable ("green") electricity, such as wind or solar generated electricity.
Add energy-saving features to your home:
- Replace burned-out bulbs with energy-efficient light-bulbs like CFLs or LEDs. Install energy-efficient bulbs in all your home light fixtures.
- Install motion sensor switches for lighting.
- Insulate and seal up drafts in your home. Insulate walls and ceilings, and consider double-pane windows. Eliminate drafts with caulk, weather strips, tape and foam products, and storm windows and doors (air-sealing). Do it yourself or hire a contractor.
- Insulate your water heater and hot water pipes. Consider tank-less water heaters, which heat water only as you use it (check if cost effective).
PECO energy education: http://www.exeloncorp.com/ourcompanies/peco/pecores/energy_education/*
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) Climate Change Initiatives and Regional Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Forecast: 
The carbon footprint, or Personal Emissions, is an indicator of the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. The carbon footprint of an individual is defined as the amount of equivalent carbon dioxide emitted due to a person's lifestyle, including emissions due to goods and services consumed by the individual. Find your carbon footprint at