The need for energy efficiency at home is a hot topic in the world today. Not only are we facing the environmental impacts of our excessive energy consumption, but people are beginning to feel the pinch in their wallets and are naturally looking for ways to save home energy and money.

Here are 20 Saving Energy Ideas for your home that are well worth knowing:

Adjust your thermostat settings for energy savings based on the time of year.

1. During the summer months, raise your thermostat up to 78 degrees. If you're going outside or away from your home for more than four hours, consider raising it 5 to 10 degrees or more.

2. During the winter months, lower your thermostat settings during the day to between 65 and 70 degrees. At night or when you're away from home for several hours, set your thermostat to 58 degrees.

3. If your house has a heat pump, avoid running the emergency heat by increasing the temperature slowly.

4. Finally, consider installing a programmable heating thermostat that allows you to automatically adjust or program your thermostat settings throughout the day.

Lower your hot water heater settings to the optimal temperature range of 120-125 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Position your washing machine near your hot water heater because water loses heat as it flows through the pipes.

6. Additional saving energy ideas would include insulating the water pipes coming from your hot water heater, and wrapping your heater with an insulating blanket for water heaters. This last energy-saving tip is especially important if your hot water heater is in an unheated area of your home.

• Minimize water usage in everyday tasks.

7. Avoid letting the water run while brushing your teeth or shaving. This is a bad habit most people need to break, but it would be well worth the effort.

8. Start taking showers instead of baths to save water. Go a step further and save more home heat energy by using cooler water.

9. Install low-flow faucets and shower heads. They are inexpensive, easy to install, and are great at reducing energy and hot water use.

10. Always try to wash a full load of clothes, and remember to properly adjust the water level for smaller loads.

11. Collect rainwater in a bucket or rain barrel and then use it to water your plants.

• Make fixing leaky faucets a top priority.

12. A faucet that drips once every second wastes 2,000 gallons of water in a single year. Add to that the amount of home heat energy wasted if the leak is a hot water leak, and you are literally throwing your money down the drain.

• Maximize your energy light savings with saving energy bulbs and advanced lighting controls.

13. Replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent compact bulbs. They use up to 75 percent less electricity.

14. Use solar-powered accent lighting in your garden and along pathways.

15. Install low energy LED light bulbs and night lights that come with photo sensors in bathrooms, bedrooms and hallways. The photo sensors will keep the lights turned off during the day.

16. Consider installing timers and dimmer switches to increase energy light savings. Be sure to use energy saving dimmable light bulbs with dimmer switches.

17. When possible, rather than lighting a whole room, introduce task lighting and focus light only where it's needed.

18. In areas, where bright light is not always necessary or desirable, control lighting levels with three-way lamps. Remember to use three-way light bulbs for this purpose.

19. Use low energy LED light bulbs for holiday lighting.

20. A few more saving energy ideas to help reduce your utility bill include turning the lights off when you leave a room and cleaning your light bulbs regularly.

You could easily experience noticeable energy money savings in the near future by just simply putting these saving energy ideas and tips into practice starting today.