Reduce Energy Consumption in the Home: Simple Habits for Big Impact

How can you reduce energy consumption in your home? The more energy you can save, the less you’ll pay for electricity, gas, and water every month.

Using energy comes with inherent responsibilities. To quote Ben Parker from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” You might not think of electricity, running water, or gas-powered appliances as having great power, but compared to people living 100 years ago, you’ve got great power in your home.

How will you conserve energy and reduce your overall consumption at home? Here are some great suggestions.

Change some of your daily habits

Now that you’re paying your electric and water bills, you might realize why your parents were always telling you to close the refrigerator door, turn off lights, and stop running water when not necessary. Some great ways to save energy include turning off lights when you don’t need them, hang-drying your clothes, and washing dishes by hand. If you have a habit of running the water while brushing your teeth, turn off the water until you need it. If you can get used to warmer indoor temperatures in the summer and cooler temperatures in the winter, you can run your air conditioner and heater less and save some energy as well.

Switch to LEDs

Your light bulbs use a lot of energy. You’ve probably got many light bulbs around your house, and if you change to LEDs, you’ll quickly reduce energy consumption in your home. LEDs use 25-80% less electricity than traditional bulbs and often last 3-25 times longer. This means you can change to LEDs and have more light, use less energy, and replace the bulbs less often. The only drawback is the slightly higher initial cost of these bulbs.

Use a programmable thermostat

When you install a smart thermostat, such as the Google Nest or Ecobee models, you’ll save a lot on your energy bills during the year. Does your home need to remain at your comfortable temperature when you’re not there? This should only be a “yes” answer if others are home or you have pets that stay at home while you work. Otherwise, you can remotely adjust the thermostat and save hundreds of dollars per year.

Change to a tankless water heater

Most homes have water heaters which are large tanks of heated water waiting to be used. These devices must continually heat the water to maintain a consistent temperature. Tankless water heaters are energy efficient and could be a good choice if you have a small family. Another option is a heat pump water heater, which is one o the most efficient ways to heat your water, which is a much better alternative to a traditional water heater.

Create a weather barrier for your home

A small crack around a door or window can be a huge waste of energy. If you want to reduce energy consumption in your home, make sure your doors and windows are sealed and don’t have any cracks or gaps where the outside air can get in. This is one of the best and easiest ways to make sure you home is as energy efficient as possible. Its pretty easy to replace a bit of weatherstripping around a door or window to make sure it doesn’t allow excess air in.

Wash your clothes in cold water

Whenever you can, use cold water to wash your clothes in your washing machine instead of hot water. When you use hot water the energy used to heat cold water during a wash cycle is about 90 percent of the energy use during that cycle. Some reports show that washing your clothes in cold water can increase the lie of your clothes, which is a huge win-win. The cold water cycle uses much less energy, making it easy to be efficient.

Use smaller appliances whenever possible

When you’re heating up food, use a toaster oven or air fryer rather than your full-size oven. Even if your oven has an air fryer setting, it’s going to use a lot more energy than the smaller appliance. When you want to reduce your energy consumption in your home, using smaller appliances makes the most sense. Microwaves are the most energy-efficient way to reheat food and should be used as the first choice when you want to heat up something that was already prepared.

These are only seven ways to reduce energy consumption in your home. You might find other great ways to save water, electricity, or gas. Ask your local utility providers to perform a no-cost energy audit to help you know where you need to improve your habits and home to be more energy efficient.