How To Save On Electricity

We all want to save on elec­tric­ity, mostly because we don’t want to have really high elec­tric bills, but also because ever since Al Gore started talk­ing to us about that incon­ve­nient truth, we want to do some­thing about our col­lec­tive car­bon foot­print. Here are some tips on how to save elec­tric­ity, lower our bills, and become a bet­ter earth citizen:

1. Don’t get a washer and dryer: It’s more con­ve­nient for sure, but wash­ers and dry­ers are huge energy sucks and can make your elec­tric­ity bill spike dramatically.

2. Open your blinds and cur­tains: Smaller space means that it’s eas­ier for you to max­i­mize the ben­e­fits of nat­ural sun­light, so open up your blinds and win­dows dur­ing day­light hours. When look­ing for an apart­ment, con­sider the num­ber and place­ment of win­dows in the apartment.

3. Hang a cou­ple of mir­rors: Large wall mir­rors will help reflect the light from open win­dows and arti­fi­cial lights.

4. Spend more time out­side: Sit on your bal­cony or in a com­mu­nity area when it’s nice out and you just want to relax with friends or a book.

5. Use a space heater or win­dow unit: Cut way back on air con­di­tion­ing and heat­ing bills by using space heaters and win­dow units, which work bet­ter in smaller spaces anyway.

6. Use fans: If you don’t have ceil­ing fans, buy one or two portable fans to cool off small rooms more efficiently.

7. Use lamps: Lamps, like fans, are bet­ter alter­na­tives to cen­tral sys­tems and are effi­cient at bright­en­ing up smaller spaces.

8. Wash your dishes by hand: If you live alone, you prob­a­bly don’t have tons of dishes to do every night. Wash at least some of your dishes by hand to cut back on the num­ber of times you run the dishwasher.