Home energy conservation

[explorer]

I need to figure out how to conserve some energy in my house. The electric bill has been skyrocketing. Is there anything I can do or use that will help me save electricity and money?

[maxkone]

A couple quick and inexpensive things my wife and I did a couple years ago in our house was to get a programmable thermostat and replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent ones.

If you don't yet have one, a programmable thermostat can save you a ton on heating a cooling bills by having it automatically adjust the temperature for certain times of day. For instance, we tell it to allow the house to get a bit warmer during the day in the summer when we're at work and not at home. Then about 30 minutes before we usually get home, it knows to kick back on so the house is temperate again when we arrive. It's simple, but it saves you a lot of money.

Fluorescent replacements are a no-brainer, especially in utility or outdoor area. We have a photocell light post in our front yard that is on all night long. Cost a lot of money with an incandescent bulb. Replaced it with a fluorescent one and immediately noticed it in the bill. Granted, in more "color-sensitive" areas like bathrooms or the kitchen, we still have incandescent or halogen. But I know LED bulbs are starting to make their way from being "accent-only" lights into being suitable for "general illumination". They have MUCH better efficiency and potentially much better color rendering than fluorescent bulbs. They more expensive, but it could be worth looking in to.

[sweetR22]

Unplug your electronics when they are not in use. Even when they are "off" many are still wasting energy- which is bad for the environment and your electricity bill. A cell phone charger alone wastes 40% energy when it is plugged in. So get in the habit of unplugging them, this could really help you out!

[maxkone]

A cell phone charger alone wastes 40% energy when it is plugged in.

Oooh, I'm guilty of that one! I just keep the charger plugged in all the time and plug in the cell phone whenever I need to. I guess I never even thought about it.

[sweetR22]

Yea, unplugging is huge. Also there is some thing called "green power" technology that I have recently heard about that is supposed to help conserve energy. It works by cutting power to specific devices that normally keep using it, even when they're off. Try checking out products that use it and use them!

[BranislavaCille]

AC was introduced to transfer electricity more efficiently over long distances, it wouldn't really be needed in a home system. Since most home systems produce DC, it gets turned to usable AC with a significant loss of energy.

[ribonzz]

Well households like ir conditioner, refrigerator, and other else are using lot of energies.. It should be conservated, and there is a converter technology that will reduce the use of the energy when it don't really needed..

[Luke Scott]

I use my AC sometimes But I try to just use the fan if possible. My Girlfriend though is all crazy and needs AC....