When most of us think about saving energy, we normally consider our winter habits. This is the season that sees the most energy usage, but don’t forget about all the other months in the year! You’ll be amazed at how much energy you can use in the warmer months without even realizing it! Of course, you have to use electricity or gas for certain things in your home – it’s impossible to be completely energy-free. Still, there are some sneaky tactics to employ throughout the year that will help you keep your home energy bills at a constant low.
If you’re interested in learning how to do this, you’re in the right place! Check out the ideas down below:
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Keep your windows open in the warm months
When the temperature rises, you assume that your energy usage bill decreases. It can, but you still spend a fair bit of money on keeping your house cool. Instead of paying for your central heating, you’re paying for air conditioning. This can be essential at specific periods – like the nighttime – but you really shouldn’t have the air-con on during the day unless it’s outrageously hot outside.
The best approach is to open your windows and keep them open during the day. This lets fresh air enter your home and keeps it ventilated. In turn, there’s less need for air conditioning in most scenarios, saving outrageous amounts of energy usage. Worried about flies and bugs coming through the open windows? Fear not. You can address this by getting some nets to attach to the windows or drape across them. It keeps your home free from any bugs while still keeping it cool.
Close your windows in the colder months
Conversely, you should keep your windows closed during the colder months! Yes, it’s not rocket science, but you’ll be amazed at how many people leave their windows open and wonder why their home is freezing in winter. You should open them now and then for ventilation purposes, but ideally, they’ll be closed for most of the time. This keeps as much heat in your home as possible, warming it up.
Speaking of which, here’s another clever tactic to employ with your windows. Inspect them to see if there are any gaps in the sealant, which often causes drafts. If there are, you can buy rubber tape – sometimes called soundproofing or weatherproof tape – that can be stuck around the edges of your window. This seals up any gaps and keeps your home even more insulated!
Invest in solar panels
You should always look for ways to be as eco-conscious as possible around the home. By following certain habits, you can lower your carbon footprint and avoid having a negative impact on the environment. Using renewable energy sources is one of the simplest ways to do this, though most are hard to come by. Solar panels from Solar Quote are the most convenient option for homeowners these days, and they’re worth the investment.
You see, solar panels can save energy in a couple of ways. Firstly, they stop you from drawing on the national grid, meaning you use less non-renewable energy. Effectively, you’re subsidizing your home’s energy usage with solar power! If we go back to the first point, you can find an air conditioning company that will set up a system that’s directly powered by your solar panels. This works well as you can save energy with the windows open, then continue to save energy when the air-con is on. Many other appliances can be powered by your panels, which is what makes them so brilliant.
The second way of saving energy usage is to conserve it and store it up for later dates. You can hook your solar panels up to a generator, keeping as much energy in there as possible. Then, in colder periods where you don’t get as much sun, you can’t call on solar energy as often. You can use the stored energy in this generator. It’s simply another way of decreasing the demand you have for non-renewable energy sources!
Buy loads of thick things for winter
Okay, ‘thick things’ is rather ambiguous, but it relates to all sorts of things you can buy. Thick rugs, curtains, clothing – you name it! All of these thick items are very handy at reducing your energy consumption throughout the winter months. Thick rugs and curtains keep rooms warmer by having an insulation effect. Heat gets trapped in the thickness, and there will be fewer drafts to worry about. Thick clothing is beneficial as it keeps you warm. As a result, you don’t need to turn your central heating on anymore. Sometimes, the added thickness can negate any need for your heating to be turned on. Other times, you can have it on, but at a much lower temperature. In either case, energy is saved.
The awesome thing about this idea is that you can reverse it in the warmer parts of the year. When winter turns into spring, you may get rid of the thick clothing, take your rugs away, or change your curtains. You could do this gradually – removing one element at a time – so your home slowly becomes cooler. By the time summer is around, you have no rugs, you wear cooler clothes in your home, and you’ve replaced your curtains with thinner ones. Yet again, energy is saved as you don’t have to turn the air conditioning on! Then, you reverse the process when summer goes into fall and winter.
Only turn lights on when absolutely necessary
Some of the things on this list only apply during certain seasons. This is usually when talking about the energy used for heating or cooling your home. However, the electricity you waste on lighting is constant throughout all four seasons. If you looked at your energy bill and tracked how much money you spent on having the lights on, you’d probably vomit. It’s sickening, particularly when you consider it is possibly one of the least essential ways to use energy.
You can rectify this with one simple mantra: only turn lights on when absolutely necessary. Will you need to put your lights on during the day? Absolutely not! Open your curtains/blinds and let the outside light your home. You can have over twelve hours of daylight in summer, so that’s twelve hours without needing lights on. It’s a bit less in winter, but you still get a good few hours where it’s light enough outside to be comfortable inside.
Then, consider the lights in rooms that you’re not in. Realistically, if you live alone, there should only ever be one light on in your home. When you move into a different room, the light in the previous room needs to be off. With a family in your house, more lights will be on as people are in different rooms, but you should still turn off any lights in areas that nobody is using. It’s the biggest waste of electricity in the world! Speaking of which, using smart bulbs can help address this issue. If someone leaves a light on, you can turn it off from anywhere using an app on your phone. Even if you’re not in your home, you can check on your app and turn any lights that people forgot about before leaving. Again, the electricity savings are quite ridiculous.
Use eco-friendly appliances/products
Thankfully, many companies are trying their best to make their products better for the environment. This usually comes in the form of eco-friendly settings. Look at your washing machine, for example. It might have an eco-mode that washes clothes at a lower temperature, requiring less energy usage. You should always use this mode as it saves an outrageous amount of electricity. Likewise, your TV might have an eco-mode where it turns off after a few hours. It prevents instances where you fall asleep or forget to turn the TV off, and it runs all day.
You should find so many appliances and products that have eco-friendly settings for you to take advantage of. Sometimes, it costs more money to buy these things than the products/appliances without the settings. However, it is a worthy investment as you’ll save more than enough money to make up for the initial costs. Also, you can link this point back to the previous one on lighting. Buy bulbs that are more energy-efficient and use less electricity than normal ones. It’s such a simple switch that contributes massively to your electricity savings.
Through freezing cold winters and boiling hot summers, you can employ a range of tactics to lower energy usage in your home. As you’ve probably noticed, none of these ideas are that difficult for you to implement. They require minor changes around your home, but it’s not as though you’re missing out on anything. You can still enjoy a comfortable life at home, but with the added benefit of being more eco-conscious. Aside from saving your bank balance from being battered every month, you also do your bit to save the planet!
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