subject: Energy Costs Skyrocketing? Save Money With These Simple Tips [print this page] It certainly isn't rocket science, but today's bulbs are incredibly more efficient than those traditional light bulbs we have seen for years now. As they burn out replace them with new energy saving bulbs, or just replace them all at once. You will save a lot of money on this one change.
It makes a lot of sense to lower the light levels. Use lower watt bulbs wherever you can. In particular this tip is good for your night time lighting. Light up your bathroom, hallway and stairways with some real low wattage night lights and you will see the savings.
Do you have a chandelier or other multiple bulb lights? Reduce the wattage of these bulbs so that when they are on you get enough light from them to see as well as you have to see. Often these are loaded up with multiple 60 or 100 watt bulbs when a 40 would do the job.
Try to get your family on board. I know that some people, lots of teens in particular, will open the refrigerator door and stand there holding it open while they look through what is there. This lets the cold air out which needs to be replaced. Get the whole family to realize this is eating up electricity. Let them know that they burn up a gallon of ice cream worth of electric every month by doing that and see if you can curb their refrigerator shopping habit.
Turning the lights off should be a no-brainer! Get everyone to think on the same page and you will go a long way toward saving money on the electric. An average American home has the lights and TV running in multiple room and some are probably unoccupied.
Motion sensors work very well to save money. When you enter a room the lights will come on because of the motion of your body entering the room. When you leave they will turn off a few minutes later. There is a setting for the delay in how long they stay on before automatically turning off. It's obvious how much you can save with motion sensors.
The use of timers will save you money in those instances where lighting will stay on longer than it is needed. You can set a timer to go on and off at set intervals of time. The most obvious use would be to have it set to go on at dark and then off at dawn.
We can all use a little savings on our energy bill these days. If you can implement any or all of these tips you will save money. A trick for some of our tips is simply getting into the habit of turning lights off and following the recommendations to save. You will indeed save a considerable amount of money if you follow these ideas.
