Cutting your household’s carbon footprint doesn’t have to be a huge commitment. Making a few small adjustments to your family’s day-to-day habits can help you to greatly reduce your utility bill – and your family’s environmental impact.
1. Observe Off-Peak Hours
Performing certain cleaning activities, such as doing laundry and washing dishes, outside of peak usage times can also reduce your monthly power bill.
This method is applicable to any energy source, but you’ll likely save more by reducing your electricity consumption.
In most cases, peak hours take place when the weather is at its most extreme level during the day. This might be midday during the summer, and early morning or evening during the winter months.
Turning your AC off for a couple of hours each day, or bundling up instead of running the heater, can shave hundreds from your power bill.
2. Conduct a Home Energy Audit
Measuring how much energy your household uses is your key to understanding how to minimize your footprint.
Your power bill could be considerably reduced by getting rid of common energy wasters such as:
- Leaky faucets
- Standby power
- Faulty wiring
- Old equipment
- Inefficient devices
Performing a home energy audit can also help you to develop better habits by showing you where you can make improvements.
Small changes, like keeping an eye on your thermostat and timing showers, can make a large impact over time.
Home energy efficiency is also useful that will help you keep your household’s energy consumption to a minimum.
3. Install Smart Plugs
On average, a standard household pays around $200 per year in unnecessary usage costs. This comes as a result of “vampire load,” which is energy waste that’s accumulated from leaving devices plugged in when they aren’t in use.
Smart plugs are enabled devices that can perform a variety of energy-saving functions like electricity monitoring and remote scheduling.
These devices can help you determine the best time to use your electronics, how much energy they’re using, and if they’re running efficiently.
Using smart plugs to moderate idle electricity use is one way to effortlessly add more money into your pocket.
4. Use a Water Timer
A typical person uses 80 to 100 gallons of water throughout the day. This includes water used for cleaning, cooking, and personal care.
Most of us are probably unaware of how much water we use – or should be using – in a single day.
If you aren’t timing how long your showers usually last, or how long it takes for you to water the long, then you could be losing hundreds of gallons of water each week.
5. Make a Cleaning Plan
Do you ever run the dishwasher before it’s completely full? Or, do you wash the dishes under a running tap?
When and how you clean your house can also have a considerable impact on your home’s efficiency.
Running the dishwasher too often or using the sink at the wrong time can add more than you might expect to your utility bills.
A little research can go a long way. Finding out peak usage times, as well as the amount of water or electricity you should be using for each task, will help you to prevent energy waste throughout your entire home.
Taking a few steps to make your residence more conscious and efficient can improve your home’s resale value, your household budget, and your family’s understanding of their own environmental impact. Consider taking a look at your habits regarding energy use to find out where you can reduce waste.