. One of the reason is environmental awareness is rising in industrialized countries: people are getting more and more conscious about the limited resources of energy, and their ways of living. The other, more pragmatic reason is the cost of energy that has been rising steadily over the decade.
Energy efficiency means that energy is not wasted unnecessarily, and used energy is exploited as well as possible. There are many easy ways to save energy and be more energy efficient without compromising of ones living comfort.
Good starting point is to check the electrical equipments used in household. The target should be that all electrical appliances of the household are energy efficient appliances marked with energy level A. This is maybe the simplest way to save energy: there is no need to do anything else than compare the energy consumption of appliances when purchasing them at a hardware store (in Finnish: rautakauppa).
The second simple thing is to turn off appliances when they are not in use. The home movie theater or all other entertainment equipments can be fitted behind extension cords that have on/off button in them: this makes easy to switch all equipments off at the same time. This advise includes computer peripherals as well. At least turn off the computer screen when not using the computer: the screen saver will not save electricity. Use also power saving settings when possible: at least most of the laptops have this possibility built-in.
Third advice is to replace incandescent light bulbs used with energy efficient bulbs. There are various styles and types of energy efficient bulbs available, even those that look like old incandescent light bulbs. Of course one simple way to be more energy efficient is to turn off the lights immediately after use.
Last one of the simple ways for being energy efficiency is related to the water consumption. Repair leaky faucets and plumbing fixtures as soon as possible, and do not drain water in vain. This is even more important with the hot water, as heating hot water takes heating energy.
There are many places where more information about energy efficient can be found. The good searching terms are, among energy efficiency, home energy use and household electricity consumption.