How To Decrease Your Energy Usage

There are many good reasons to decrease energy usage. Non-renewable energy sources emit pollution, which is harmful to the environment. Wasting energy can result in shortages, making the country less energy secure. At the same time, by decreasing your energy usage, you may be able to save significantly on your monthly utility bills. Here are some ways to decrease the amount of energy that you use around your home.

Use Energy During Off-Peak Hours

There are certain times of day when the demand for electricity is higher than at other times. Using electrical appliances during peak times, especially ones that use a lot of energy, such as washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers, puts an undue strain on the power grid. Using a home energy monitor, you can identify off-peak hours during which to run your big appliances. Doing so may save you money because some power companies offer reduced rates during these times as an incentive to decrease energy usage during peak hours.

Switch to More Efficient Lighting

Incandescent light bulbs lose a lot of energy as heat and burn out more quickly. Fluorescent and LED bulbs last much longer and are much more energy-efficient. Switching to these types of bulbs not only decreases your energy usage and saves you money, but it also helps to keep your home cooler during the summer months because they are not losing as much heat as incandescents. Advancements in technology over the last several years have helped more efficient bulbs simulate the soft, warm glow of incandescents more effectively.

Turn Lights Off When Leaving the Room

Get into the habit of switching the lights off whenever you leave a room, even if you only plan to be gone for a moment. It may not seem efficient to turn the lights off and then turn them back on after only a minute or two, but it is far less so to leave them on when you are not using them. Something could happen to prevent you from coming back in the room as quickly as you plan, and then leaving the lights on could be hugely wasteful. If you get to the point where it becomes automatic to turn off the lights as you leave the room, you can end up using much less energy.

Reduce Your Plug Load by Using a Power Strip

It's not enough merely to turn off your appliances when you are not using them. Any device that remains plugged in is still pulling small amounts of energy from the wall sockets. These small amounts can add up quickly and cost you significantly on your electrical bill. You could unplug all of these devices when they are not in use, but that can be very inconvenient. A good alternative is to plug them into a power strip. That way, you can turn them all off at the same time with a push of a button rather than having to unplug them all and then plug them back in when you want to use them.

Turn Off Your Computer

When you are finished using your computer for the day, whether at home or at work, shut it down completely rather than using a screen saver or sleep mode. These are useful when your computer is only going to be idle for a short time, but if you aren't going to be using it for hours at a time, it is unnecessarily wasteful to allow it to pull energy when it is not in use. Powering down at the end of the day has no effect on your computer's life span since computers today can be turned off and then on again over 40,000 times.

If you are concerned about the environment, looking for ways to decrease your energy usage is one of the best and most helpful things you can do. Like most altruistic actions, it can also benefit you personally by helping you to save on your utilities. Apart from a few minor inconveniences that you won't even notice after a while, there are no downsides.