There’s an excellent article – called “Energy Wasters in Your Home” – that just appeared on Yahoo Finance on the Internet the other day. It was written by ENERGY STAR spokesperson Maria Vargas, who provides some very interesting data as well as excellent tips on how to reduce household energy consumption. She states that the average American household spends $2,200 on energy. That’s a lot of money!

Her good news, however, is that this amount can be cut by a third by doing some simple energy-saving things in the home. Like changing or cleaning furnace air filters, lowering the temperature on the water heater, using a programmable thermostat and switching to those new compact fluorescent light bulbs. There are a lot more tips in the article. Definitely worth taking a few minutes to read.

One thing the writer points out that many may find surprising is that heating and cooling costs typically account for 46% of a home’s electric bill. Heating and cooling are obviously areas that need to be addressed – and she does so in the article. The one thing she might have mentioned, however, is that one of the biggest “energy wasters” in the home happens to be inefficient windows. Nothing contributes more to that furnace running so often in cold weather than inefficient windows. The same goes for the AC running constantly in warm weather.

The $1,500 tax credit for purchasing highly efficient windows is about to end, but energy savings certainly won’t -- if homeowners take action and do something about their windows that are the cause for those high heating and cooling bills.

To see the article, “Energy Wasters in Your Home,” visit http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111560/energy-wasters-in-your-home