By Dr. Kavita
Energy costs have escalated over the past couple of years and people are worried about how to cut energy costs. Today’s post discusses a few workable tips that can contribute towards lower energy costs and bills each month.
Invest some time
Each day when people are leaving their offices/work places and homes, there are so many gadgets and switches left on. This is an utter waste of electricity. It is a good practice to train employees to use energy efficiently. The same holds good for home energy consumption as well. Before retiring for the night, spend some time in making sure that all of the electrical gadgets and switches are off, if they are not in use. This one simple strategy could cut energy costs and lower your bills by as much as ten percent.
Regular maintenance
Not many people find it necessary to get their electrical gadgets checked by a professional, but regular maintenance is very important for optimum energy usage. Electrical gadgets and equipments should be serviced every year, even if they appear to be in good working condition in order to prolong the life of the equipments and also for reduced energy consumption. Regular maintenance could add another eight to ten percent toward lowering energy bills. Often the cost of the maintenance check is much lower and nets a gain in the effort toward cutting energy cost.
Avoid factors that increase humidity
Humidity has an important relation to room temperature. Air conditioners usually work overtime to cool rooms with higher levels of humidity. This means excessive consumption of energy as well. Leaving the floors wet after mopping will increase the humidity. So will hanging your wet laundry to dry in the room. Avoid doing anything that increases the moisture level of the rooms, when you plan to use the air conditioner.
Close doors and windows
It is far easier for your air conditioner to cool and your heater to heat the room when the windows and doors are kept closed. Leaving either of them open will allow outside air to rush in to the room. This air is definitely many degrees warmer / cooler than your room air. When your heating / cooling equipments have to deal with this constant mixing of air with different temperatures, they use up more energy to produce optimal cooling / heating results.
So, always make it a point to keep the room sealed as far as possible while using the air conditioner/heater.
Avoid using heaters and coolers together
Many a time you use your air conditioner to cool the room, but you also have switched on certain electrical equipments here that emit heat. For example, you are using your oven along with the air conditioner. This can put a heavy load on your air conditioner and it guzzles energy in order to cool the room efficiently. Avoid mixing such equipments which produce contradicting results.
Ensuring that these simple steps are taken each time you use your electrical appliances and gadgets can help in reducing your monthly energy costs by a considerable amount.
Leave a Reply