Walker’s wants you to save $ while being environmentally friendly.
We are pleased to offer these tips from the Government of Nova Scotia Energy Board.
All items in Red are available at Walkers – so get started today!

Replace your regular light bulbs with Energy Efficient Compact Fluorescent Bulbs. Flourescent bulbs are four times more efficient than regular incadescent lamps. Standard bulbs last about 1000 hours while compact Flourescent bulbs last about 10,000 hours (on an average on/off cycle of 3 hours).

Purchasing a 28 Watt compact Flourescent light bulb instead of a 100 Watt incadescent bulb eliminates 9 lamp replacements and cuts electricity costs by $71 over the life of the bulb.

Quality low flow heads can be purchased for under $10. If your household takes two 5-minute showers a day, you could save $100 a year! Low flow showerheads use 6-10 litres of water per mintue. Many older or low-quality showerheads use more than twice as much water and may still not provide a quality shower. To test the flow rate of your showerhead, place a 4.5 litre bucket under it. If the bucket over flows in less than 25 seconds it may be time to replace your shower head.

Turn down the Water Heater thermostat. The hotter the water is, the more it costs to heat. Reducing your water temperature from 60C (140F) to 50C (120F) can cut heating costs by 12 to 14 per cent. This also increases safety – Hot water at 60C (140F) can scald in under 10 seconds. A water temperature of 50C (120F) is more than hot enough for regular household use.

Install quality weather-stripping around exterior doors and windows.

Junk your old refrigerator! – Don’t be tempted to keep that old refrigerator as a “beer” fridge. Many old refrigerators use two to three times more energy than a comparable energy efficient model. Even if it is almost empty, your “beer” fridge can cost $100 to $200 per year to operate.

Clean and tune oil burners each year! – An annual cleaning and efficiency test is the only way to keep a modern burner and furnace in top working order.

Save with motion sensors! – Motion sensors automatically turn off lights in empty rooms. Savings will depend on how often lights are left on when they aren’t needed.

Eliminate sources of excess moisture! – Every building can cope with a certain amount of moisture before interior humidity levels become high enough to cause moisture or mould problems. Major sources of moisture that can be easily eliminated include: earth floors (cover with plastic), dryer exhaust (duct outside), stove top boiling (use pot lids and/or range hood ducted outside) and wet firewood (dry and store outside).

Dry clothes outside on a clothesline! – Most dryers cost about $0.35 per hour to operate. Clothes dried outside smell better too!

Fix leaky taps! – A hot water drip of one drop per second can cost you up to $50 a year in extra energy and water use.

Insulate under new electric hot water heaters! – Install a block of rigid insulation under every new electric water heater to reduce the amount of heat lost to the cold concrete floor.