Need help finding energy savings in your home? Step into the House of Savings and reduce your energy bill.

The House of Savings is a new interactive feature on Chelan County PUD’s Conservation Web page. Place your mouse over a feature in the house and a pop-up box provides tips on saving energy and money. Hover over the thermostat, for example, and you’ll learn that for every degree you set your thermostat lower (or higher for summer cooling) you can reduce your power bill by 2 percent. The items also contain links to related information.

The house is a collaborative effort of  technology, graphics and conservation staff at the PUD. Come on in!

Replacing your old refrigerator with a new, energy-efficient model can save money on electric bills. But what to do with the old fridge?

Most appliance stores will take away your old refrigerator for free when they deliver a new one purchased from their store. Some also will “decommission” old refrigerators for customers, but for a fee. John Schons, appliance technician at Sav-Mart in Wenatchee, said the refrigerant and compressor oil are removed by technicians and recycled, and the refrigerator is hauled away to a scrap metal dealer.

For $20, Vic’s Fix-it Shop in East Wenatchee will pick up your old refrigerator, refurbish it, and re-sell it. Shop co-owner Jessie Blair says they won’t take refrigerators that are yellow, green or have rounded corners – the telltale signs of advanced age. Those are destined for the scrap heap or the dump, er, transfer station (see below).

Chelan County’s Dryden Transfer Station accepts refrigerators and other appliances. For an appliance that contains or once contained Freon the charge is $17. The transfer station is located one mile east of the Big Y (Highway 2 and 97) intersection. The turnoff can only be accessed by traffic heading east.

The Department of Energy’s ENERGY STAR Recycle My Old Fridge Campaign sponsors a contest for the best cool works of art made from old refrigerators. Click here to see photos from the art exhibition held in August in Washington, D.C.

By the way: Modern refrigerators usually use a refrigerant called HFC-134a which, unlike Freon, has no ozone-layer depleting properties.

Tip: You can calculate how much you’d save in energy costs if you replaced your refrigerator here. When the calculator asks what you pay for electricity, type in 0.029 (a bargain-basement 2.9 cents per kilowatt hour).