Winter is here, and here are the best tips and tricks to keep your energy bills down!
Someone once said that a father becomes a dad when he starts freaking out about who touched the thermostat. You probably have this dad or know him – the one who starts guarding the thermostat like Tim Howard sometime around Halloween. “Why are we heating the whole neighborhood?!” he would yell when someone left the door open. But once you get your first utility bill of the cold season you suddenly understand. Some of us call our dads to apologize and others call to ask for money. At any rate, it’s no secret that energy bills skyrocket during the winter months; here’s why:
- The obvious – turning up your heat increases your electricity bill if you have electric heat.
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- Try keeping your thermostat at a constant temperature; it takes less energy to keep your apartment at a constant 68° than it does to heat it back up to 68° every evening when you get home from work
- Those long hot showers. Ever think about where all that hot water comes from?
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- Try keeping hot showers short, or think about taking a warm shower instead of a scalding one
- Your washer and dryer. This one isn’t something most people think of right off the bat!
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- Try washing clothes in ‘cold’ or ‘cool’ cycles instead of ‘hot’ ones, and always wait until you have a full hamper of laundry before doing a load. As for the dryer, unless you need something dry right this very minute for your first Hinge date that you’re already late for, maybe don’t dry all your laundry on the highest heat setting.
- Lights. Maybe you can hear your father’s voice in the back of your head yelling ‘turn the lights off!’ when you leave your apartment every day. But each lightbulb is costing you up to $0.75 per hour!
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- Make sure all unnecessary lighting is turned off. Your cat can see as well in the dark as in the light, so don’t worry about it!
- Appliances. Known as phantom load, vampire draw, and standby power, all appliances consume electricity even when off, or not in use, and this can account for as much as 20% of your monthly electricity bill.
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- This means blow dryers, hair straighteners, curling wands, Keurigs, toaster ovens, easy-bake ovens, electric shavers, dehumidifiers, wax melty thingies, etc. Try unplugging these when not in use.
- Lightbulbs – Should you feel so inclined, replace old lightbulbs with energy-efficient ones.
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- Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) typically use about a third of the energy of a traditional incandescent bulb, while ENERGY STAR-qualified CFLs use about a quarter of the energy and last ten times as long as the traditional incandescent bulb.
- Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are even more efficient – an ENERGY STAR-qualified LED bulb uses around a quarter of the energy and lasts 15-25 times longer than the traditional incandescent bulb. Although they are more expensive, they tend to pay for themselves ten times over during their lifetime.