And help save the planet too.
Guest post.
Household budgeting requires a close look at where your money goes.
By breaking your total monthly spending obligation into recognizable categories, like food and housing, it becomes easier to track the flow of cash through your home. For most families, utility bills account for a substantial share of each month’s expenses, especially in cold-weather climates, where home heating costs push energy spending higher.
Managing energy usage can lead to significant savings for families committed to cutting utility costs. In most homes, the sources of waste relate to inefficient infrastructure and careless energy usage habits. By upgrading your home heating system and other inefficient appliances, as well as changing your daily habits, it is possible to trim considerable energy costs from your total monthly tally.
Inefficient Heating Drives Energy Waste
Heating appliances use more energy than lights and other electrical devices. Clothes dryers, ovens, and even hair dryers draw significant current. And nothing generates more IBUs than your heating system, so your home’s boiler or furnace is responsible for a sizable share of winter utility costs. As a result, outdated, inefficient heating units are the source of a significant amount of waste, leading to overspending on utilities.
Upgrading your boiler is an expensive proposition, but savings over time make the effort worthwhile, in the long run. Today’s high-efficiency models operate at greater than 90% efficiency, so replacing your outdated model quickly pays dividends. Any home heating system that is more than ten years old should be evaluated for efficiency and replaced if conditions warrant improvements.
Even if your boiler is relatively modern, you may be able to cut energy use by changing the way you manage heating needs within your home. Programmable thermostats, for example, enable users to pre-program their heating, dialing-in settings to conserve energy. While occupants are at work and the home is empty, thermostat temperatures can be set lower, reducing the call for costly energy. Anticipating occupants’ return, programmed settings activate the heating system, warming your home before you arrive.
Lighting and Electrical Devices
Though heating accounts for substantial energy spending, it is not the only source of energy waste within your home. Your use of lighting, computers, televisions, audio equipment, and a host of other electrical devices also has an impact on your utility bills. Adjusting the way you use electronics may help you conserve power and lower your energy spending. Simply turning-off unused lighting can have dramatic impacts on spending, not to mention the positive gains logged by installing energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
Computers and other electronics have power settings that allow users to keep them in a “ready” state. While the convenience eliminates lengthy computer boot times and rapidly gets users up and running, keeping your electronic devices in ready mode comes with a price. While powered-down devices draw less energy than those being actively used, the only way to stop the flow of current to your machines is to fully unplug them from the wall.
Increased energy efficiency leads to savings, accounting for waste and outdated equipment. By insulating and updating home heating systems, families committed to conservation bank consistent utility savings. Changing personal habits also yields windfalls for those able to reduce electrical waste in their homes.