Energy accounts for a significant portion of the monthly budget for most households for various reasons. For instance, if you are not keen to identify every item that is consuming power within your house and you are not aware where you may be wasting the same, you may have no control over your monthly energy bills.
Conserving or reducing the amount of energy you use at home will not only cut on your expenses, but it will also go a long way towards preserving the environment. Most households indeed experience an increase in energy costs over spring because of the need to regulate temperatures indoors, clean laundry frequently, among other things, but that does not have to be the case.
Here are some energy-saving tips that you can deploy within your house this spring.
Reduce Your Water Heating Needs
Since water heating is among the leading causes of an increase in monthly power bills, some individuals prioritize purchasing and installation of energy efficient water heaters to address this issue. Instead of incurring the additional cost of acquiring an energy-efficient water heater, here are some of the other options you can consider.
- Opting to use warm or less hot water during spring.
- Insulating your water heater and the first six feet of hot and cold water pipes.
- Turning down the thermostat on your water heater.
Replacing your water heater with an energy-efficient model is okay, and if you believe this is the ideal solution for your home, here are some of the things you should focus on.
- The length of service of the water heater you intend to purchase. An energy-efficient water heater with a warranty of between 10 to 15 years is excellent value for money because it helps you realize accumulative savings on your household energy costs.
- The type of fuel you will use on the water heater you require and one that meets your household requirements. Note that tankless water heaters may be energy efficient, but they are not appropriate for large families. The reason is that tankless water heaters cannot handle multiple and simultaneous uses of hot water.
Consider Insulating Your Home
Maintaining a comfortable environment indoors during spring is a priority, and insulating your home can help you achieve this objective. If you are planning to insulate your home, you should focus on the attic, walls, floors, basement, and crawlspace because these areas act as entry points for heat as the climate gets warmer.
When temperatures in-house become unbearable, the apparent solution is turning the air conditioning on, which will drive your energy costs up. Insulating your home implies that you will maintain a habitable environment within your house when it is hot outdoors, thus eliminating the need for air conditioning and, in turn, that will lower your energy bills.
Invest in Smart Power Strips
Some of the electronics in your house consume energy when you turn them off or when they are on standby mode, and that results in power wastage. Cutting energy wastage costs is paramount if you want to reduce your monthly expenses, and investing in smart power strips, in this case, is advisable.
Advanced power strips or smart power strips shut off the power supplying your electronics when they are not in use to conserve energy. You can use remote switches or rely on the status of a “master device” to turn off smart power strips at a specific time or when your electronics are in a period of inactivity.
Adjust Your Lifestyle
Your day-to-day behaviors around your house have a direct impact on the energy bill you should expect at the end of every month. For example, if you continue cleaning and drying your laundry with the washing machine during spring, using the HVAC system and dishwashing machine more when it is hot, among other things, there will be a spike in your power bills.
Adjusting your lifestyle over spring can bear a positive impact on your monthly energy expenses. Some of the lifestyle habits you can embrace as the climate gets warmer to save on the cost of power include;
- Washing your dishes by hand instead of using the dishwashing machine.
- Reducing reliance on energy-intensive appliances by opting to perform your household chores manually.
- Hand-drying your clothes as a substitute for using the dryer.
- Acquiring a home energy monitor to identify the appliances that are consuming loads of electricity around your home.
- Reducing the intensity and frequency of heating and cooling requirements around your home over spring.
Replace Your Light Bulbs
You may hear this a million times, but the fact is that changing the light bulbs you use at home can save you a lot of money in terms of energy costs going forward. Over and above consuming an excessive amount of electricity, conventional incandescent light bulbs will also require replacement from time-to-time.
The implication, in this case, is that you will pay a fortune monthly in power expenses in addition to the cost of replacing incandescent light bulbs of inferior quality. Light-emitting diode bulbs (LEDs), halogen incandescent bulbs, and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are some of the energy-efficient home light bulb alternatives you should consider purchasing.
Replacing ordinary incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient alternatives around your home is a wise idea if you want to bring your energy bills down.
Opt for A Programmable Or Smart Thermostat
The experience of an AC blast after working out or spending time out on a sweltering day is quite refreshing. Unfortunately, blasting your AC turns your face blue when you realize that your energy bill just shot up at the end of the month. Additionally, regulating the temperature inside your house to make it comfortable while you are away, does not make sense and that accounts for wasteful energy as well.
Installing a programmable or smart thermostat in your home means that the temperature inside will remain at optimum levels when you are around, and the device will turn off when you are away. In that case, you may not need to replace your HVAC system when you invest in a smart thermostat, and you will also save a lot on your energy bills without sacrificing your comfort.
Conclusion
Embracing an energy-conscious lifestyle around your home is all it takes to conserve energy, the environment, and put some money back into your pocket. For more information on this topic, or any questions on how to reduce costs for your home, please contact our experts.