Easy Ways to Save Electricity: 11 Simple Tips For Your Home

11-ways-to-conserve-electricity Did you know that every year, across the USA, consumers are billed $16 Billion dollars of unused energy? That’s right, according to the US Department of Energy, consumers across the United States are paying MUCH more than they should.

The thought of conserving energy or electricity may have crossed your mind at some point. And with good cause. When one works to conserve energy, they not only are doing their part to assist the environment, but they are ensuring that they keep their electricity bills as low as possible.

But the problem isn’t so much that people don’t know the importance of conserving energy at home, it’s more a matter of not knowing how to do it.

Well, like with anything else, this is something which can be easily learned. And while there are lots of different tips and tricks, and not to mention various tools that can be employed, it doesn’t take very long to become adept at conserving electricity.

And that’s what the aim of this article is. So, if you are ready to start lowering your energy bills, read on my friend. This is just for you!

But before we go into the techniques themselves, there’s one bit of theory that you ought to know, and that is that the aim of the following tips and tricks, isn’t about not USING electricity, but rather about not WASTING it. This is actually a big difference.

If you were trying to avoid using energy, you would do just that: not use it. You’d not use your heater or a/c, you’d not watch TV, you’d skip using a clothes dryer. While that would conserve electricity, that wouldn’t be very fun or practical. Instead, you’ll be learning how to cut out electrical waste in a way that doesn’t impact your usual usage habits. This way nothing will be “cramping your style”.

Alright, now let’s get into the tips.

LIGHTING (10% Electricity Savings On Your Power Bill)

  • led-light-bulbDid you know that lighting accounts for 10-15% of your energy bill? Let’s talk about how we can slash this number. This is an area where electricity is being thrown away constantly. Not because lights are left unnecessarily on (though that would still cause waste) but rather because you’re using a very, very inefficient bulb. That’s right, incandescent bulbs (the kind you grew up with) are extremely inefficient. This is so true that they are being phased out in the United States.

  • What will replace incandescent bulbs? LED and CFL bulbs. Both use only a fraction of the electricity of incandescent bulbs, and last much longer. In the case of LED bulbs, they last over 10 times as long and use only 20% the electricity. So you’ll definitely want to switch out all your old bulbs for LED ones. It’s not difficult at all to do, and once you’re done, you won’t need to change the bulbs again for a matter of years.

  • Another good lighting tip is to use dimmer switches wherever possible (and make sure that you get LED bulbs that are dimmer compatible). They allow you to use only as much light as you need and can help in conserving electricity.

We’ll now move onto other areas of electrical usage.

​Heating & Cooling- THE BEST Way To ​Conserve Energy!
​(50% of your Energy Bill)

Let’s take up heating & cooling next. This is a big one as it makes up about 50% of your typical electricity bill each month (according to ​Energy Star). Now you’ve probably noticed that your electricity bill goes up during the winter and during the summer. This is obviously because your heating and cooling requirements have risen during these times of the year. Now doing without your heating or cooling is not practical, so the best option is to make your A/C as efficient as possible. To really do this, you’ll need the assistance from a few devices that are designed to make your A/C run more efficiently.

  • One of these is a programmable thermostat. This will let you set a schedule for your A/C, indicating when to turn on and off and at what temperature. Doing so, you can set it up for maximum efficiency (not have it on when you’re not home, to turn the temp up/down at night, etc).
  • install-electric-saverThe next device you should get is an Electricity Saver. This device works to eliminate the electrical waste that your A/C is continuously creating. Believe it or not, your A/C is drawing more electricity than it really needs to. The excess electricity simply goes to waste. The Electric Saver will collect this energy and send it back to your appliances for actual use. This brings up the efficiency of your home and can reduce your electric bill by about 15% monthly. The product lasts for 25 years and requires no maintenance, so there’s literally 25 years of power bill savings waiting for you RIGHT NOW! To Buy Now Click Here.

​Can Water Heating Help Me Save Electricity?
(Approximately 30% of your Electric Bill!)

save-on-electric-bills-water-heaterMoving right along, we’ll now look at water heating. This is another big area of electrical expenditure. So it will be a good place to invest some time. There’s actually not all that much you can do here besides the following 3 things:

  • Insulate your water heater. You can find insulation material specifically designed for water heaters in your local home improvement store (some are sold as “jackets” that will easily fit onto your water heater). Once insulated, less heat can escape and the water stays hotter for longer.
  • Conserve hot water. Washing clothes with only cold water (same goes for washing dishes) helps.

  • Go with a Tankless Water Heater. Depending on how much hot water you use, by going tankless you only heat up the water as you need it. And the best part about a tankless is… no more running out of hot water EVER!!! No more cold showers after the kids have used it all up. No more cold bubble baths. (This got me HUGE bonus points with my wife!) Just relax after a hard day’s work in an endless hot shower… or a fast one with less energy used, whichever you prefer. But, either way, your comfort will be upgraded NOT downgraded!

(See Price on Amazon for My Recommendation)

​How To Conserve Electricity with My Appliances?

Finally, we’ll look at your appliances, and how to make them run more efficiently. This one varies as there are many types of household appliances that you may own. One thing that applies to nearly all of them is to unplug them when they aren’t being used. Some energy is still consumed just by them being plugged into the wall. So unplugging them stops this from happening.

  • smart-lcg4-energy-saving-power-stripIf having to unplug and replug appliances in all the time sounds too inconvenient for you, you could use a smart power strip instead and it will do this automatically.

Other Electricity Saving Tips for Appliances:

As for the rest of your appliances, here’s some quick specific tips:

  • fridge-temperatureSet your fridge no colder than 40° and the freezer 30°.

  • Wash clothes in large loads as one big load uses less energy than 2 small ones.

  • Remember to turn off any appliances after you’re done using them.

  • Set computers to turn off automatically after a time of inactivity.

So there you have it. The question, “how to save electricity” doesn’t seem so complicated after all does it?

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