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Visit www. energysavers.gov for instructions on checking your insulation levels.

Check for holes or cracks around your walls, ceilings, windows, doors, light and plumbing fixtures, switches and electrical outlets that can leak air into or out of your home.

Check for open fireplace dampers.

Make sure your appliances and heating and cooling systems are properly maintained. Check your owner’s manual for recommended maintenance.

Study your family’s lighting needs and use patterns, paying attention to high-use areas such as the living room, kitchen and outside lighting. Look for ways to use lighting controls like occupancy sensors, dimmers or timers to reduce lighting energy use. Replace standard (incandescent) light bulbs and fixtures with compact or standard fluorescent lamps. Turn lights off when not needed.

Check for air leaks around windows and doors. Weatherstripping installed around drafty windows and doors can be helpful in reducing energy costs.

There are some easy low-cost and no-cost ways that you can utilize to save energy. Try these tips for some immediate relief with your home energy consumption:

n Install a programmable thermostat to keep your house comfortably warm in the winter and comfortably cool in the summer. When you will be away from the house eight or more hours, lower the thermostat setting in the winter and raise it in the summer.

n Change air filters on a regular basis. The three-month pleated filters do a good job. Date them when you change them and switch them out on the appointed date.

n Don’t block air vents.

n Use compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs with the ENERGY STAR® label. There are various shapes and sizes to meet different lighting needs. There is a candle shape for chandeliers; covered A-shaped for open-type fixtures and ceiling fans; indoor reflectors for some ceiling fans, recessed cans and track lighting; tubes and spirals for other uses.

Make these new bulbs last longer by seasoning them by leaving them on for at least four hours during the first use. You can save about 75 percent of your lighting cost by switching to CFL bulbs.

Should you break one of the CFL bulbs, take special precautions when cleaning them up, as they have mercury in them. Leave the room for 10 minutes after the break. Use tape to get up what you can; do not use the vacuum cleaner — if you do, you should discard that bag and the next several that are used in the vacuum cleaner.

— Air dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher’s drying cycle.

— Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.

— Plug home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips; turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use (TVs and DVDs in standby mode still use several watts of power.)

— Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120 degrees.

— Install a water heater jacket or blanket to reflect heat back into the water heater. Wrap hot water pipes.

— Take short showers instead of baths. A 10-minute shower is best.

— Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.

— Vacuum refrigerator and freezer coils periodically and remove frost from freezers.

— Warm air rises, so use ceiling fans for circulation and reverse fan direction seasonally.

— Leave south facing window coverings open in winter and closed in summer.