Want to cut your energy use and also your energy costs - these tips will help you out.

7 Ways Of Lowering Your Electric Costs

1. Go Solar

Switching to solar may seem like one of the apparent options when it comes to lowering your power costs at home, but it is still worth a mention. On the one hand, you will have to pull out your wallet when getting the solar power setup, but the costs are affordable especially when looking at things from a long-term perspective. It is estimated that a household that switches to solar power saves tens of thousands of dollars over the solar power system's tenure.

You can check if there is a solar leasing option within your location which you can resort to and avoid purchasing the entire system therein saving money. One of the recent energy efficiency studies showed that homes that the average middle-class home that uses the solar leasing saves around $600 annually.

The sun will never fail to shine, even if not very bright and our dependence on electricity is predictable. Therefore, you can rely on a never-ending power source and manage to know the much you can save when you opt to switch to solar power. Alternatively, you can get help with the estimates so that you are better convinced of changing to solar.

2. Switch To LEDs

As you make plans to harness the power of the sun, you also should ensure your lighting options are in line with such ambitions. For this, you need to lower the power demands of your lights, and this means installing LED bulbs. The incandescent one may help to warm up the place buy they use up a lot of electricity and will overwork your solar energy power reserves. Things are relatively cheaper with LED lighting since most of the LED bulbs are affordable and present highly efficient green lighting that can last for years.

LEDs do not have mercury; thus they are very safe for use in various applications. And switching to the LEDs cuts the mercury pollution emanating from the coal power plants. Some people may argue that CFLs are also an energy-efficient option, but they do have some amount of mercury which can be an issue of concern for some people. Therefore, LEDs are the only safe guarantee for green lighting in your home.

LED technology keeps advancing, and the costs keep coming down; this will see them quickly replace CFL and incandescent bulbs in most homes. The prices of LED lighting has dropped by nearly 85% since 2008, and the number of homes in the U.S. using LEDs has risen from 400,000 then to almost 20 million. So, the LED technology is a revolution.

3. Limit Your Dependency On The AC

Heating and cooling are essential elements in any home, yet the ACs hog a considerable amount of the power. People have become overly dependent on the HVAC that they see no need of adjusting their environments.

Is it common to be indoor in a setting that is so cold to point where you need to have more clothes on just to warm up yet the weather outside is warm or hot! Well, that should not come as a surprise, because it is a norm in some homes. They are spending thousands of dollar annually to freeze themselves indoors.

The ideal thing is to have a smart thermostat that helps set and adjust the indoor temperatures accordingly to what your body find comfortable. If blowing air on yourself will require some energy, how much more is needed to turn the hot indoor air into a chilly state? Give it some thought. The human body has a natural response to environmental changes thus can to detect the surroundings and adjust accordingly.

The same power consumption applies when heating the home, and can even shoot higher. Rather than rushing to run the AC, just wear more warm clothes and allow your body to adjust to the cool conditions as you walk around the house. Let the heater run for less a few minutes if you really must crank up the heating for a while.

4. Unplug! Do Not Use Electricity When It is Not In Use

We usually forget to unplug most of our devices once were are done using them and can at times leave them there for hours or days. Phone chargers, the PlayStation, TV, DVD players, Radio, and the AC are some of common electric appliances and gadgets we forget to unplug from our sockets. You may think that they are on standby or powered down, but they still to use up some electricity even when they seem dormant. Gaming consoles and DVRs are perfect examples of electricity-needy devices when not in use.

If you are not using them, remember to unplug them before you shift your attention to something else. Also, make it a habit to check your plugs and sockets before you leave the house. For the HVAC system, you can opt to leave it turned off if you are out for several days. Alternatively, you can invest in energy-saving plugs that can cut any siphoning of power by electric devices that are in standby mode. Cut these down and use energy comparison sites to slash your bill.

5. Ditch Those Overly Old Electric Appliances

At times, we need to spend a little in the right places if we are to start saving. It is a philosophy to uphold when it comes to old home appliances such as the oven, fridge, and washing machine. The equipment is often based on outdated energy standards and thus will hog a lot of the energy in your home. Some do not even work as efficiently as they used to, so it would be better replacing them with something new.

If you have more than multiple appliances of the same function and purpose, you can do with just one. For instance, having two fridges in your home makes little sense. Refrigerators tend to consume a lot of energy and having a big one only presents aesthetical gains with less of anything else. It is common to find such fridge with empty sections, and this only causes the appliance to work hard just to cool empty space.

Do the wise thing; upgrade your appliance to some of the latest energy-efficient equipment available today. You will be spending so that you can make significant savings on a long-term scale.

6. Again, Do Upgrades

Think of it this way, you are doing away with something that is always acting up and needing repairs every other time, something that has worn out and lost is beauty, and something that is just there with no use. So the upgrades are an opportunity to let go of the many things that you are hogging in your home that only clutter the place and to get new products that are better and are energy-efficient thus lowering your monthly or annual power costs.

Just seat and do the math to figure out with products to get. Think along the lines of appliances that can do two or more things at the same time because such machines are usually designed to be energy-efficient.

For instance, you can upgrade that old AC to something new that some with a smart thermostat that can learn your preference and help manage the heating and cooling of your home more efficiently and lower the energy consumption.

7. Move, Relocate

Moving may seem like a far-fetched solution to your energy costs, but it is a valid option worth considering. For instance, you can opt to move into a smaller space or one that offers you adequate energy-efficient options. Why stay in a rundown place that is always bogged down by electricity problems such as faulty wiring or crumbling power connections? Relocating can be a chance to make significant life changes that also aid in lowering your energy costs.


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