(and SAVE the world!?)
Raise your hand if you LOVE saving MONEY?
Ok good good, a lot of hands.
Raise your hand if you LOVE saving ENERGY?
Ok not as many. Do you realize it’s the SAME THING!??!
At this point, only barbarians and some fossil fuel companies think saving energy is a horrible idea.
As a citizen of Earth, it’s the right AND responsible thing to do.
No, no not just for you, but for the next generations.
That’s the conclusion of a study on RESEARCHGATE last year.
It states, “Despite a growing body of research, the field is largely unfamiliar to many psychologists and to those working in the environmental field. Here we make a case for the importance of conservation psychology and describe a model for the social psychology of conservation behavior that focuses on situational context, existing schemas, and personal motives. We hope this model will be useful for policymakers and will prompt new psychological research on the topic of conservation.”
Think of this, ALL of those screens, lights, phones, TVs, all of them that are always going ON and OFF all day and night. That on/off action is thought of as a HUGE energy sucker, while devices that stay on all the time are conserving energy.
But its the devices you don’t consider that can reap the biggest energy savings!
So what are these devices?
Here’s a look at energy use in the average household along with simple ideas for lowering it:
- 1. Water heating: This accounts for around 20% of your energy bill. We all heard the quick fixes, cold-water laundry, short showers, rinsing your dishes in cold water. SOME even go as far as wrapping their tank in an insulating blanket. AWE. You can also switch to an on-demand system to reduce your usage.
- 2. Appliances: Those energy suckers take 13% of your home’s energy. Look at your refrigerator annnnd your dryer, both use 2-3 times more power than the rest. This is an awesome trick and doesn’t cost you anything! Stock your refrigerator and freezer FULL. Not necessarily of FOOD, but jugs filled with water. Check your thermometers too! Don’t overwork your fridge. 40° degrees is awesome temp. Ok so your dryer, if you can, line-dry clothes. ( I know, not terribly practical for all of us). Those little lint traps and vents? Keep them CLEAN! When you can, upgrade the model of dryer that has a moisture sensor, and double-spin heavy loads.
- 3. Heating/Cooling: You know it, we ALL know it. This consumes more energy than anything else, around 42%. WOWZA! First thing everyone does is to turn to the thermostat. But what about your thermostat itself? Many thermostats today are smarter and actually require little interaction from our part. Some are programmable to a schedule, while advanced or “smart” thermostats can be controlled from a phone. They can even ‘learn’ your family’s habits and adjust automatically. Spooky, eh? And believe me, there is a BIG difference between 65 and 70 degrees. Just ask my father. But the thermostat is not gonna seal your doors, your windows, all those cracks and crevices that are pullllling ALL of your money right OUT of your home. Caulk those cracks! Seal those crevices. Insulate those windows! Also, replacing old model air conditioner with Energy Star unit, can cut cooling bills by 20% or more!! Remember how we said above, ‘wrapping your water heater with an insulating blanket, same thing goes for your home!
- 4. Vampires: No no, not the ones Bram Stoker wrote about. The more deadly “vampire” devices that constantly consume just a little ‘trickle’ of electricity so it can be “instantly-on” for you at a moment’s notice. The average home has 40+ of these energy hogs. Your power cubes, LED indicator lights, cable/dsl boxes, power cubes, and any product that has keypads and LED indicator lights. All together, they are sucking 10% of our homes’ power. Just like humans, it feels good to UNPLUG. Your devices feel the same way. Do you have power strips? GREAT! Connect a bunch of ‘vampires’ and cut them off with one kill switch! Energy savings galore!
- 5. Lighting: It’s not as much as you’d think. My parents ingrained it in us kids, ‘when you leave a room, you turn the light off.’ If you stood outside our home, you could track our whereabouts VERY easily. 6% of the average home’s energy is for lighting. Thanks to the advancements in LED or CFLs bulbs, they’ll save huge amounts long run. And that’s what we are talking about. Small investments, cultivating new habits that will save you all year long.
Why are we SO passionate about energy savings?
Because living where we do, Vermont…it is ALWAYS on our minds. Always.
– 20 degrees does that to a person.🥶
Sunny says, “That’s why we have been handcrafting some of the most insulating window shades on the planet for over 35 years!!! Explore our Insulating Cell Shades now.”