8 Great Ways To Save Energy at Home

For environmentally conscious people, putting a foot down on the planet’s carbon footprint means learning how to conserve and save energy. 

This effort spans a lot of ways to achieve this, but there are things that you can do that go from simple to a bit complex.  We’ll look at seven ways to save energy and be green too.

 

 

Do An Assessment Of Your Energy Usage

Whether it be your car, home, or business, you’re going to use energy and a good deal of it.  If you have a large household or big staff at work, you’re going to be dishing out lots of dollars to keep people warm, cool, and protected and mobile.

Before you can be effective in the ways of saving energy, you’ll need to do an assessment of what you’re using, and then you’ll know where you can cut back or modify.  First things first and that’s gathering statistics.  You’re going to have to start from the bottom to the top with this one.

Every little bit of analysis and assessment goes a long way.  Look at your electrical usage, how much in gas you use and oil.  How many hours are things in operation that use energy?  This will give you a good idea where to start in making the right changes to save energy.

 

Unplugging Is Good

For the home, it means turning off appliances that aren’t in direct needed use.  Unplugging such means, there won’t still be eating up electricity.  It may be a bit inconvenient to plug things back in and unplug them, but if you add up the amount of hours these devices eat up energy even when turned off, it will show a loss in money and the loss of valuable energy.

Make sure the office and the family make a habit of unplugging rarely used appliances and equipment.  Nowadays things don’t need to warm up to operate and usually as soon as you plug them in and turn them on, they’re good to go.

 

Seal Those Windows And Doors

Windows that aren’t sealed properly and unsecured doors are prime wastes of energy.  Whether if you use gas, oil, electricity, windows and doors and vents can bleed warm air in the winter and cool air in the summer.  As these leaks continue the amount of energy increases to compensate, and you end up losing ground and money and it isn’t good for the environment either.

There are neat tricks using a stick of incense to look for drafts.  Just light one and pass it before a window or door.  If the smoke goes up, you’re good.  If it bleeds out through a crack or blows inward from a gap, you’re watching energy loss in action.  This is a smell-good tactic, but it works.

Once you see the gaps and cracks you should attend to them immediately.  Caulking and perhaps replacing them works and so are the uses of plastic and other sealers.  You’ll notice the difference quickly and realize you’ve made the equitable decision.

 

Leaky Pipes Don’t Help At All

If you have leaking pipes in your home or business, you might want to call a plumber quick if you can’t repair them yourself.  Leaky pipes may not seem like an energy waster but they are.  It takes energy to heat that hot water, and if your pipes are leaking it, the strain on your furnace or other energy source will go into overdrive.

Take a good look for such leaks and address them immediately.  You can find lots of green-based products to do maintenance with quite easily.

 

Fix The Roof

You can tell homeowners and business to peruse their roofs on a regular basis, but they just will ignore such good advice until it’s too late.  Not only are damaged roofs an invitation for trouble, but they also release a lot of energy that can be a drastic money monster.

Hot air rises so in the winter if your roof is damaged, you’ll be oozing warm air and making your heating system go into extra power mode.  People lose hundreds if not thousands of dollars each year from this negligence.  All it takes is a good look inside and outside of your roof and look for any damage, missing tiles or flaps, gaps in sealing and warping in roofing materials.

If you’re in doubt, then have a good roofing expert stop by and make an assessment.  Just one hole in the roof the size of a nickel can leak lots of air and contribute to the carbon footprint of humanity.

 

Be Efficient With Vehicles

It doesn’t take a lot of convincing to show a person that maintain their vehicles and using them efficiently can save lots of money on energy as well as cut down that carbon.

Far too many people just don’t keep up on their vehicles and drive them unnecessarily when they could curtail such and save energy and the environment.  Driving around all day when you can order stuff for delivery, not hopping in the car to go over to a friend’s house for the latest gossip, joyriding and other unnecessary journeys can eat up gas and spread that carbon.

The new hybrid and electric cars are spreading through the market, and this might not be a problem in the near future, but for today, the more you drive, the more you make a mess.

Make your journeys efficient.  Keep the proper air in your tires and clean that engine.  Don’t overburden your vehicle with junk that adds extra weight  Look for routes that don’t have as many stops and starts and always get the vehicle checked up at least twice a year.  These little actions mean a lot if you want to be green.

 

Don’t Use Too Much Water

If you live in an area where fresh water is abundant, you may not take notice of the amount of energy you use.  Water needs to be pumped and heated, and that means burning up fuel.

We often leave faucets running, garden hoses running and shower for an hour when 15 minutes is sufficient.  Monitor your household’s water usage, and you’ll see after gathering and analyzing the statistics that you’re now saving tons of energy and boosting that green agenda.

Water is precious, and in some parts it’s rare and others, it’s plentiful.  It doesn’t mean you should use it with abandon, but instead, conservative use is prudent and wise the green-way.

 

Maintaining Your Appliances And Tools

Even if you only use your lawnmower twice a month or snowblower a few times each year, you need to maintain them to make sure they operate efficiently.  The same goes for refrigerators and dishwashers.

These tools and appliances eat up lots of energy, and if they’re in a state of disrepair, they will overuse available energy or cause you to work double time in an inefficient manner.  Clean them regularly and never miss a chance to have an expert give the devices the once-over to look for problems.

Nipping things in the bud means your appliances and tools will be operating at peak efficiency and saving you money and the world green-style.

 

Final Word

It may seem like a chore to look at ways to save energy and stay green, but it isn’t that difficult.  It’s a matter of an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  It just takes patience and dedication knowing that the efforts you put forth today will lead to a greener future.