Conserving Electricity In The Home

What does your electric bill look like lately

? With the hot, sticky summer months rapidly approaching, chances are your total is heading up. Would it surprise you to know that there are numerous ways to reduce the amount of electricity you use, benefiting both your wallet and the environment? It's so easy you'll be kicking yourself for not doing these things sooner!

The first thing that you can do to lower your bill and conserve energy is to turn off appliances when you're not using them! This may sound simple but think about it. How many times do you walk out of a room and leave the light on? By training yourself to hit that off switch when you're moving on to something else, you can significantly reduce your energy consumption. Aside from turning appliances off, there are some that you should even go so far as to unplug. Appliances like computers, microwaves and cell phone chargers continue to suck electricity as long as they're plugged in. It is estimated that three quarters of the costs related to electronic appliances comes from when they are shut off. By either unplugging them or plugging them into a power strip, you can save significant amounts of electricity.

There are lots of other really simple day to day changes that you can make that don't require you to spend an extra cent but will really affect your electric consumption. For one, you can regulate your refrigerator's temperature. Make sure it is set to 37 degrees Fahrenheit and that your freezer is set to 3 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a big one, as refrigerators account for a whopping twenty percent of the typical household's electricity use. Other easy changes you can make include: washing your clothes on a cooler setting and only washing full loads, turning your water heater thermostat down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and using the energy saving setting on your dishwasher.

Another simple change you can make is switching out all of your incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents. With the money that you can save from this one change alone, it's astonishing that people still buy incandescent bulbs. Why do people hesitate to buy compact fluorescents? Possibly because they cost a little more than their counterparts. You should look at compact fluorescent bulbs as an investment. You may pay a few dollars extra at the outset, but they will return that investment-and more to you in the end. How is that possible? Well, for one, they use two thirds less energy than incandescent bulbs. They also can last up to ten times longer and use 70 percent less heat. More heat coming from incandescent bulbs means that you'll inevitably end up feeling the need to cool down your space, thus using more energy.

Another great electricity saving investment is purchasing Energy Star products. That little blue Energy Star label means that the appliance has met the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency's efficiency guidelines. Products with this important designation will save immense amounts of electricity, as the energy cost for the product's lifespan will be considerably less than a product that does not qualify.

Once you purchase energy saving appliances, it's really important that you maintain them. Equipment that is regularly cleaned and tuned are much more energy efficient than equipment that is not. Your machine has to work much harder to reach the same end result when it has a dirty filter as opposed to a clean one. Airflow is blocked and the machine will have to work harder to push past the blockage. So check your filters, clean the lint out of your dryer trap and vacuum the coils of your refrigerator. You can save big!

As you can see, it's really not difficult at all to conserve electricity. By being more mindful of the things you do and by making a few simple changes, you can significantly reduce the amount of electricity you use on a day to day basis without feeling like you're giving up anything. Get started today! Both the environment and your wallet will thank you for it!

by: Terry Mickelson

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