Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Reducing Energy Costs (Consumer Reports Complete Guide To...)

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This is an excellent and complete overview to the improvements you can make in your home to make it more comfortable and more energy efficient. By following it's advice, you can improve your efficiency by up to 30% - depending on the age and condition your home is - I've personally experienced 27% savings on a 2800 sq ft home built in 1989. This has been a hobby and passion of mine for over a year, I've used various resources on the Internet. This one book covers all the topics I've discovered elsewhere, educates the issues well, instructs how to make the efficiency changes based on expert experience, all in a layman's language that's easy to understand and follow. I wish they would have published it a year ago - would have saved me significant amount of time that I've spent researching and learning the hard way.

This is a great comprehensive guide. But if you're already energy conscious, there's not much new in this publication. For the general homeowner, it's definitely a must-have. Here are the most significant facts: new window replacements don't usually pay for themselves; CFL bulbs save a ton of energy and reduce carbon emissions at a low cost; front load washers save water but not much energy; your home loses energy through electrical outlets and switches; central cooling and heating is most efficient (don't use space heaters); and upgrading your central a/c and heater may be economical.

Good, clear info and suggestions.

Easy to read and follow. Even the pictures are clear and informative.

Found this much easier to follow and use than The Home Energy Diet: How to Save Money by Making Your House Energy-Smart (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series).

This book covers the basics of what consumers need to know to reduce their utility bills and reduce their consumption of Greenhouse Gases. The one section that is outdated refers to heating your house using cord wood. Please do not cut down trees and burn them to heat your house! Trees are the one carbon-capture technology that actually exists, everything else is smoke-and-mirrors. We need trees to help clean up the mess we are making of the environment!