Saving Energy And Money
Our household energy bill, the combination of the electric and gas bills
, is by far the principal bill in our lives. The mortgage may cost more, but at least you end up with a property, the money spent paying the combined energy bill just goes up in smoke.
However, could you imagine a life without energy? It would mean going back a hundred years to when the standard household had neither gas nor electricity. If you can cut down on your energy use and thus your energy bill, it could create some enormous savings.
Just about half of our energy bill is made up of using our heating and cooling systems. Therefore, this is the place to begin making your savings. The first thing to do is make sure you get value for your money by allowing the heating and cooling systems to provide value for money.
Therefore, clean your blower's filters at least once a month, so that it does not have to work too hard blowing air through the filter. Inspect your radiators or grilles at least twice a year too.
Make sure that they are not thick with dust or even blocked. Grilles should be thoroughly cleaned and vacuumed. Radiators should be washed and bled of air. Make sure that the heat from your radiators is not going up behind the curtain just to keep the window warm. Do not stand furnishings in front of radiators or over under floor heating grilles.
Inspect the settings on your thermostats. Aim to make do with one degree less of heating and let your room warm up one degree when cooling. I assure you, you will not notice the change on your skin, but you will in your wallet. Wear a cardigan in the winter and a thinner shirt in the summer.
If you use ventilation fans in the bathroom and kitchen, do not leave them running unnecessarily. Twenty minutes after you have stopped cooking or bathing is more than enough.
If you are still using incandescent light bulbs, change them for long-life, low-energy fluorescent tubes. Switch incandescents off when you go out of the room, but fluorescent tubes cost more to switch on than they do to leave running, within reason. This tip can save you a lot of money every year.
Work by a window, if you are able to. Draw the curtains fully and draw the nets too in order to get the greatest amount of energy-saving, free daylight.
Turn equipment off at the mains and unplug them when not in use. Stand-by uses more electricity than just keeping that little red light on, much more. The same with battery chargers. Phone battery chargers consume energy even when there is no battery in the charger.
Doing the washing is an area for significant savings, particularly if you use the washing machine every day. Use a cold water powder and you will save a fortune on heating up the water - as much as 90% of the laundry costs. Always wash with full loads or reduce the amount of water to suit the amount of washing.
When you go to the fridge, close the door immediately. Do not hold it open while you are drinking or talking, this goes twice over for the freezer. Check the doors' gaskets for leaks or cracks. If ants have got in, air has got out. Try to keep your fridge/freezer full, it works out cheaper than keeping litres and litres of air cold.
Insulate your house appropriately. Insulate the doors and windows to stop draughts, but most of all, insulate the loft. It produces the biggest bang per buck in household energy saving. If you have a basement or a cavity floor, take care to plug draughts in that too by laying newspapers under your carpets.
by: Owen Jones
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