Simple Changes And Habits To Save Energy At Home [Week 19]
Amanda Drews, 9 minute read
With some good habits and simple changes, you can save lots of energy at home.
Last week for our 52 Week Challenge, we talked about some choices you have with the structure of your home to make it more energy efficient. This week let’s look at some of the little changes we can make and the habits we can get into to save a bit more energy. Let’s go beyond yelling at your kids to turn off the lights! I mean… that is a thing to do but there are so many more choices we make everyday when it comes to saving energy.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I may earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link or picture and finalize a purchase. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I will always tell you my true opinion of the products I’ve used but I also aim to give you options so you can live your greenest life. Thanks for supporting the site.
Heating and air conditioning
So you’ve gone through your home and tightened up any spaces that could be insulated and sealed off any holes that may let air in or out. Now what?
I live in Minnesota, so maybe it’s just a habit to wake up and check the weather right away in the morning. I want to know what to expect. Sometimes that’s hot and humid, other times it’s sub-zero temps for a week and every once in a while it’s shorts in the morning and snow by nightfall. As part of creating good energy saving habits, knowing what to expect from the day’s weather, would be one good habit to start with.
Check your weather before scrolling through social media or your email in the morning. Ask your Google Home or Alexa or whichever robot you have informing you day to day, what the weather will be while you make coffee. Whatever works for you. Just pick the same time to do it everyday.
Now that you know what to expect for the day, think about what your plans are.
- Will you be at work all day?
- Gone for the week?
- At home with the kids?
- Are there any concerns about temperatures for the pets or people in your home?
- Does the person you live with have the same range for comfortable temperatures?
Think about the temperatures you and the living things in your home can tolerate.
What’s safe and what’s comfortable? My kids and my husband run much hotter than I do. They will be sitting in shorts while I am wrapped up in a blanket. There might be large differences in individual temperature preferences in your home. Have some conversations about where your heating and cooling systems should be set at. Can individuals adjust by adding layers of clothing, investing in an electric blanket or sitting near a fan? This doesn’t automatically mean the odd man out gets the shaft. It’s more about working together to find solutions to make everyone as comfortable as possible in the most efficient way.
When it’s hot out, for every degree you turn down your thermostat, it can save you 5% on the electricity it’s taking to run your AC (applianceanyalysts.com). Experiment with tiny changes in temperatures to see how everyone feels. Take into account if your house will be cooler when the sun goes down.
Could you just prop a window open instead of using energy to heat or cool your house? How about a space heater or a fan? Are you using one small room in the house for most of the day or will you be going throughout the house? A cozy blanket alone can make a big difference. Check out this list of sustainable and ethical blanket companies from Ecocult. Oh and no, you are not too cool to wear a Snuggie style blanket, they’re great! Another item you can frequently find me curled up with in the winter are those microwaveable heat packs. They are usually used for muscle pain but also com in handy to just keep a little bit warmer. Just watch out that they aren’t too hot before putting them on your body! Handemade Heat makes an eco-friendly option.
If you are only staying in one or two small rooms, a space heater may be a more efficient option with the warning that they can pose a risk as a fire hazard. Same with heated blankets. It’s not going to be more energy efficient to just use space heaters everywhere but if you have a specific area you’re usually in and can safely use it, it may be a good energy efficient solution.
Fans cool people, not rooms
If you’re choosing to use a fan to cool down a room, remember to turn it off when you leave. Fans cool you off by producing a wind-chill effect so it doesn’t do much for the room itself for cooling. In the summer, fans should be rotating counterclockwise and in the winter, they should be switched to spinning clockwise (BobVila.com.) Did you even know your fan could change direction?! There should be a little switch on there somewhere.
Smart thermostats
Smart thermostats are a huge step forward toward a more energy efficient home. We recently put in a Google Nest thermostat. You can change your house temperature settings from your Android, iPhone and smart speakers. It has home and away routines set and has comfort, eco and sleep settings. We haven’t had it for very long but so far we have no issues with it.
Timer controlled vent fan
My parents have a vent fan in their bathroom that’s timer controlled. Great idea! You may want to make sure you get whatever stank you left in the bathroom out, but if you forget to go back and turn it off, there’s going to be a lot of energy wasted.
