If you are like most families, you are concerned with how to reduce your electricity expenses. Here are 20 sure fire ways to lower your electricity bill:
1. Hang your clothes up to dry, either indoors or out.
2. Cool your home with fans and open windows in the summer.
3. Check your home’s insulation, and seal any cracks as necessary. Apply weather stripping to doors and windows, and insulate your attic if it is not already.
4. Turn your refrigerator down (but not so far that you find food spoiling too quickly – that, of course, is also wasteful).
5. Turn your thermostat down before you go to bed and when you leave the house.
6. Invest in compact fluorescent light bulbs. If you are able, have skylights or sun pipes installed.
7. Turn off lights during the day and when you leave a room.
8. Have dinner (and other meals!) by candlelight.
9. Cook outside whenever possible. Patio grills are relatively inexpensive. Or you can go to a local park or forest that has public grills or fire pits.
10. Open the curtains and shades and let sunshine warm and light your house. Close curtains and shades in the summer to keep hot sunlight out, or use sheets of removable window tinting. This will cut your electricity use by reducing the need to run your central heat or air conditioning.
11. Use a pressure cooker to reduce cooking time and stovetop temperature, thereby reducing the time your stove is on.
12. Use a crockpot on low to cook long-cooking foods like roasts – it takes less energy to run a crockpot than a stove.
13. Use timers on your lamps.
14. Sweep whenever possible instead of running the vacuum cleaner.
15. Make sure you change the filters in your heating and cooling system as often as the manufacturer recommends.
16. Look into alternative energy sources for your home – you may be able to install solar panels, a small wind turbine, or, in the near future, a magnetic generator to generate electricity. Even installing a small solar panel or wind turbine that will run one appliance will save electricity.
17. Landscape with trees and shrubs that will shelter your home from the wind in the winter and provide shade in the summer.
18. Insulate your water heater. Your power company can probably assist you with this, and may even provide the bubble wrap-like insulation for your water heater.
19. Turn your water heater down to 120. This is also a good protection against accidental burns.
20. Unplug electrical devices when they are not in use, especially those electronics that have a rechargeable battery (if it’s blinking, it’s using electricity).
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
These are very useful tips to to reduce electricity expenses. Another great idea to save energy is through the use of window tints. While most window films are for reducing solar heat gain in the summer, low-e films both block summer heat and improve winter heat retention. Reputable site such as http://www.TintBuyer.com informs consumers about the relevant facts on window tints such as type of tints, quotations and will help you locate the best professional tinter near your area.
The problem with the lack of energy will worsen when the world economy picks, which will bring the demand up for energy. Prices will rise and poor people will not be able to afford energy cost. Alternative green energy is an must to keep up with the high demands of energy
Great tips–however, I’m just an idiot when it comes to insulation. I wish I knew what I was looking for, and I knew how to change it out, or add to it, if I needed to.
Once again, knowledge is power
Whoa, 20 tips? I can think of maybe 5 or 10, but 20? I currently probably use about 10 of them. I’ll try too squeeze about 5 more in, but some are a little too uncomfortable.