Seemingly Ordinary but Cumulatively Effective Home Energy Saving Tips

Most of the times, we often see energy saving tips as an offensive warning that we should radically make our use of technology less frequent. Of course, we understand that these tips were not written or told to convey such message, but we do feel a little defensive whenever the idea absolute conservation is introduced in a home that is filled with many modern electronic conveniences.

Which is why this time we are not asking you to abandon those air conditioners, nor are we going to ask you to reconsider installing solar heating systems, but we are just here to give you a few very ordinary and simple reminders that, when done together, should help you in significantly lowering your next electric bill.

1. Balance expected regular load with your refrigerator’s size. The explanation for this is simple. Small refrigerators with large loads and large refrigerators with small loads tend to keep the compressor working longer and harder than normal.
2. Never keep your DVD or Bluray players on standby. We know and understand how frustrating it is to always wait for a few minutes before it “boots up” again but in case you haven’t realized, these media machines still consume a considerable amount of energy when left in an instant-on state. In fact, older models even consume roughly same amount of energy regardless of whether it is on standby or actually playing a video.
3. Clothes dryers should only be used when absolutely needed. True, it is one of the numerous absolute conveniences of the modern world, since it allows us to quickly dry clothes effortlessly. However, don’t we have a more powerful outdoor dryer that has been used freely for thousands of years without wasting a single watt-hour of energy?
4. Do laundry in big, largely separated sessions. Why do some people always insist on frequently doing laundry in small burst sessions? It’s because it takes less effort to do than facing the horrible “mountain pile”. But even if it might be efficient in mitigating stress, it also takes more energy to frequently use the washing machine for each of those small sessions. You may have evaded laundering stress, but you most certainly still have to face the stress of increased energy costs instead.
5. Thermostats should be set at the lowest (for cold days) or highest (for hot days) setting possible. Modern air conditioners are always preset to have their compressors work until a certain temperature level is reached. By shortening the gap between the temperature difference inside and outside, you can make the compressor work a lot less often. If you are not sure about the exact numbers, a simple starting pointer is to aim for standard room temperature first before attempting readjustments.
6. When energy consumption is more or less equal, the larger the electric fan the better. Larger or longer blade lengths allow the use of less force when pushing air at a certain rate than smaller ones, thus it is possible to have better air circulation with bigger fans as long as the energy consumption is the same. As an added tip, for fan sizes that are considerably higher than 25 inches (in diameter), consider installing a ceiling fan in your house instead.

Remember, these energy saving tips are only truly effective when they are all done together. Forgetting one or two tips might not necessarily worsen your electric bill however.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Official U.S. Navy Imagery via Flickr

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Christian Crisostomo (251 Posts)

Christian Crisostomo is just your average tech geek that loves to see man's newest and most recent technological exploits. He holds great interest in the potentials of green technology, and is enthusiastic about the continuous development of environment-friendly alternative energy.

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