You feel like you’ve been standing in front of the fridge for an hour. You know you’re hungry, but you have no idea what you want to eat. What you don’t realize is that the longer you hold that door open, the more energy you’re wasting.
Lingering in the kitchen isn’t even the biggest cause of energy waste in the home. If you leave your electronics in sleep mode instead of turning them all the way off, they’re still sucking away power.
Having a well-lit home will drive up your utility bill and how often do you change your air filter? If your answer is “I don’t know”, it might be time to change your habits. Check out this guide to learn how to save energy in your house.
- Leaving the Fridge Wide Open
Every time you open up your fridge, you’re letting a bunch of cold air out. Your fridge then has to work harder to cool things back down and keep your food fresh. As you can imagine, this uses up a good deal of energy.
You’ve got to manage your kitchen loitering. Don’t poke your head into your refrigerator without having some kind of idea of what you want to eat.
When you bring groceries into the house, don’t leave your fridge open while you’re looking through bags trying to find your cold stuff. Put all your chilly groceries in one place so, you can put them away faster and limit the amount of time you leave that door open.
If you find that your children still have a nasty habit of leaving the door open, you can invest in an energy star fridge. The door being left open will still use up a ton of power, but it won’t be quite as detrimental.
- You’re Not Being Smart with Your Lighting
Even if you turn all your lights off before you head out of the house, they can still be of the biggest reasons for energy waste if you’re not using them right. For one, invest in a few occupancy sensors. When someone walks into a room, the sensors will read that and tell the lights to turn on.
For two, switch over to LEDs. They have a ton of benefits that allows them to combat energy wasting.
Efficiency
The materials that are packed into LED light bulbs are made to cut back on energy. When we say less energy, we mean they use about 90% less power than traditional bulbs.
Since you’ll be saving energy by switching all your bulbs out for LEDs, you’ll see a much cheaper utility bill.
Longevity
As long as you pick out quality LED bulbs, they can last for up to 7 years. Traditional bulbs are only designed to last for a little over a thousand hours before they burn out. The difference is astronomical.
Now you may be thinking, “how does that save me in energy costs”? It might not help your power bill go down any, but it will help you save money over time because you won’t have to buy bulbs as often.
Environment
Traditional light bulbs are filled with mercury and other chemicals that can do serious damage to the environment while they’re sitting in the landfill. LEDs are all non-toxic.
That doesn’t help you as far as saving money goes, but it does help the earth, which feels just as good.
- Energy Vampires
Putting your game console to sleep before you go to work is a convenient way to maintain your progress if you’re not at a saving point. It will also suck away power the entire time you’re gone. Many electronics are built to do this.
For example, a lot of people will leave their computers on so they don’t have to wait for the bootup process to finish every single time. It’s convenient, but leaving your computer on for several days at a time will cost you hundreds of dollars.
The best way to stop your electronics from doing this is to unplug them when you’re not at home or you’re asleep.
- Dirty Air Filter
If your home isn’t cooling no matter how high you crank the AC, the problem might not be with the unit. When was the last time you cleaned or replaced the filter?
If your answer is “I don’t remember”, it might be time for you to get on it. The dirty filter is causing your unit to have to work harder to do its job.
This means that it’s using more energy and eventually, it could even break down. You’ve got to remember to clean or replace your filter at least once a month.
- Home Insulation
You should have at least ten inches of insulation in your attic. If you have any less than that, all the effort you put into keeping your house warm will escape right out of the roof. It’s one of the biggest causes of energy waste.
The basic rule of thumb is if you can see the joists in your attic, you need to have a Cleanup and Total Restoration company come to your home to put in more insulation.
What’s Causing Energy Waste in Your Home
If you leave your electronics on, have poor insulation, or leave your fridge door open, don’t be surprised when your power bill is through the roof. Consider making small changes to your life to cut out energy waste.
Update your light fixtures and bulbs, upgrade to an energy star fridge, and unplug all your devices before you go to bed. Trust us when we say it will make a world of difference.
Looking for more ways to put a stop to energy-wasting in your home? Check out our blog daily for all the latest tips and tricks.
