There are many reasons why you may choose to make your home more energy-efficient. For example, it would be due to the expensive energy bills that you pay month to month, or because you want to contribute to the environment due to global warming and climate change.
Whatever your reason is, making your home more energy efficient is not a matter of a day, you need to change habits and be consistent. Keep in mind that finding habits that allow you to save energy at home is not easy and may be difficult at first if you are not used to it.
But once you know where to start it is not that hard to maintain the habits. Remember that perseverance is key and if you start now the soonest you will see the changes in your energy bills.
In the following article, we will give you 9 habits that will help you save on your monthly energy bills. You can start to acquire the easiest habits and then add more if you feel comfortable doing it. We promise you will see the changes!
1. Use the natural light
To avoid wasting electricity throughout the year you can use the natural light to your favour. One thing you can do is opening the blinds until the sun goes down, so in this way, you can avoid turning on the lights for the majority of the day.
Also, in hot weather, closing the blinds help you reduce the need for air conditioning as you are creating a barrier from the sun. On the other hand, during winter you can use blackout blinds to concentrate more heat inside your home.
2. Decrease the use of light
If you want to save energy the most obvious thing to do is to turn off the lights when you are not home, as well as other electronic and household appliances. Also, you can implement LED lights at home as they are low-consumption lights that can lead to significant energy savings.
On the other hand, if you are familiar with home automation, you can install sensors at home so in this way the lights will turn on when you are at home and will turn off when you leave.
3. Perform an air conditioning maintenance
Performing air conditioning maintenance is key if you want to save energy when the heat arrives. You need to make sure that your AC works perfectly fine and also you have to renew the filters. In this way, your air conditioner will consume less energy and will have a longer lifespan.
Also, you can check if your AC has an Eco mode that will help you save up to 30% on energy consumption.
4. Take a look at your appliances
When your appliances are damaged, they can overwhelmingly use energy. That is why you need to carry out at least an annual maintenance. You need to check their condition, if they are still useful or if you need to change them for new ones.
Keep in mind that if you perform regular maintenance you will be able to extend the useful life of your devices.
Also, you have to start unplugging your appliances. Even when they are not turned on they are still consuming energy. A good idea to change this is using an electric strip to turn off all the appliances at once when you are not using them.
5. Iron all your clothes at once
It takes a lot of energy to reach high temperatures such as the one the iron needs to perform well, this is why the iron is one of those appliances that consume more energy than you think.
So, to iron in the most efficient way you can start with the fabrics that need less temperature first and then continue with the fabrics that need more temperature. After that, you can turn off the device to iron the remaining clothes with the residual heat the iron still has.
6. Do not open the fridge so many times
One easy tip to reduce your energy consumption is to open the fridge only when it is needed. Remember that the cold generated in your fridge is lost when you do this, so the fridge has to work harder to recover the cold that is lost once you close the door.
What you can do is think about what you need before opening the fridge, it is a habit that can be hard to adapt, but trust us when we tell you it is worth it.
7. Take advantage of residual heat
Just like the iron, you can use the residual heat of the oven to finish what you are cooking. What you can do is turn the oven off a few minutes before you should and allow the food to finish cooking with the residual heat.
8. Cover your pans and pots when cooking
If you use an electric kitchen appliance keep in mind that much of the heat generated when you cook escapes if you don’t use a lid. As a consequence, it will take longer to heat the pan and you will be consuming more energy. So please use a lid!
9. Change how you wash your clothes
Wash your clothes in cold water and take advantage of all the benefits your washing machine has to offer. Use the appropriate detergents and fully load the washing machine every time you wash. However, keep in mind that fully loaded does not mean overload because your washing machine can get damaged.
To dry your clothes it is better to hang the clothes instead of using the dryer machine.
Remember that to see results on your energy bill you need to be consistent and perform at least one of these tips daily.
