There are plenty of ways to save electricity and a lot of them involve appliances because these consume the most in your household. Some of the heavyweights are the refrigerator, computers, air conditioning units, dishwashers, ovens, clothes iron, washing machine, and more. The dilemma is that most of them have functions which you just cannot live without.
However, you can certainly reduce the electricity they consume without affecting much of your lifestyle and daily necessities. After all, it is Summer, and apart from beaches and vacations, that time of the year also brings electricity price hikes.
Here are some tips on how to make your home appliances use less electricity.
Unplug the appliances
This might get tedious especially if you constantly slip in and out of using these appliances, like the computer or television. But you can actually save quite a considerable amount of electricity when devices are not plugged in.
It is because most appliances that have their own plug also have a standby mode which usually gets triggered when they are powered off. Think of it as backup electricity for when they need to be turned back on. To make this easier, you could just plug the appliances into a heavy-duty extension cord and unplug the cord when you are not using the appliances.
Look for a good energy rating on your appliances
This one is for people who are looking to replace some of their old appliances or buy ones they do not have. Always check the energy rating of these appliances, more stars usually mean better efficiency and that means they use less electricity to operate.
However, do not by any means, pick a bigger device with a better rating than a smaller device which is perfect for your usage. Bigger devices generally have better ratings because they consume more energy. Smaller devices which have worse ratings are not so bad depending on your need because they typically consume less energy, this is particularly true for air conditioning units.
Washing machines are different
When it comes to these appliances, the front-loader washing machines are usually better than top-loaders. They use less water and less electricity, making them better for your electricity savings and the environment as well. They do cost more than top loaders, but they also use less soap, that’s a lot of savings.
Cool your house
It is a well-known fact that hotter appliances use more electricity in order to cool back down. So keeping the ambient temperature in your house low should make them less hot and therefore reduce their need for self-cooling, and that means less electricity consumption.
Sometimes, you do not even need an A/C unit for this, just open your windows at night and close them in the morning to trap the cold air in should do the trick. Proper ventilation keeps things cool, after all. A thermostat also helps if you are using air conditioning, though don’t set the temperature target too low or you will love your savings on cool appliances. A recommended thermostat of 20-25 degrees Celsius should keep things quite cool.