The following is a guest post by Uma Campbell.
Ah, energy. Our mastery of electricity is behind practically everything we do, and it’s safe to say that life wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without it.
Unfortunately, we’re not very good at energy efficiency, and we usually end up wasting a lot of money in our efforts to get comfortable and have fun. Sometimes we’re not even aware of all the ways we waste energy.
What Uses the Most Energy In Your Home?
The infographic below shows the biggest offenders when it comes to wasted energy.
To supplement the information in today’s infographic (which will help you discover what’s draining your wallet), here are a few things to know about fixing the problems.
Fixes don’t need to be expensive.
There are plenty of companies that would love for you to replace your home’s entire siding because of one tiny air leak, but in most cases, a do-it-yourself patch is faster, easier, and cheaper. Just be sure that whatever fix you choose is appropriate for the environment – a single medium-priced fix now may be better than a lot of cheap repairs over a longer period of time.
The temperature doesn’t need to be perfect, just good enough.
You’ve probably heard this refrain before, but it’s true. In winter, set the thermostat a little below where you actually want it to be, then wear some warm clothes to make up the difference. In summer, try opening windows and using low-energy (or even solar-powered) fans to circulate cooling air. Your energy bills should drop nicely as soon as you start doing this kind of thing, especially because heating and cooling is the single largest source of electricity usage in your house. A small change there can have more of an impact than many different changes elsewhere in your home.
Get creative with saving energy.
There are many different ways to save on your electric bills, and it’s never too late to start putting them into practice. Each change may be small in and of itself, but cumulatively, you might be able to save 20% or more on your monthly energy bills – and that’s always worthwhile when money is tight.
Abigail @ipickuppennies says
February 8, 2016 at 2:38 pmWe’re goign to get a dog this year, so we’re going to necessarily get better about not leaving charging cords plugged in. Currently, we have them like that so that we can just plug in as needed. We have several devices, including a laptop, that get used a lot and so need to be charged multiple times during the day.
But living in Arizona, HVAC is undoubtedly the single biggest draw of energy — especially since my in-laws, myself and my husband are all home all day. My in-laws usually have two TVs and their computer on at any given point.It’s a bit of a mess, but we’re doing what we can.
Money Beagle says
February 9, 2016 at 9:27 amDefinitely heating and cooling would have to be at the top of our list. We actually have one of those smart meters and the power company just sent us this device that we can use that will communicate with the meter and also with our smartphone, so that we can see the instantaneous use of our electricity at any time. So, we can literally turn things on one by one and see just how much electricity it takes.
Holly@ClubThrifty says
February 10, 2016 at 7:19 amI recently unplugged our old computer because it hasn’t worked in months. No reason to feed it juice every day and pump up the electric bill!