A recent story in the Business section about energy efficient homes brought a request from Marvin Woll of Raleigh, who thought it would be nice if people would share their energy-saving ideas. As Mr. Woll pointed out, with gas nearing $4 and the price of everything else increasing, such tips could help cut utility bills as we head into warm months.

To get us started, he offered his own story, "How We Spent $20 and Saved $360 and Also Helped the Environment":

Here is a description of a simple technique that reduces the amount of electricity we use. It works best in the spring, summer and fall.

Your first step is to purchase a 20-inch box fan. Then either late at night or early in the morning, turn on the Weather Channel or your computer and check the outside temperature. If the temperature is 70 degrees or lower, put the fan in the window, turn it to the high setting and either push or pull air through the house. If possible, let the fan run for an hour. You will notice your thermostat fall by four or five degrees. It only takes a minute to glance at the outside temperature and put the fan in the window.

When we do this, our main air conditioning unit does not come on until three or four in the afternoon instead of 10 or 11 in the morning. Our house is 1,900 square feet. This technique reduces our electric bill by $60 per month, and we do this six months during the year.

This fan procedure has certainly saved us a lot of money. The money you save is your own! The environment we save is our own!