6 Winter Energy Saving Tips You Should Know

According to the EPA, nearly half of a family's yearly energy costs are spent on heating and cooling their home. Many parts of the country are currently reaching for the thermostat and cranking up the heat. The costs associated with chilly weather can skyrocket if you aren't careful. This winter you can be simultaneously kind to your bank account, AC and heating system and the environment by practicing a few of our favorite free or inexpensive wintertime energy-saving techniques.

Invest in a programmable thermostat.

When it comes to energy efficiency, upgrading from your old mercury thermostat to a programmable one can save you the big bucks. When properly used, a newer programmable thermostat is capable of easily saving you anywhere from 10-30% on your energy bill. If you already have one or plan on installing one, have it set your home's temperature 10-15 degrees cooler when you're not at home than when you are for serious savings.

Seal any leaks.

If you're already aware of any cracks or gaps, caulk or seal them to prevent cold air from seeping in and warm air escaping out. Common places to find air leaks within your home are along doors, windows, in attics and where plumbing, electrical wiring and anything else come through the wall. For obvious reasons, caulk isn't the best choice to seal certain parts of doors and windows. To keep warm air in without trapping yourself inside, apply weather stripping to the parts of your home that need to open and close.

Close off empty or unused rooms.

If nobody's staying in your guest room this winter then don't waste money on keeping it comfortable. Close the vents to unused rooms so that warm air from your heater doesn't go to waste. Keep the windows and doors of the rooms closed as well.

Let the sunshine in!

During the day let the sunlight help in warming your home. Draw back the curtains and blinds when the sun is shining and close them at night to help insulate the room.

Keep your windows and doors closed as much as possible.

Warm air will quickly escape through an open door or window. Don't leave your door ajar when bringing groceries in from the car or hanging Christmas lights. If you can minimize your trips out into the cold, that'll definitely help. If you can't, just don't leave anything open longer than necessary.

Keep your fireplace damper closed.

In fact, unless you want more from your fireplace than the aesthetically pleasing glow and crackle, it's best that you don't use it at all. Fireplaces, by design, draw whatever warm air is in the room up and out of the chimney to stay alight. If you're running your heater and the fireplace at the same time your AC unit will have to work overtime and you'll probably still have trouble maintaining a toasty temperature.

If you're like us and don't want to see your money carried away with the winter winds, be sure to take these energy-saving precautions. For little to no cost you can reduce your energy consumption and save the environment, your wallet and your heating system any undue stress.

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Is Your Church Social? Part 18 - Podcasts - Why Should Your Church Podcast?

In my last article we looked at what a podcast is, basically a pre-recorded, online, radio show that is distributed via RSS to all those who subscribe to the feed. OK, so it may sound like a neat concept. I've always wanted to do a radio show, but is this really for churches? Should your church podcast and, if so, why?

Church Resource Podcasting

Podcast For Your Members:

If your church is like my church, you never have perfect attendance from all your church members, except maybe on Christmas and Easter. Sure some members are just lazy or not all that interested, but some, if not most, miss church for legitimate reasons. Maybe they are sick. Maybe they had a family emergency. Maybe they're traveling. Your church also probably has some members physically unable to make it to church each week. For those who are interested, they may very well wish they could have been there and would love to be able to participate in the service or at least listen to the sermon. Podcasting will let them.

Not Just Sermons:

Podcasting can also give you a way to engage your congregation. Sermon podcasting is a great place to start, but you can go beyond sermons to short bible lessons, announcements, a youth group podcast, and others. Podcasting can help make church a 7 day a week activity instead of just a Sunday and possibly Wednesday activity.

Podcast For Your Church's Budget:

You may already provide CD's of sermons for people who miss the service. That's great, but I'd suggest that podcasting has three great advantages over CD's.

1.Podcasts are accessible from anywhere as long as you have a computer and an Internet connection. If a member is traveling, they don't have to wait to listen to the podcast. This is especially nice because usually people have time and would love to listen to something while traveling.

2.Podcasts are free. How much does your church spend on CD's? Now imagine if you can get 25% of the people who get CD's to start using the podcasts instead. That could save your church a couple hundred dollars over a year.

3.Podcasts are quick. If you reproduce CD's, it probably takes a significant amount of time. For most churches each CD burned takes from 2-5 minutes. If you burn 100 CD's, that will take 3-9 hours just for the reproducing. With podcasting you just make a digital copy on your computer and upload it for the podcast. Not including any editing time (which you would have to do for a CD as well) you could be done in a just a couple minutes instead of a couple hours.

Church Marketing Podcasting

Podcast For Other Christians:

Many Christians are looking for additional resources for their spiritual walk. I mentioned in my last post that iTunes allows churches to post their podcasts on iTunes for free. This makes your podcast accessible to anyone, including Christians who do not attend your church. By making your sermons and other podcasts available to everyone, these non-member Christians will be able to listen to your podcasts as part of their daily walk with the Lord. These people may just walk through your church doors one day.

Podcast for Non-Christians:

There are people all over the world going through struggles, searching for an answer. You have that answer. Podcasting on sites like iTunes can let your church minister to these people. You can do this with sermons that deal with specific issue, Bible lessons about certain topics, or Q and A podcasts addressing various questions people may have. Podcasting about coping with marriage issues or addictions can a good way to reach out to the non-believing world desperately wanting answers and help. Podcasting about pop issues and subjects is another way to reach people. Some people aren't looking for help, but are looking for information and opinions about various current events and people.

Help Them Find You:

If you want non-church members to find your podcasts, the first thing you need to do is make your podcast available online through various sources. The two key places you should make your podcast available is your church website and iTunes. Facebook is another good place where your members can let people know about recent podcasts. The second thing you need to do is use titles and descriptions which include words and phrases people search for. That may mean that you need to "de-christianize" the title of a sermon to use words and phrases used by the rest of the world. Regardless, the key is to think about the words and phrases people may use to search about the topic of the podcast and then incorporate those words and phrases into the title. You should also use your Church's name as the author/artist. That way people will see your church's name and, if/when they decide to visit, they will know where to go.

Podcasting can be a great outreach and/or inreach tool for the church. The average American has an 80 minute commute. They want something to help pass the time. Podcasting can also help keep people company (listening to someone speak to them) and start to build a relationship. If you listen to talk radio, as I do, after a while you start to feel as though you know the people you listen to. By podcasting, people can start to form a relationship with your church. That may lead to some of those people visiting and joining your church. Even if they never step foot in your church, you may still have a life changing impact on their lives for Christ. And isn't that what we are trying to do?

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