Devices To Help You Save Electricity At Home

Your electricity bill is probably one of the higher ones that you pay each month, and it is probably one of the easiest energy bills for you to lower as well. Since childhood you’ve been drilled to turn out the lights when you leave a room or to turn off the television when you’re not watching it. These simple energy saving actions can go a long way to helping you save on your electrical bill, but there are also a number of energy saving products that you can use around your home to make your lifestyle more energy efficient.

Light bulbs

Although light bulbs don’t pack much of an energy consumption punch on their own, throughout your home and on an on-going basis, the energy drain light bulbs create can really add up. Since the lights are on most of the time you’re at home, you want to look for ways to reduce their impact on your carbon footprint. The easiest way to do this is to reduce the wattage. A 60-watt bulb has traditionally been the standard in most homes across North America, with some energy conscious people opting to reduce their energy needs by a third when they use a dimmer 40-watt bulb instead. The real energy savings come, however, from using compact-fluorescent light bulbs, which can produce the same light energy as a 60-watt bulb using only 15 watts. When you can produce the same amount of light with only 25% of the energy, your consumption and costs will go down dramatically.

Light timers

Often time when you are away from home in the evening, especially for an extended period of time, you want your house to have the appearance of being lived in; a dark house is a target for thieves. Leaving your lights on all day and all night can give a casual passerby the appearance that you’re up and about, but the 24-hour energy drain will catch up to you on your next bill, and lights on at all hours are as much an invitation to thieves as no lights at all. Investing in some timers for a few strategically placed lamps will not only give your home that lived in appearance, it will also reduce your energy consumption, having lights on only when they normally would be anyway.

Motion sensitive exterior lighting

In much the same way that it’s not only pointless but a waste of energy to have lights on in empty rooms, there really is no reason to have all of your exterior lights shining on your empty drive way. Installing a motion sensor on exterior lights will make sure you are using them only when they are needed, and you will not have to worry all night as to whether or not you turned the outside lights off. Although keeping the porch light on for security reasons is always a good idea, putting a motion sensor on garage lights over the driveway will ensure the driveway is lit up when you need it, but not using electricity to simply attract moths.

Since electricity is the energy source you use the most in your home, it can also be the biggest source of energy savings in your home. Making simple lifestyle changes and purchasing some inexpensive energy saving products can provide you with big savings on your electricity bill over the long run. If you are thinking about being more energy efficient and want to reduce your carbon footprint, saving electricity is one of the best places to start.