Our current lifestyle involves a significant energy expenditure on everyday tasks. Turning off the alarm clock, taking a hot shower, using public transport to get to the office, working with several electronic devices, heating food, or heating and lighting the home. If you want to reduce your consumption, it is crucial to be aware of the importance of energy control and savings in our daily lives and to adopt practices that allow us to use energy more efficiently and sustainably.
By doing that, we will contribute to preserving natural resources and manage to reduce the economic costs associated with energy consumption. Here are some tips you can implement at home to reduce your energy bill.
Take Advantage of Sunlight
Open the curtains or blinds during the day to let sunlight in and naturally heat the room, and close them at night to prevent heat loss. You can also improve insulation by reinforcing the insulation of your home in the walls, ceiling, and floor. You can also use thermal curtains to reduce heat loss through the windows. For a comfortable temperature, set the thermostat between 20 and 21ºC. Each degree less can represent a saving of 7 percent on the bill.
Install a Solar Attic Fan
Solar attic fans allow you to reduce heat buildup in your attic and minimize the load on your HVAC system. They are designed for all types of roofs, so solar attic fans are easily installed without electrical wiring or structural changes and blend seamlessly into the roof line. The adjustable solar panel support system maximizes solar panel sun exposure no matter if the unit is installed on a flat, standard-slope, or steep-slope roof. If you are interested in purchasing one you can check out solar attic fans right here.
Optimize the Use of Appliances
Use power strips with switches. Some appliances consume energy even when on standby, so using a power strip will allow you to completely disconnect them when you are not using them. You can also take advantage of the sun to dry clothes. Instead of wasting energy with the dryer, hang clothes in the sun or outdoors. If you need to replace an appliance, choose one with a high energy rating, as they use less energy to perform the same tasks.
Upgrade Lighting and Use LED Bulbs
Energy-efficient LED bulbs use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and have a longer lifespan. We also recommend choosing targeted lighting. You do not need to light up an entire room. You can use table lamps, reading lights, or wall sconces for specific areas. You can also install motion sensors. These are a perfect choice for passageways or rooms where constant lighting is not needed. They detect movement and turn on and off automatically.
Make Good Use of Household Appliances
Using household appliances efficiently is the key to saving electricity. Load the washing machine and dishwasher to the maximum, and if you do not need very hot water, wash at 40º instead of 60º and save up to 55% on your electricity bill. Also, remember that induction hobs consume less electricity than ceramic hobs. Using pots and pans with the right diameter for each burner improves and prevents heat from being wasted. You can optimize heat by putting lids on pots or cooking with a pressure cooker.
The refrigerator is the appliance that consumes the most electricity. Regulate its internal temperature between 3º and 7º, do not let it accumulate frost, and keep its back ventilated and free of dust. All these are small details that allow you to save a significant amount of electricity throughout the year.
Turn Off the Light When Leaving a Room
Do not forget to turn off the light once you leave a room, bathroom, or kitchen. It is an unnecessary and easy-to-avoid consumption of light. Of course, make sure that all the lights have been turned off when leaving the house, especially when going out for several hours or days. Banish once and for all the myth that it costs more money to turn the lights on and off than to leave them on all the time. The switch is our ally when it comes to saving light at home.
Take Advantage of the Benefits of a Smart Home
A smart home is more than just asking a speaker to play your favorite song. You can use many of the technological advances to start making more efficient use of different appliances and start saving electricity in your home. For example, you can implement efficient air conditioning systems, presence sensors for lighting, smart light bulbs to control intensity, or installations that raise and lower blinds according to light needs.
These are some examples of how investing in home automation translates into comfort, quality of life, and saving electricity month after month. Intelligent control systems can save up to 50% on electricity consumption, optimizing the management of lighting, hot water, heating, or air conditioning. Home automation not only improves our quality of life, it also helps us save.
Adjust the Power of the Light to Your Needs
A part of what you pay on your monthly electricity bill is the contracted power. A fixed cost that increases as the number of kW you have contracted increases.
Having more is an unnecessary expense, and this is where you can start to save electricity at home. However, be careful not to reduce the power too much. Not reaching the necessary light power can make life a little more complicated. But be careful, it is not a question of living on the edge. Being left with little power can mean that you have to increase it again and it has some costs.
Conclusion
Saving on energy consumption is something that has become increasingly necessary. It is not just about saving money, but also being aware of the impact that our habits have on the world. As you may have already realized, saving energy is easier than it seems. Optimize the use of household appliances, change light bulbs for LED lights, take advantage of sunlight, and you will see how your bill begins to reduce at the end of the month.