I was in the middle of putting together a Class Presentation this morning for Lone Star College and thought it could be fun to put together a list of Daily Energy Saving Tips for a Week or Two.
With Summer time coming, get ready for those Electric Bills to skyrocket!!
In your home, there are a ton of Little Things to do (besides changing your light bulbs) that can help you reduce your bill. With this being the first day, let's start with something easy. It shouldn't even take 10 minutes to do.
Phantom Energy Loads - We have a bunch of little things plugged in all the time. Like our Coffee Pot. We can set it to automatically turn off if we forget but the truth is, even when it is off - It is still using Electricity. The majority of Electrical Devices pull what is called a phantom or vampire load when it's off.
Are you a Technology junkie? This will probably help you the most then. Let's take a look at some things we often forget about because these items can be as much as 5% of your Energy bill.
- Ipod Charger
- Laptop Charger
- Cell Phone Charger
- TV's in rooms that we don't use
- Cable Boxes
- Coffee Pots
- Toasters
- Chargers for Electric Drills or other tools
- Electric Toothbrushes or Razors
In an average family of 4 with Technology based items being popular, with 4 cell phones and 4 Ipods, it is pulling quite a bit of energy. Before you leave the house, just go unplug all of them.
If you have little kids, assign one to be the 'Energy Police' for the week. Let them be Mom or Dad's little helper and have them remind you about it.
To learn a little more about Phantom Energy Loads, here is a short article on Treehugger about it.
You are an absolute fountain of wealth when it comes to conservation and green building! I forward your posts to a builder i am working with on a new project! Have a great week!
Good post for savings ideas. Our home is full of plugged in equipment.
Hey Russell! Thanks! Can I recommend to your builder that they put 'charging stations' in the kitchen for small electronics?
This would help folks to remember to unplug them. :0)
Thanks Roy. I took a few minutes to walk around the house one day to see what was plugged in and not being used. It was a LOT of stuff.
Computers are a big energy user. At least have your screens go black when not in use.
Great post... Good reminders :)
Stephanie, like a lot of us, I think I have everything on your list! Time to go through and turn of those power strips in the evenings.
Thanks so much for the tips. I hope you have a great week.
Terry Miller
I never thought about how much thses things use. I have 4 of everything running, I need to be aware of this and thanks for the word.
I notices some of this too..my printer light is always on, my phone is always on, my radio is on standby...little things that we don't think about.
In my house, TV most of the time for my kid and computers, laptops,now his power charge toys for summer. I'll start askin gmy son to be Energy police. Good one.
This is great info. I've recently started unplugging our cell phone chargers when our phones aren't on them just for this reason. Every little bit helps.
I can think of a ton of stuff. DVD player, toaster, blender, even the crock pot get left plugged in but turned off. And it's just laziness. >.<
Hi Stephanie... this must be a cause du jour. I have seen numerous news stories and articles on this topic lately... and Lisa is correct, our failure to simply unplug these devices is simply laziness. Thanks for reminding us all!
Hmmm... Really? I have heard about this but always doubted it to be fact - I will actually test this starting today for the rest of the month and see what happens! I will let you know!