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Are Your Electric Bills Too Much? Here Are Our Top 5 Power Saving Tips!
Life is a hassle nowadays, and everybody is trying to save as much money as they can. One source of expenses (and quite a large one) is your power usage – without knowing, we waste a ton of electricity every day that could be spared, reducing your power bill quite a bit. According to U.S. Department of Energy, more than half of your power use goes into heating and cooling,
so let us take a look at that first.
Tip Number 1: Install a Digital Thermostat
If you don’t have one, chances are your heating/cooling is running at full power even when you’re not there, wasting precious energy to keep the walls comfortable. A digital thermostat that comes with a programming setting can be set to warm up/cool down your quarters only when you know you will be there, turning off your appliances when you are at work or some other regular engagement. This alone can save up to 10% on your electricity bill annually! Digital thermostats are also easier to set in case you feel that the heating or cooling is doing too good of a job, further saving you some extra money.
Tip Number 2: Water Heater. Is It Insulated?
Chances are, it’s not. Your water heater must keep the water temperature inside at a certain preset level. To save power, many precautions can be taken here. The first is to use less hot water – instead of taking baths, shower, always wash the dishes in one go (hot water turns cold when left in the pipes), wash your clothes with cold water when possible. All of these mean that the water heater will have less water to heat, thus using less energy. There are also two other ways to save energy with your water heater. The first is to set its thermostat to a lower lever (but not below 120 degrees Fahrenheit for health reasons), so it doesn’t heat the water more than necessary. The other is to insulate it. If you put your hand on your water heater and can feel its warmth; that means it is losing heat – and using more power to reheat what is lost. This can be prevented by simply insulating it from the outside using an insulating blanket or something similar.
Tip Number 3: Avoid Using Your Household Appliances On Hot Days
The logic behind this one is fairly simple – all your appliances like the dishwasher, clothes dryer and oven produces heat when operational. On hot days, this means that your cooling system (if you have one) will be doing a lot of extra work, eating up your money in the process. While the logic is fairly simple, it does produce a problem. There are likely to be more hot days in a row, and you still need to eat and dry your clothes in the meantime. Insulating the rooms with these appliances may also help in case you have separate thermostats for different parts of your home.
Tip Number 4: Insulate Your Household
All of the above solutions will help only a little if you have air leaks all over your home, and if all the heat goes through your walls and windows as if there was nothing there. Insulate your household to make sure it keeps warm in the cold and cool in the heat using the smallest amount of electricity possible. This precaution is a bit pricy, but well worth it long term.
Tip Number 5: Unplug Your Appliances
We have all heard this, and tried to ignore it for so long, but the truth is – unplugged appliances and other electricity abusers use up to 20% less power when unplugged than when in standby. That’s 20% more on your next electricity bill. Need I say more? We suggest using power strips with a switch – that way it is really simple to turn off all of your appliances at once when you are not using them.
Well, there you have it, cheap electricity. These top 5 energy saving tips will greatly reduce your energy costs and in turn make your life just a little bit easier.
