The earth’s natural resources are depleting fast. And we are mostly to blame for the same. Our increasing demand for perishables like energy has placed more demands on the environment to supply as with the resources needed to produce the same. At this rate, the earth will soon lose all of its natural resources and become a barren wasteland.
In order to prevent this from happening and to keep the earth habitable for future generations, we would need to make a few conscious decisions on how we use energy in our homes as well as how we can save energy with some smart choices. Accordingly, here are some tips that would enable you to reduce your home’s energy usage to a great extent, thus helping you do your bit to save the environment.
Get an Energy Audit
Get in touch with a public utility to do an energy audit of your home, possibly for free. An energy audit will help you find out how much energy your home uses and offer you with several ideas to reduce the same so that your home’s CO2 emission levels reduce by at least 1000 pounds on an annual basis.
Get CFLs
Standard incandescent light bulbs emit heat and toxic fumes. They also cost a bomb in terms of utility bills. So replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs. Although they may cost extra, CFLs can reduce your energy usage and utility bills to a great extent in the long run. They last longer than incandescent light bulbs while using only a third of the energy used by the latter.
The only thing you would need to be wary of when choosing CFLs is recycling them. CFLs contain faint traces of mercury that still make them dangerous additions to landfills. So get in touch with a local recycling center and have the bulbs recycled instead of throwing them away.
Keep warm in winters minus the thermostat
Feel a little bit cold and your first thought would be to increase the temperature on the thermostat. While this may heat up the room and provide you with the warmth you need, it would increase your energy usage drastically as well. So why not opt for alternatives that can keep you warm without the thermostat?
If you get cold, try wrapping yourself in multiple layers of clothing. This would trap the air inside the layers and heat it enough to provide natural insulation that would keep your body warm.
How about using a hot water bottle to stay warm as well? All you need to warm your body on a quiet, cold evening would be a hot water bottle placed underneath your feet and a warm throw wrapped around your body. You can use as many hot water bottles as you want to keep the cold outside as you warm your body without the need to reach out for the thermostat.
Don’t heat the rooms you don’t use
A huge portion of the heat generated by the furnace in your home is wasted on rooms that your hardly use. Why do you need to spend for the energy used in heating these rooms as well if you don’t plan to stay in them all winter?One way to prevent this energy wastage would be to close the doors and heat vents in these rooms so that the heat generated by the furnace would be directed to other rooms instead. This would, in turn, heat these rooms faster, thus reducing the need for you to crank up your thermostat further. In the long run, this would eventually reduce your energy usage and your utility bills in the process.
Try house pooling
Studies have indicated that those who stay alone in a house contribute to more energy wastage than a house with many individuals. These studies indicate that individuals living alone can consume at least 60% more energy than standard households. So make a conscious decision to reduce this usage by housepooling aka living together with friends or family members rather than living alone.
All of our actions have an immediate effect on the environment. In order to keep the environment safe and healthy for future generations, we would need to use our consciousness as well as these tips to preserve the earth’s resources, including the energy derived from them.
