Low Impact Living: 10 Ways to Cut Home Energy Consumption
Editor’s note: Our friends at Low Impact Living point out 10 ways you can save energy this summer. This post was originally published on June 10th, 2008.
The heat of summer is coming, and that means many of us are about to crank up the AC, make an extra batch of ice, and generally burn energy like it’s our job. But we need all need to continue to try to conserve as much energy as possible to conserve resources and slow the march of global warming. And we get to save money at the same time–woo hoo to that!
Here are the ten things we can all do at home to cut our energy consumption. We start out nice and easy, then ramp up to some extra-credit methods at the end of the list for you Climate Crusaders.
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1. Resist the urge to live in a refrigerator.
78 degrees is plenty cool in the house. Turn down the AC and get a programmable thermostat so you’re only cooling the house when you really need to.
2. Air dry your dishes and clothes.
The dryer and dish washer use a lot of energy– and the air does the drying job just as well. See some great clothes-drying racks here.
3. Take shorter showers and do not take baths.
Hot water heating is one of the major uses of energy in any home. Showers are the way to go– and keep ‘em short. Baths use much more water and heat than do baths (unless you’re taking 30 minute showers!).
4. Make sure you have energy-efficient lighting throughout your home.
Everyone has heard about compact fluorescent lights by now– but are you up to date on LED lights? Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have come a long way, baby, and they are often 10 times more efficient than compact fluorescents.
5. Ditch the beer fridge.
It’s amazing how many homes have two refrigerators. Please do not use more than one fridge. And if you have an old model, get a newer Energy Star model.
6. Use ceiling fans rather than AC.
They are much more energy-efficient and you can get very reasonably priced Energy Star models.
7. Get solar screens for your windows.
These screens cut 75% of the heat coming through your windows, but don’t impact your visibility. They are really great energy savers. See them here.
8. Plant trees!
Placing deciduous trees on the South side of your home is a great way to block summer heat, but keep the sun shining on your home in the winter when you need the warmth.
9. Spend one night each week in candlelight.
It’s romantic, fun and inspires new conversation. If you’ve got kids, how about turning off the TV one night and playing a board game by candlelight? Clue would be particularly spooky!
10. Use a solar oven for some cooking.
They really work! You don’t want that hot oven on in your house anyway. You can either buy a solar oven, or you can learn to make one yourself. It’s another fun summer activity to do with your kids.
** #11: For the truly hard core, here’s a great tip I learned in Africa.
If you don’t have or don’t use AC, at night you can wet a scarf or towel or sheet and lay it on your chest. The evaporative cooling effect will really do the trick for you. Sleep tight!
Photo Credit: m.gifford’s photostream via Flicker, Under Creative Commons License
Regarding the wet sheet trick… forget it. It won’t do much good. Instead, use ice-packs - the one’s with the blue gel inside. I do that after mowing the lawn and it never fails.
Forced into early retirement by illness, found survival difficult on smaller pension than expected. Changed lifestyle. Sold cars, bought a used bike, got very small home in a village with a garden in back yard. Bought a pressure canner, one then two small freezers. Switched from expensive Microsoft to free Ubuntu. Bought digital camera and retired my beloved 35mm film camera and now collect .jpgs.Took up fishing from shore for fun and food. Searched web for gardening, freezing, drying and canning methods. Applied all above as well as shopping at thrift stores, going to public library, going for healthy walks and hikes. Put more money in the bank this year than during any of my working years and am really enjoying my new freedom life! We have no idea how much we pay to use oil, it is simply not worth it - We have been sold a ‘bill of goods’ and let it get entrenched in our lives. P.S. I bought a lot of Fords in my lifetime and I never got the pretty girl on the hood, not even once! but I sure got some rusty old bodies!
As a kid growing up in Louisiana, it was often too hot to sleep at night even with a fan blowing right on you. I often did the trick with the wet washcloth, just sort of wiping down arms and legs every once in a while until I drifted off to sleep. It’s actually kind of a pleasant way to drift off.
the other name for a swamp cooler is evaporative cooler. i live on the east side of the sierras in bishop, ca. at 4000 ft, this is high desert(low humidity). we have been in the 90’s all week. i have a big window mount swamp cooler and it works great–cools the whole downstairs and improves the upstairs a bit. i also have ceiling fans in most rooms. the combo is unbeatable in low humidity places. my electric bill was $40 last month for lights, frig, dishwasher, tiny euro clotheswasher (we mostly hang dry)charging my electric bike, and the swamp cooler. very cool!
blessings,
emmer
It’s the longest day of the year - the start of summer and it’s perishing cold in here, and freezing cold outside. Brrr. But putting a jumper on is cheaper than turning the heating on!
My family unplugs practically everything in the house when we are not home or in a particular room. We have a 14 room house, we managed to reduce our electricity bill from $300 and change to $84! The only appliance that remains plugged in is the refrigerator. The microwave is one of the main culprits remains unplugged most of the time. ^_^
Our home is just over 6,000 sq. ft. & we have 4 units running 24/7,
@Judy - unless there are at least a dozen people in your family you aren’t going to be living very green in a 6000 square ft house. That is like the equivalent of 4 normal American homes.
I’m not sure how cost is figured for electricity but lets put it this way: My sister and her husband live just across the hall and religiously follow the 78* thing, me and my fiance however live in our very comfortable refrigerator at 70*. We used the A/C a lot more this month and they used incredibly less so yet our electric bill was cheaper than theirs. :-/
When taking a shower, use the water briefly on full to wet down, then cut it to a trickle (or off) while you’re soaping/washing yourself; then turn the water back on full to quickly rinse and save even more.
If you can’t have an outdoor clothes line, indoor drying racks work really well. It takes a little longer to dry, but I think it’s worth waiting a couple of days for dry clothes without spending a penny vs. folding super hot clothes in the summer heat!!