How to Cut Down on Energy Use at Home

If you are not renting, then your electricity bill must be either at the top or second place among all your expenses. Power is something that we need, and yet the price of power keeps rising up. So, are there ways where you can really cut down on energy use and costs?

Yes, there are many things that you can do at home to cut down on your energy consumption. If you know what to do, you will be able to save money.

Conserve Energy

Energy conservation is the process of reducing power consumption. If you think about it, there are many appliances that we keep plugged in because we want them to be instantly available when we want to use them. This is understandable, especially for things like routers and modems or your laptop when you want to watch a movie or play online slots. However, you do not have to keep some appliances plugged in, like your toasters and microwave. These appliances cause what is called phantom power consumption. What this means is that they still consume energy for as long as they are plugged in.

Another way you can conserve power is by reducing your usage. For example, you can schedule your AC use to have it turn off automatically at a specific time. After all, it is still cold in the wee hours of the morning; you can turn the AC off, and your sleep will not be too disturbed.

Use Solar Power

Solar power is now easily available. There are many companies that offer solar power systems. You can buy lights that are solar-powered and then install them outside your house.

If you want to save on electrical costs, you can also install solar panels on your roof or backyard. These solar panels will absorb the heat from the sun and then convert that heat into energy. The energy is stored in batteries, which will then be the source of your power at home.

One caveat of this approach is you have to shell out a lot of money to set up the power grid for your solar panels. You have to buy the panels and batteries, then re-wire your home. You also need the specialization of an electrician.

Despite the cost, the solar panel system provides you with adequate energy that you do not have to pay for. You can still use power from your local provider at times, but you will not pay as much as before. The power you use from the panels is free as it comes from the sun.

Maintain Your Appliances

Maintaining your appliances is one of the best things you can do to save on power costs, especially for appliances that use a lot of power. Examples of these are your air conditioning system, HVAC system and thermostat. If your air conditioning system is in bad shape, it will draw much more power than it used to, and yet it will not deliver the same service commensurate to the power it used.

The same thing goes with lighting systems, exposed electrical wires, and many more. Make sure that when you buy an appliance, you read the manual and follow its recommended maintenance processes and schedule. If you do not do this, you will have appliances that suck too much power than they are supposed to. You will end up having power run through the wires and appliances, and yet this power is not converted into something that you can use—it just dissipates into the air.

Do Not Use Power If Possible

If you can avoid it, do not use power on some occasions. One of the reasons we consume too much power is that we use it even if we do not have to. For example, do you really need to turn the lights on during the day? No, you don’t. Keep your lights off and open your windows.

Another example is drying your clothes. If you live in a rural area where you have enough land or space to line dry your clothes, do it. Dryers draw a lot of power. Many of these use at least 1,800 watts of power on a single-use. If you have land, get some strings and tie them. After rinsing your clothes, just use the spin dryer to wring the clothes and then hang them under the sun to dry. You also do not have to iron all your clothes. Only press the clothes you use for going. For clothes you use at home, they should be fine even if they are wrinkled.

Use LED Lighting

The last thing you can do to save power is to use LED lights. Old light bulbs waste power. They draw too much power, but they do not convert that electricity into light. Incandescent light bulbs use a filament. This filament absorbs electricity and then becomes hot. It is the heat that produces the light. As such, it needs a lot of heat to produce light. 

LED does not work this way. The LED bulb passes electric current to a material, a diode. It is this diode that emits photons. What this means is that the energy itself is what is used to produce light.

Control is the key here. Do not keep appliances plugged if they are not in use. They still consume power for as long as they are plugged. Turn off lights, fans and AC systems if no one is using them. If at all possible, do not use devices that claim to help you save energy. Most of these are just fads. If you should ever consider it, make sure you understand how they work and that they come from a reputable manufacturer.