Other Answers (12)

• In the winter, dress in layers, lower your themostat, snuggle up to your spouse/significant other, read books (don%26#039;t watch tv).
  
  In the summer keep your windows open for the breeze, drink cold liquids to keep your core cool...
  
  All pretty simple and pretty cheap...
• Turn off the lights when you leave a room, and get halogen light bulbs instead of the regular ones....
• Live in a building with others occupying space on all sides, above and below. Even allowing for one window wall facing the south will not hurt.
  
  Use venetian blinds that you close at night in heating season, and during the Day in cooling season.
  
  You will accomplish more with that window wall if you have a concrete shell around your apartment.
  
  If you have a black pipe exposed to the sun in that window wall, you can have warm water at minimal extra cost, no energy. Ideally it will be outside of the venetian blind... but pouting it there means it must be frost tolerant.
  
  Go to triple glazing on the window wall to both cut heat loss and provide some frost protection for your solar water heater.
  
  Now solar electric panels will lower your energy consumption, but for the next few years may not cut your costs.
  
  By keeping your decor light coloured, and cutting back on lighting, lighting with curly fluorescent tubes, not incandescent nor halogen.
  
  Use a switch or unplug to turn off devices that continue to use power when not in use.
  
  Do not heat above 18C nor cool below 30C.
  If outside temperature is below 30C, use ventilation instead of air conditioning.
  
  Wear warm clothes in winter to be comfortable with less heating,
  
  If you have a detached home, insulate the top of the soil round the basement with SM insulation covered with stone, to prevent having the basement walls so cold below soil level. (The traditional practise of leaving basement walls uninsulated below the soil line to protect them from being broken by freezing soil outside them should still be observed. We want to cut heat loss from the soil, not destroy the basement walls.)
  
  Heavy insulation in roof crawl spaces, yes, but also ventilate the crawl space to avoid buildup of heat that will soak into the house and destroy asphalt roofing.
  
  If you were building a new house, build to a standard like R2000 or better.
  Consider a solar electric roof... it can provide you with not only the electricity you use, but also all the heat you need.
  
  Consider geothermal heat pumps, or solar-assisted heat pumps for heating. Geothermal heat pumping if you also need cooling.
  
  Dispense with a deep freeze, use dehydration instead. During summer move the fridge out of cooled areas or use the condensing coils to preheat water. In the heating season leave the fridge indoors.
  
  Instead of using a clothes dryer, best hang clothes out of doors, One caution, however, in strong wind clothes can beat themselves to death if left beyond the point of being nearly dry
  
  second best hang them in a closet with a dehumidifier running.
  
  
  Use a clothes washer that spins at high speed to minimize energy needed to dry clothes, and is a front load to minimize the amount of heated water needed. (or use cold water washing).
  
  Prewash your dishes in cold water.
  
  Drive no car... or at worst drive a car that can travel a mega-metre with no more than 60 litres of fuel. Drive far fewer kms, and keep your km/h to the optimum for the vehicle (often around 90).
• Here%26#039;s what I do: change furnace filters monthly, have AC/furnace preventive maintenace annually, caulk cracks around windows and doors, keep thermostat at 70 deg F in winter and 78 deg F in summer, plant trees on sunny side of house to provide shade, consider new AC/furnace system if more than 12 years old.