Today we have a guest Ronke Odewumi who is bringing to us some energy saving tips for the home.
We all know energy bills can skyrocket and eat up a sizable chunk of our income. As a result many people are looking for ways to save on energy spending at home.
Thankfully, Ronke who is a frugal living super working mum has offered to share some of the energy saving tips she uses.
Some of the tips Ronke highlights, you probably know already so this will simply serve as a reaffirmation to you. While like me, you will be hearing some for the first time!
Whatever the case, the bottom line is if you use these energy saving tips, you can bring your energy spending down considerably.
Energy Saving Tips With Appliances
- Switch off all your appliances- TV, DVD player, computer, oven etc. when not in use. at the wall before going to bed at night. Many electrical items continue to use electricity even while off if connected to an outlet.
- Do you really need to use the oven or microwave as a clock? A battery powered wall clock uses much less power.
- Switch off the oven, hotplates and iron a few minutes before you need to stop using them – they will stay hot for long enough to finish what you are doing. Heating devices use more power than anything else.
- Likewise when using the kettle (the ultimate power bomb!) switch it off by hand when it reaches the boil; the automatic cut off will leave it boiling and burning up watts for longer. Only boil the quantity of water you need as more water takes more time to boil and runs up your energy bills. If you are lucky enough to have an oven that you can boil an old style kettle on then use it.
- When using your oven try to fill the burner! If you really need it on for only one thing pile the burner up with baking sheets, cake tins etc – this will make it into a much smaller space to heat – it reaches the desired temperature much quicker too.
- Keep the freezer full. If you have to, put milk jugs filled with water in the freezer. It’s less expensive to keep a full freezer cold than an empty one.
- In winter don’t run the heater overnight. Make use of hot water bottles to warm your bed at night.
Energy Saving Tips For Laundry and Water
- Line dry clothes outside when it’s warm and sunny. Tumble-drying can be very expensive whereas line drying is free.
- When outside drying is not possible consider whether you have radiators that could be used if on anyway – however be careful with radiator drying as this will increase the humidity in your house and may lead to damp in your attic if it’s not well ventilated – open a few windows in the house to combat this.
- Let dishes air dry after running them through the dishwasher.
- Open windows on summer nights to cool down the house.
- Take short showers.
- Never leave the water running when rinsing dishes or brushing teeth. Only use the water you need.
Energy Saving Tips on Electricity & Gas
- Avoid switching on lights during the day.
- Use CFL bulbs they are more energy saving than regular bulbs
- If possible use night lights in the bathroom, so if you have to use the bathroom at night, you don’t have to turn on the light.
- Use rechargeable batteries for electronics and toys.
- Store batteries in the refrigerator. They last longer.
- Energy prices (gas and electricity) have gone totally mad now and you can save a tidy sum if you make sure you are getting the best deal. If you are in the UK, you can make use of “which?switch” – which is a free energy switching service.
- Which?switch also compares over 20 suppliers and have a simple online switching service you can use. In 2010 the average Which?Switch user saved £270 on their annual energy bill.
- During winter don’t forget you can insulate yourself too – wearing warm clothes and layers can reduce heating bills – vests, legwarmers under jeans and cosy slippers all make a huge difference! And you won’t constantly need to have the heater on.
- You can buy special insulation sheets to put behind radiators to reflect the heat back into them. Cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil does this too.
So what did you think of the above energy saving tips? Cool right? I thought so!
I would definitely be trying the new tips I discovered :o)
What energy saving tips do you use at home? Please share in the comments section below.
Ronke Odewumi, is a fashion designer. She currently blogs at http://esteribyenii.blogspot.com/
