We can't forget about the energy and water waste in our homes. Being mindful of how to minimize excess usage in these areas are good for the environment and good for your wallet. There are many ways to make our homes more efficient so after you read my handful of tips, I encourage you to dig a little deeper for your homes.
Energy:
- Replace old incandescent bulbs with more efficient LED bulbs. They get 50,000 hours of illumination time and are safer to recycle since they do not contain mercury.
- Unplug appliances that are not in use. Believe it or not, we have many devices in our home that still use energy when turned off. Here is a list of a few items that you probably have in our homes:
- microwaves
- laptop chargers
- cell phone chargers
- TVs
- any electrical appliance that has a clock, LED, light or LCD panel
- DVD players
- computer speakers
- When your older appliances wear out, replace them with more energy efficient counterparts.
- Don't forget to recycle the old ones!
- Make sure your programmable thermostat is programmed.
- Change out your air filters regularly or upgrade to a reusable air filter.
- Turn lights and fans off when not in the room.
- If you have the ability, use solar panels.
Water:
- Add aerators with flow restrictors to your faucets to lessen the amount of water that goes through them.
- Add bricks or filled bottles to your toilet tanks to decrease the amount of water needed to fill it.
- Use a rain barrel to store water for your plants and garden.
- Set a timer for shower time.
- Keep a bowl in the sink to catch water to be used on plants or other areas.
- If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down. Sorry, I know that's gross.
- Utilize your compost pile rather than using the garbage disposal considering the disposal requires a lot of water when it's in operation.
- Install a water conservation system in your toilet.
- Check for leaks regularly.
What energy and water savings tips do you have?
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