With the growing focus on green living, and rising energy costs, it’s becoming more and more important to conserve electricity as much as possible. This will not only shrink the size of a family’s carbon foot print, it will save money as well. The following steps will help you to conserve electricity:
1. Turn off the lights when leaving a room. If the lights in your home have dimmer switches, dim the lights as low as possible. Also, turn the artificial lights off during the day, and allow the sunlight to light your space.
2. Use home appliances in an efficient way to conserve electricity. For example, do not leave the refrigerator door open while you are making a sandwich or snack, as it takes more electricity when the refrigerator has to run the fan to cool the refrigerator back down; abstain from opening the oven door unnecessarily, because the oven will have to use more energy to heat the oven back to the desired temperature; only run the dishwasher when it is completely full; adjust the load size on the washing machine for smaller loads and always clean the dryer lint trap before putting a load of clothes in to dry.
3. Keep the thermostat set at a reasonable temperature. Set it an appropriate level to be comfortable, but don’t run the furnace or air conditioner exceedingly. Also, programmable thermostats can be set for warmer temperatures in the summer or cooler temperatures in the winter when there is nobody home. Simply program the temperature to reach your desired level thirty minutes or so before you get home.
4. Unplug appliances when they are not in use. This can be made even easier with the use of a multiple outlet power strip, because it allows you to unplug only one cord instead of many cords. The reason that unplugging appliances that are not running saves so much electricity is that many appliances have lights on them that drain power whether they are turned on or not, these are often called “vampires”, because they “suck” energy. Additionally, unplug any chargers that are not being used, as they still use energy even if they aren’t actively charging something.
These are some simple and easy ways to lower your energy consumption and your energy bills.
