Today marks the 46th anniversary of Earth Day! While we should all pitch in to help save Mother Earth every day of the year, this day marks the celebration of the national environmental movement. To help homeowners and tenants to save energy, we detailed a number of things you can do at home to give a hand to the environment. Following these steps will not only help you do your part to care for our planet, but they can also help you a bit of money on your monthly energy bills.
Air dishes and dry clothes
Even if you use a dishwasher at home, you can turn off the drying cycle to help save energy by switching to dry air your dishes. In this way, can take a little more time, but you'll save energy, you'll be running the dishwasher for less time. The same concept applies to your clothes. Investing in a drying rack can help to save energy (because you're not running the dryer) and the money you spend is on your invoice or quarters for laundry energy . And if you're worried about your clothes wrinkled, you can always throw in the dryer with a damp cloth for several minutes after they have dried completely - this method wrinkles vapors. While air drying your dishes or clothes may not be something you want to do all the time, it may be worth trying at times to save energy.
Turn off equipment when not in use
This is a simple tip, but is often difficult to remember to do so, as it is easy to let a room and forget to turn off the light behind you. But if you intentionally start to become a habit, it will be easier and easier to remember. Remembering to turn off your TV, computer monitor and other electrical appliances when they are not actively in use can help save you money on your electricity bill.
Use power strips
Even when the devices are turned off or not in use, they can still be using standby power, especially as larger aircraft televisions and entertainment systems. One way you can help reduce the amount of energy used is to plug your devices into a power strip or surge protector, instead of directly into a wall outlet. Not only will this help you save energy by limiting the vampire (or standby) power, but it can also help prevent power surges, which may make your important electronics (eg, laptops and computers ) completely useless.
Switch to energy efficient lighting
Making the switch to energy efficient light bulbs is one of the fastest ways to reduce your energy bills. These special bulbs, such as halogen incandescent lamps, CFLs and LEDs, can be slightly more expensive than standard incandescent bulbs, but they will eventually save you money in the long run because they last much longer than traditional using much less energy. If you own a home, you can also consider getting motion sensors for your outdoor lights so they are not constantly running and use of energy.
Consider home automation
home security systems have been around for a while now, but they continue to get smarter and smarter with features such as home automation, giving owners the ability to control appliances and lights in their house, even when they are away. Let's say you leave for work and forget to turn the heat down or your kitchen light off. Through automation of the home, you can easily turn those things off contact with your smartphone, saving you time, money and energy. An additional benefit to the use of home automation is the Fire and Environmental Protection alerts that monitor all potential hazards in your home as well. And since home automation is included with home security systems, you also know that your home is protected from a potential rupture.
Check out the home security reviews to see what services offer automation features of the house and learn how you can start today.