Most of your time awake may be spent at the office but the best place to begin saving energy and hard-earned money is at home. This article provides a few tips on how to save, save, save at home.
- Replace light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Air dry dishes rather than using the dishwasher's drying cycle
- Turn off your computer and monitor when it is not in use
- Use Energy Star appliances and products if possible
- Take advantage of PG&E's offer to do a free energy-saving audit on your home or property
- Before summer or winter arrives, take some time to check your home or property's insulation
- Clean or replace filters and ducts -- you'd be surprised how much energy is wasted due to dust and clogs
- Position trees to insulate the home during the summer and winter
- Whole-house fans work wonders without the need of the air conditioning
- When using air conditioning units, set them far apart from energy producing equipment, such as TVs and computers
For a more comprehensive list of tips on how to save energy, fight climate change, and save money while doing it, visit our other article: "Best Ways to Bring Green Into Your Life"
Here are some more useful websites on saving energy at home. Some were created and funded by non-profit organizations, others area for-profit companies, and others are government funded. All in all they are all great resources when it comes to finding more ways to improve your energy efficiency at home.
Home Energy Saver - helps in a simple audit of your home's energy usage and suggesting ways to customize an energy saving plan for you and your family.
U.S. Department of Energy - At this government site, it mainly focuses on the political isuses and current news regarding energy efficiency. However, this site also has a portion dedicated to helping the homeowner save energy at home. There are tips, there are articles, there are resources. They are categorized in different categories of energy use to make for easier perusal.
Energy Star - Energy Star also provides a simple audit for your home that you can do from the convenience of your chair. They also provide other tips and articles regarding energy efficiency.
PG&E - You can also find a simple energy usage auditing tool here.
Hopefully this article has been able to provide you with some much needed and sought after information in the ways of energy conservation. The best method of fighting global warming and maintaining our world as we know it to be now, is just to prevent and avoid the overusage of our Earth's resources. Saving energy is a great place to start our fight and if it helps us save a few bucks in the process, even better.
