Kennebec House Energy Sense

Energy Sense

Residents of Kennebec House (KH) at both 806 and 808 Kennebec Avenue pay for heating, cooling, cooking, lighting, and other uses within their units through their utility bills. This page is intended to show you how you can reduce your utility bills. Using less electricity and less gas also helps to preserve our natural environment.

806 Kennebec units use gas heating and electric cooling.
808 Kennebec units are all electric. They have heat pumps for both heating and cooling.
All units are high efficiency - meaning lower resident utility bills.

Thermostats
Setting your thermostat carefully can save you 25% on your utility bills. Most units have timed thermostats, which allow you to preprogram comfortable temperature settings for when you are there and up and allow greater savings overnight or when you are away.

Summer cooling
1. Keeping set temperatures relatively high 78º to 80º F for greatest savings.
2. If you plan to be away at certain times of the day, such as 8-5 Monday through Friday, program the thermostat for a higher temperature (85º F) for 7 AM to 4 PM, recognizing that the apartment temperature lags the set temperature.

Winter heating
1. To prevent freeze-ups always keep the thermostat set to "Heat", during the cold months.
2. Set temperatures relatively low (67º to 69º F) for greatest savings.
3. If you plan to be away at certain times of the day, such as 8-5
Monday through Friday, program the thermostat for a lower temperature
(63º F) for 7 AM to 4 PM, recognizing that the apartment temperature
lags the set temperature.
5. You can also set back the temperature at night to 65ºF.

Windows and Screens
To keep both cooling and heating as low as possible keep all windows and doors closed during the heating and cooling seasons. If you have storm door inserts, use them during the winter months. When its neither too hot or too cold, opening windows brings in fresh air and may allow you to save by not running your air conditioner.

Lighting
KH provide energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). These save 75% of the electricity of regular bulbs and last about 10 times as long. Please replace these lamps with new CFLs when they burn out.

Refrigerator
Keep all coils beneath or behind the refrigerator clean to allow the refrigerator to expel its heat without drawing too much electricity. .

Range
Avoid using range elements that are bigger than the pan or pot. Don't preheat the oven more than needed.

Energy sense for other buildings
Conservation Engineering can help any building owner or manager conserve resources and save on utility costs.