For every cubic foot of air you vent in, that has to exchanged for outside air and then conditioned. In addition to the energy wasted, it can also be a fire hazard if left on for long periods of time. Make sure you routinely clean those vents.
Change your air filters regularly
In addition to keeping your vents clean, set dates in your phone calendar to switch out new air filters every 3 months. If they get dirtier faster, do it more frequently or whatever is recommended based on the model you have. The more gunk you have on your filter, the harder your system will have to work. Some older systems may not work as well with higher MERV rating (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values) filters because it will force them to work harder as well, so check to see if there’s a maximum rating your system can take. Buy more than one at a time so it won’t get put off.
Phantom energy
Phantom energy is all the energy being used by devices that are plugged in but not being currently used themselves. Big offenders are TVs and computers but smaller items like chargers or radios are sucking up this energy as well. It may only end up costing you a couple dollars a year for the convenience of having each these items ready to go at a moment’s notice but it all can add up!
Here are some tips for lightening your phantom energy load:
- Unplug electronics that aren’t being used or are not used frequently.
- Unplug electronics once they are done charging.
- Before you go on a trip, go around your house and unplug electronics.
- Switch your computer screen from an active screensaver to “sleep” mode for when you are not using it.
- Invest in some power strips. If you have multiple items in the same area, a power strip will likely use less phantom energy than the items plugged in. This is great for home charging stations!
- Consider putting electronics on Christmas light timers. This is especially helpful if you know you never use an item during certain hours of the day.
Invest in Energy Star appliances
The Energy Star symbol has grown to be a standard thing you look for when buying large appliances such as refrigerators, washers, dryers, light bulbs and dishwashers. There are even Energy Star ratings for windows and doors. Energy Star is a government backed program aimed at providing certification for appliances that will save you energy and ultimately money. There are often rebates you can receive for buying Energy Star products as well.
Lighting
Traditional incandescent light bulbs are out, LEDs are in as far as saving energy with the lighting around your home. LEDs are now cost effective, more energy efficient and long lasting. However they do emit more blue light than incandescent bulbs.
I know we have talked about light pollution before on here and how LEDs are not the best choice for areas of your home where you want to avoid blue lights, like bedrooms. So here’s another area where we have to make some choices that make sense instead of purely looking at how much energy they save. Check out this guide that gives a good breakdown of each type of lightbulb. Ethicalconsumer.org gives this company their highest rating for LED bulbs:
Water
In general, you want to use less hot water around your home. That way your water heater isn’t working extra hard to catch up. Sometimes hot water is needed for cleaning and disinfecting or if your clothes are really dirty or soiled. Typically you can get by though with washing your clothes on cold. This will also help protect your clothing from shrinkage and color fading. One solution is to make a laundry hamper of clothing that might need that extra boost in temperature and wash all those together. And if you are going for the gold star, dry your clothing on a line whenever possible!
The U.S. Department of Energy recommends setting your water heater between 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything cooler than 120 could introduce bacteria but will save energy and help prevent burns if you have young children. At 140 degrees there will be heat loss which will cost you money but if you don’t have a booster heater on your dishwasher though, setting it on the higher end will be more beneficial for keeping your dishes sanitized. Take all these factors into account and adjust for what your family needs.
Energy source considerations
Finally, think about where your energy is coming from in the first place. Do you have any options to get your energy from a more renewable source? Does your power company offer any discounts for using energy in off-peak times? Sometimes we don’t have much of a choice or options like solar panels might be too big of an up front cost to consider. Look on your energy companies website and see what they have to offer.
- Make it a habit to check the day’s weather and decide what will be the most efficient way to heat or cool your home for the day depending on what you will be doing.
- Think about which rooms are most used in your home and by who. Is there is a more efficient way to heat or cool that person if their needs are different from other members of the household?
- Learn where the switches are on your fans and set seasonal reminders in your phone to switch directions.
- Decide if your thermostat is the most energy efficient and practical one for your home.
- Consider buying a timer controlled vent fan.
- Set dates in your calendar to regularly clean out vents and switch out air filters.
- Take a walk around your house and identify sources of phantom energy. Make a plan for how you can reduce that wasted energy.
- Consider Energy Star appliances when purchasing new ones.
- Decide which light bulbs will be used where in your home and consider more energy efficient ones in areas that could use them.
- Move on to Week 20 to get some tips on how to conserve water around your home.
