6 Ways to Reduce Your Household Energy Use
There are many ways to reduce your household energy use. In fact, there are changes that you can make in just about every area of your home to conserve energy and reduce your electricity bill. Chief among them is finding the right energy provider. Check out the electricity saving tips below.
Reduce Your Household Energy Use
1. Change Daily Habits
One of the daily habits that you can change in your home to conserve energy is making sure you turn off lights when you leave a room. There is an inaccurate belief that it’s better to keep the lights on instead of turning them off temporarily. Simply put, it’s always best to turn the lights off when you leave a room. Another habit is keeping items in the refrigerator that should be tossed. This reduces the efficiency of your refrigerator by causing greater use of energy. In addition to these tricks, you can save electricity by finding the most cost-effective electricity rate and plan. If you live in Texas, you can compare Texas electricity providers and choose the one that is most affordable for your family.
2. Install a Smart Thermostat
Having a smart thermostat is beneficial in many ways. For starters, you can reduce the amount of energy that’s consumed throughout the year, especially during the summer and winter. This is partly because smart thermostats are programmable and enable you to ensure air or heat automatically turns off during certain times of the day. For instance, can set it to turn off when you’re at work all day. A smart thermostat will also detect when your air filters need to be replaced or when there are other issues that might result in an inefficient HVAC system.
3. Buy Energy Efficient Appliances
When you’re in the market for appliances, you’ll want to choose energy efficient options. A good percentage of your energy bill comes from the use of appliances. This is another area where looking for the ENERGY STAR label can help you make the right decision. This includes washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ovens and smaller cooking appliances. If you choose a washing machine that’s ENERGY STAR certified, you’ll use approximately 25% less energy than you would with other options. This is one of the electricity saving tips that can result in tremendous savings.
4. Weatherize Your Home
One of the most common ways in which homeowners conserve energy by weatherizing each room. It enables you to close leaks and cracks that might exist in vents, door frames, windows and walls. These also happen to be the areas where energy is most often wasted in a home. Another great option for optimizing energy efficiency is making sure you have the right windows installed in your home. Double-pane windows will support your energy conservation goals throughout the year.
Depending on where you live, there might be other options for boosting energy efficiency in your home, such as installing the right type of storm windows. Windows that are ENERGY STAR approved are generally the best choice. When it comes to windows, you should also make sure you choose the right blinds and screens for additional insulation.
5. Cook Outdoors During Summer Months
If you’re not someone that spends time outdoors in the summer on the barbecue grill, you might want to give it a try. This provides a tremendous opportunity to conserve energy because you won’t be inside running the air conditioner. You also won’t have the stove or oven in the kitchen cooking food that ends up making it even hotter in your home and requiring a further draw on electricity.
6. Ensure HVAC Preventative Maintenance
Preventative maintenance is critical when it comes to your HVAC system. This includes ventilation, air conditioning and heating equipment. Without preventative maintenance, there’s a greater chance that your system will be inefficient. Whether it’s a need to replace air filters or different parts in the system, these are all the changes that can be made by a skilled technician. This will also ensure that air flows through the vents of your home the way it should so that your family is comfortable, while also conserving energy.
Beyond making sure you have the right energy provider, you can’t go wrong when it comes to implementing these electricity saving tips to reduce your household energy use.
