Summer is perfect for getting outside, heading to the beach, or just spending a lazy afternoon around the house. Along with longer days and lots of sun, summer has a way of causing electricity rates to rise as the heat and the less than cost-effective habits of many cause people to spend unnecessarily.
Far too often, increased consumption goes unnoticed until the end of the month when individuals receive their bills, but it is time to change that. There are a number of simple ways to use less and save more when it comes to electricity.
To begin saving electricity today, consider these easy tips.
Open Your Windows
Many people have the habit of using the air conditioning as their go-to countermeasure when things start to heat up in their homes. Especially at night when hot bedrooms make it difficult to sleep, regulating the temperature within homes is natural. Doing so however, comes at a price.
This summer, instead of beating the heat in your home by manipulating the thermostat, consider simply opening up a window. In the day, this is a great way to avoid peak energy usage hours that cause an even greater cost. At night, opening your window is a great way to make your room cooler, as the overall temperature outside takes a nice dip. This coupled with the elimination of the heat that comes from your lights being on makes for ideal sleeping conditions.
Use Your Blinds
While blinds and drapes do make for decorative window dressings that can make a room pop, their functional use can play a significant role in helping to keep electricity costs lower. The reason for this is that when obstructing the sunlight that makes its way into homes through windows, blinds and drapes are able to block out or absorb the rays.
What this does is helps to keep the temperature within rooms lower while also lessening the heat within the entire house. The typical solution for a hot home is air conditioning, which can be an electricity draining endeavor. Covering windows helps to keep that to a minimum.
This is particularly important within rooms that may not be used frequently, as it is easy to forget to cover windows, allowing heat to enter the home through them. To start saving money now, be sure to block out your windows.
Cook Outside
Summertime weather is among the best of the year and it provides everyone with a welcomed bit of freedom. Not only does it inspire people to get outside more, it also presents the opportunity to indulge in some other luxuries, namely grilling.
But what most people consider to be a family fun event is actually a great way to save on electricity. Staying inside and cooking on the likes of an electric oven demand a lot of power, causing costs to go up. It doesn’t stop there either as the heat generated from the process of cooking spreads out from the oven and into our homes, demanding we take other energy draining measures to decrease the temperature.
By grilling, individuals are able to eliminate all of these costs. Eating outside presents another opportunity, as it allows you to briefly cut the need for energy that you regularly consume during your indoor activities.
Proper Fan Use
To beat the heat, some people will wisely use fans instead of the air conditioner to minimize the warmth they feel. While this alone is a great way to reduce the electricity needed to keep cool, all too often people still manage to waste a bit of electricity by unnecessarily running their fans.
What many fail to realize is that fans are devices that circulate the air within rooms. Unlike with A/C, they do not actually affect the temperature meaning that they are only useful when you are within a space to feel that circulation. Powering fans down when you are no longer in a space will not only ensure that you are optimizing their abilities, it will also go a long way in cutting wasteful electricity use.
Invest in a Smart Thermostat
So much of electricity consumption in the summer comes from the constant adjustments we make to the thermostat. Unfortunately, with a number of moving parts and variables it can be difficult to get the most out of your cooling without using a lot of energy.
Luckily, there are a series of smart devices that are growing in prevalence that can help in keeping the temperature of your home to your liking without wasting energy.
One such device is a smart thermostat, a device that is able to learn your temperature preferences and regulate itself, maintaining your house the way you like it. It will note the general patterns in temperature change, allowing it to create a cooling schedule.
Many of these devices have apps as well that will allow you to look at your electricity consumption in real time, as well as manipulate the thermostat remotely. And during periods when you sleep or are out, the device can adjust temperatures to use less energy, requiring no effort from you at all.
