How to Save on Electricity

Electricity is such a convenient commodity these days that it can be difficult to be conscious of our energy use. Flipping a switch and turning on a light is so common place that it can be difficult to give thought to the electricity that makes modern life so convenient. And when you can absentmindedly use something, it’s easy to fall into wasting it.

The first step to learning how to save on electricity, therefore, has to be learning how to be conscious of your energy use.

Leaving Lights On

If there is one common problem that pretty much everyone contributes to, it’s wasted electricity from lights being left on when no one is around. When you sit down and learn the numbers, you’ll find out that lighting usually utilizes a third of all energy in the average home. That’s not an insignificant amount of energy, which makes lighting a great area to optimize to save on electricity.

The most important thing you need to do is make sure you turn the lights off whenever you leave a room. Additionally, make sure that all lights are off when you leave your house. While it’s true that some light bulbs are more energy efficient than others, no light bulb is particularly “green” if it’s being run needlessly.

Unplug Everything

When thinking about how to save on electricity, most people forgot that if they aren’t actively using a device, it can still be costing them money. If a device or appliance is switched off but it still plugged in, than it will still drain energy from the outlet. While the energy used by a single plugged in device may not be exceptionally large, consider the dozens of appliances and computers and TVs that you likely have plugged in at all times in your house.

It can be inconvenient to be constantly plugging and unplugging your devices when you use them, so consider plugging everything into a few different power strips. With a power strip, all you have to do is switch it off to stem this phantom electricity use as conveniently as possible.

Only Heat Where Your Are

If you are the only one in your house, than there is no reason why the entire building needs to be set to 70 degrees. Even if there are other people in the house with you, there’s a good chance that at any given moment there are at least a couple vacant rooms that can be left cold. Many older houses aren’t going to give you the ability to adjust the temperature in each room individually, but strategically using space heaters will give you the ability to be more precise with your temperature control.

There are plenty of other opportunities in most homes where being conscious of the heat you use can result in huge savings in electricity. Using cold water in your washing machines, cutting down the duration of your hot showers, and setting the temperature on your hot water heater are all great ways to save electricity without making particularly noticeable sacrifices.

Check out our article about energy efficient homes and our energy saving tips for more.