If you've looked at your utility bills lately, you've probably wondered two things: First, if global warming is so awful, what's so bad about lower heating bills, less demand for foreign oil, and longer growing seasons?

Second, where on earth you can live for less -- with comfy heating and Arctic-like air conditioning, of course.

It turns out that our country is doing pretty well, on average. A recent report surveyed energy costs around the world and the U.S. came in 14th with an average cost of $1,291 per year to heat and cool a house.

Conducted by Runzheimer International, the survey placed Tokyo and Hong Kong as the most expensive places to cool and heat in the world.

The average annual heating/cooling cost for a three-bedroom dwelling in Tokyo is $6,000 with Hong Kong coming in second at $4,600 per year. Runzheimer analyzed annual utility costs for a 3-bedroom dwelling based on the most popular energy sources (oil, gas, electricity) in the respective locations for heating, cooling, cooking, lights, and water.

The highest energy cost locations were ranked like this:

1. - Tokyo, Japan $5,896
2. - Hong Kong $4,654
3. - Mexico City, Mexico $4,521
4. - Paris, France $4,247
5. - Quito, Ecuador $4,205
6. - Caracas, Venezuela $3,014
7. - Amsterdam, Netherlands $2,963
8. - Oslo, Norway $2,626
9. - Toronto, Canada $2,374
10. - Jakarta, Indonesia $2,344
11. - London, England $2,129
12. - Manama, Bahrain $1,809
13. - Sydney, Australia $1,486
14. - Standard City, USA $1,291
15. - Cairo, Egypt $970

While $1,291 sounds pretty affordable, it's obviously not the same for everybody. That's where Energy.gov comes in handy.

At this site, the official online center for the U.S. Department of Energy, there's a ton of information regarding how to make your home more energy efficient and save hundreds of dollars per year.

One of the best spots on the site is in its Home Energy Saver, a place where homeowners can compare typical energy bills for your ZIP code with the savings which might be available with greater efficiency. Once you get general numbers, you can then program the system for your home.

I found out my Washington, D.C. area house is actually above average, but not necessarily in a good way. The average Northern Virginia annual utility cost runs around $1,500 -- a couple hundred dollars more than the nationwide average.

For my particular house, my energy consumption is even worse -- almost $2,000 per year. At first glance, I figured this had to be a wrong calculation from another online calculator put together by some bean counter who knows nothing about where I live and therefore nothing about my energy costs. What's scary is that it's right on target with my average monthly outgo for my monthly home energy cost -- about $165 per month.

The energy-cutting tips offered on the site are sensible, and many of them are either low- or no-cost to implement. So check it out, saving energy is good for the checkbook -- and the country.

For more articles by M. Anthony Carr, please press here.

Published: December 28, 2001

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Mr. Carr is an award-winning real estate broker in Northern Virginia and authored "Real Estate Investing Made Simple: a commonsense approach to building wealth." He also contributed to Donald Trump’s book, "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received," and is an active trainer and coach of top producers in the Washington DC market. As a sought-after expert on real estate, Mr. Carr has been featured on CNN, various broadcast outlets and was the former real estate editor for The Washington Times. He accepts questions at his blog www.RealEstateOlogy.org.