Use Less Electricity
It sounds simple and obvious, but how many of us leave our phone chargers plugged in and are still using regular light bulbs?
Here are a few of our electricity saving tips we use:
- Unplug phone chargers when not in use. They keep using energy when not in use.
- Have TV and computer and accessories plugged into power strips and turn off power strips at night. 10% of the power is used when they are off, but plugged in, otherwise known as standby mode. And my satellite receiver is always on, unless I unplug it. I compared March and April of 2007 and 2008. I used 5% less electricity in March and 15% in April, this year compared to last year.
- Use compact fluorescent lights. We actually need to replace the bathrooms and closets with these ones. We bought the bulbs a while ago and yet, they still sit in the closet. And incidentally, these are the lights that are left on the most often.
- Set my thermostat to 82 in the summer and 66 in the winter. Anyone who comes to our house in winter or summer suffers, but spring and fall are great. My parents, who keep their house at 76 in the winter, wear their winter coats to our house. And we even turn it up to 70 for them. At night, we turn the heat down to 62. And for much of the summer, we use our ceiling fans and open windows at night instead of AC.
6 comments:
I recycle. I'm a little nervous to use those light bulbs though becuse if they break it has that toxic chemical, and light bulbs unfortanetly do break around the house more than you think.
I appreciate the post though, to get get me thinking environmental.
Dude, Tom, you can come over to my house anytime this summer to cool off. I happen to be sitting at my mother-in-law's house right now and I swear to you - I'm starting to melt. Seriously, it is unearthly hot in here. You're a stronger man than I.
My MIL says their electricity usage went down when they started using those bulbs outside. We need to do that because we have like four outside lights, and they are on every day with a timer.
Good idea about unplugging chargers. We leave those plugged in all of the time. We already have the light bulbs in our house. During the day we keep our air at 84, but turn it down a little when we get home.
Great things to think about. Thanks.
Also, showering (rather than bathing) saves electricity and water if you have an electric water heater, because you heat less water.
unless you shower as long as tom or my kids.
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