Energy conservation in the home can be much easier than in a professional setting. Because you are dealing with a much smaller number of individuals, you can more easily customize your power saving plan to fit all of your needs while preventing waste. Here are a few easy things that anyone can do to decrease the amount of power you are consuming, and the money you are spending on a month to month basis.
Look at Lighting
One of the areas of home electricity use that wastes the most power is the lighting. Not only are many homeowners used to leaving lights on while not in use, but inefficient incandescent bulbs are also extremely widespread. Check the bulbs in your home, and replace older inefficient light bulbs with modern CFL lighting. For an even larger difference, you can use LED lighting, although the initial price tag might be slightly higher. Additionally, train your household to use only as much light as is necessary for the task at hand. Leaving bright lights on all the time wastes quite a bit of power. One way to help you and your family use less energy is to install new light switches and break up the circuits containing your lighting. Rather than having one switch which controls all of the lighting for a room, you can break up the lighting on to three separate switches. This allows you to use dimmer lighting settings when appropriate while still retaining the ability to fully illuminate the room for things which require more visibility. Additionally, while automatic lighting has become popular for public and commercial settings, many homeowners have yet to adopt the technology. If you have young children who might not remember to turn off lighting, these can be a lifesaver.
Adjust your Power Use Habits
Examining what you can do to save on energy and money can also help you to succeed. For example, hanging clothes outside on a hot summer day can help you to not only save electricity, but also extend the life of your clothes dryer. Additionally, doing things like only running the dishwasher when it is completely full, or adjusting your power usage to non peak hours can save you money. Check with your electricity provider to find out if the price per kwh changes based on demand. While not true everywhere, many providers change prices based on current demand. Finally, using less air conditioning or heating can help to save tremendous amounts of power. Putting on an extra jacket before turning up the heat, or simply using fans to cool yourself can drastically decrease the electricity consumed by one of the most energy needy devices in the home. Additionally, while it may not be electrical, you can save money by doing things like decreasing your home consumption of natural gas.
Stop Silent Draining Devices
Another drain on your electrical power is the power consumed by electrical devices when they are not in use. Televisions, DVD players, and other household devices constantly draw power, even when they are powered off. Getting an electrical strip that allows you to completely sever the flow of electricity to the device when not in use is a great way to combat this. If you can get in the habit of completely stopping the flow of electricity to devices like computers and televisions when they are not in use, you can cut down on a lot of power which is giving you no tangible benefit.
Upgrade your Electrical System
If you want to save money, spending a little up front to upgrade your electrical system is a great way to do it. Homeowners often will purchase an electrical upgrade in an attempt to increase the value of their property before a sale, and kick themselves for not doing it sooner. Installing smart technology and more energy efficient devices can have instant savings for your electrical bill, and could pay for itself more quickly than you realize. On top of that, a modern electrical system increases the value of your home, so there is a lot of benefit here.
Upgrade your Home
I mentioned above that one of the biggest contributors to household electrical use is your air conditioning or heating. One great way to save money on these expenses without sacrificing quality is to help insulate your home. Adding high quality insulation and installing windows which prevent heat loss can help to make your systems get much more rapid results with less work being done. Sealing air leaks between rooms or between the interior and exterior can be done relatively quickly and cheaply. Adding surfaces and windows which better insulate can be slightly pricier, so it might be best to wait until these need changing anyways. However, when you have the chance, keep the importance of good insulation in mind.