We are now aware of how important it is to care for the environment. Every time you use green energy around your house, you contribute to a healthier environment and also save yourself some money. Read on for good information about utilizing green energy resources at home.
Solar panels are an easy addition to your home that helps you and your family go green. However, before you do this, there are a few things that you need to take care of. The most important consideration is how much your home is exposed to sunlight. You can’t take as much advantage of solar energy if your house gets a lot of shade rather than sun.
Are you living on a farm? If you have a farm or know the owner of a farm, you may be able to rent some land to a utility company for installing a wind turbine. Everyone surrounding the area where these turbines are installed are sure to benefit, and the installation doesn’t take up that much space.
Never run a dishwasher that is partly empty. The dishwasher uses the same energy when full that it uses when empty, but you’ll have to run it less often. Run your dishwasher using the energy-saving mode so that you can air-dry dishes and save energy.
Be sure you maintain your refrigerator properly. With the fridge being a top energy consumer in the home, maintenance is important for efficiency. The heating coils should be cleaned regularly to remove the accumulated dust. Make sure door seals are clean and tight.
Make your home energy-efficient with products that conserve power. Examples of these include windows, light bulbs, and appliances, all of which have been designed to run efficiently on reduced energy. Utilizing these kinds of products permits you to reduce the costs of cooling and heating your home.
A good way to save on your electric bill is to switch to a laptop computer rather than using a desktop. You can save a ton of electricity by using a laptop. Both the Internet and most word processing software packages use a lot of energy on desktop computers, so getting a laptop can really save money if you use these features. Another benefit of the laptop is that it’s portable, so it can be used anywhere.
Solar Oven
Try using a solar oven for your baking needs. It’s fairly easy to make a solar oven using a discarded window box lined with foil to reflect the heat. You can reach an oven temperature of 300 degrees or more without using any other source of energy besides the sun. It only takes a few minutes to build a solar oven.
You can use bio-fuels to heat your house. Biofuels contain wood, oil and fat. In most cases, if you have a propane furnace, you can hire someone to switch it out to be able to use biofuel. This is between 20 to 99% biodiesel. Talk to a professional before you use these types of fuels so you can do it safely.
If you really want to take a bit out of your fuel consumption, try making more extensive use of carpools, even to destinations other than the office. If you have children, organize a carpooling system with your neighbors and trade off driving days among all the participating parents. If you are near friends and family, go food shopping together and take turns driving.
Switching out your boiler for a newer, more efficient model can be a great way to save energy. Boilers that are more than a few years old were not made to conserve energy, while many modern boilers are quite efficient. Not only can they shave money off your energy bill, but they benefit your health by releasing less carbon dioxide.
Get a water-saving toilet. Up to 50% of your home’s water is used by the toilets in your home. An older model of toilet might use up to 5 gallons per flush, as compared to a lean 1.6 gallons for a water-saving model.
Try bamboo products when buying wood items. Bamboo is actually a grass but is very green and actually much stronger than most woods that are commercially available. Because it is fast-growing, bamboo resources are easier to replenish than slow-growing trees. This saves energy on both the production and reclamation ends of the manufacturing process.
Your electric company is probably eager to help you start saving energy today. Some of the websites of these companies contain tools to show you the amount of energy you use. They may also provide you with advice on how to cut your energy costs and electricity usage. Also check out programs they offer to help with the purchase of energy efficient appliances and light bulbs.
Use automatic motion detection sensors for lighting in your rooms. They will turn off lights when people aren’t in the room. Make sure your garage has outdoor lighting, as well.
You can actually save a lot of money for your home if you invest into a programmable thermostat, your energy bill will definitely feel the difference. With their pre-programmed settings, these thermostats are capable of regulating the temperature within your home during both the winter and summer months. You are also able to program these thermostats to regulate day and night hours temperatures.
Reducing lighting usage should be a top priority. In months that are brighter, leave lights off until a specific time of day. You can use dimmers to adjust light usage to a lower amount, and timers or sensors can be used to be sure that lights aren’t left on after someone has left a room.
Thawing frozen food in the refrigerator is an unexpected way to save energy. Not only will this safely thaw the food, but also the cold air than emanates from the frozen goods will help the refrigerator to stay cool, reducing overall energy consumption.
Make your carbon footprint smaller and use less energy by using some of the great ideas above to show that you care about the environment. Just seeing the cost savings mount up is a great motivator.