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In this article, we will look at effective ways to save electricity in a private house or apartment.
Electricity in a modern house
It is now impossible to do without electricity in residential premises (apartments, houses), because electricity is now used for lighting, maintaining the temperature in the house, cooking, washing, etc.
It is electricity that is one of the main components of a comfortable home.
But periodically the cost of electricity rises, which means that the costs of the family budget increase. But it is sometimes impossible to refuse the use of electrical appliances that make life easier. Therefore, the question is often heard, how can you reduce energy costs?
It is really possible to reduce costs, and legally, without any interference with electricity meters, which can lead to a huge fine.
Next, consider the most common methods to save electricity, without the need to install alternative sources of electricity, for example, wind farms.
But it should be noted that most of these methods involve initial financial costs.
Savings on lighting
So, the first thing you can save a lot on is lighting. First you need to properly learn how to use natural and artificial lighting.
If you use only daylight during daylight hours, this will reduce costs. Therefore, all the windows in the house must be kept clean and, to a lesser extent, block the light with curtains during the day.
But daylight is not always able to fully provide lighting for a living space, even during daylight hours, so you can’t do without lamps.
The most common and cheapest incandescent lamps are also the most expensive. Therefore, to save in the future, you need to replace all of them with energy-saving ones.
A good option would be fluorescent and LED lamps, which, together with dimmers, can significantly reduce electricity consumption.
Although they are significantly more expensive than incandescent lamps, due to the savings in consumption and long service life, these lamps will quickly pay for themselves.
Another way to save on lighting is to equip the most popular places in housing with local lighting.
Lamps and wall lamps equipped with energy-saving lamps of low power, as well as LED strips, will reduce energy costs, although they also require an initial purchase cost.
Periodically clean the shades of lamps and chandeliers from dust, which will ensure their greater light output, so you do not need to turn on additional lighting fixtures.
As for private houses, where lighting of certain sections of the yard is sometimes required, you can use lamps equipped with motion sensors and work timers.
But here it should be borne in mind that animals should not be or fall into this zone in the control zone of the sensors, otherwise the sensor will react to them, so there will be no savings.
Recently, lanterns have appeared to illuminate paths using solar energy.
Such lanterns can be useful to owners of private houses. They do not require special installation, it is enough to place them on the sides of the track. Let them not be able to brightly illuminate the path, but they will perfectly show the direction, which is often quite enough.
A lamp with a motion sensor can also be equipped with an entrance hall in an apartment. Often a small set timer for such a lamp will be enough.
Savings on household appliances
Let’s move on to the appliances in the house. One of the biggest consumers of energy is always the refrigerator.
It is constantly connected to the network, and its task is to constantly maintain the temperature in its chambers.
If the refrigerator is old, then no matter how well it cools, it is still worth replacing it with a modern one.
When choosing a new refrigerator, you need to pay attention to the energy saving class. You need to choose a device with a class A ++ or at least A +.
These refrigerators can save up to 35% of energy compared to the old unit.
In addition, the refrigerator must also be used correctly so that its energy consumption is as low as possible.
Firstly, it must be installed in such a way that it is ventilated from all sides, especially from the back wall, so it is not recommended to install it in niches or close to the wall.
Secondly, the refrigerator must be defrosted in a timely and high-quality manner so that its performance is always maximum.
Do not place it near any heating devices, which may interfere with its proper functioning.
Thirdly, it is impossible to put still warm or hot dishes with food in the refrigerator – this will not only lead to an increase in energy consumption, since the unit will begin to actively remove heat to maintain the set temperature inside, but will also affect the resource of the unit itself.
The next appliance with a high energy consumption is a washing machine.
Here, too, you can save money, because most things are perfectly washed even at a water temperature of +30 degrees.
Increasing the water temperature to +40 during washing already leads to an increase in the power consumption of the machine by 10%.
In addition, you should not wash each item separately, it is better to collect them all and wash them together.
But here, too, you should not overdo it, the maximum efficiency of the machine will be at the maximum allowable load.
Increasing the amount of things above the norm will lead to energy overruns.
The kitchen consumes energy well, or rather its electrical appliances, especially if it is equipped with an electric stove.
Here, too, it is necessary to replace the electric stove with a more modern one, preferably an induction one.
When cooking food, be aware that there is residual heat during the cooking process.
That is, it is not necessary to keep the stove burner turned on until the food is completely cooked, because you can turn it off 5-10 minutes before the end of cooking, and the residual heat of the stove, dishes and the food itself will finish cooking.
Warming up water is best done in an electric kettle, and not on an electric stove. Although the kettle consumes a lot of energy, it heats the water much faster, so when cooking, you can first heat the water in the kettle, and then pour it into the dishes for cooking.
As for the electric kettle itself, always heat only the necessary amount of water, excess water only consumes energy, but will not be in demand.
In addition, the kettle itself must be kept clean and periodically descaled from it.
The situation with the dishwasher is the same as with the washing machine. It should be used only when fully loaded, and the temperature should be set to the minimum allowable.
Make sure you leave electrical appliances on standby.
About house cleaning.
Clean the dust container of the vacuum cleaner in a timely manner. This will allow him to work at full capacity, which means that the cleaning process will be as fast as possible.
Nowadays, various electrical appliances are often used as auxiliary heating of a residential building – converters, electric underfloor heating, etc.
Savings on heating
You can also save money on heating. When choosing equipment such as underfloor heating, you should pay attention to their energy consumption.
Some types of underfloor heating are easy to install, but they also have the highest energy consumption.
Therefore, it is better to “fool your head” a little, but install the most economical devices.
In addition, they must be installed correctly. This concerns the temperature control sensor of this equipment.
If it is placed next to a door or window, then its readings will be violated due to penetrating cold, the system will heat more intensely, consuming more energy.
It is necessary to install all heating devices only in those rooms that are often used, it is not necessary to heat the air in rooms where you visit once a day.
You should also decide on the temperature in the rooms.
It is not always necessary to keep the temperature there very high, often +20 degrees is enough.
Again, portable heating devices will make it possible to make the temperature comfortable locally, without heating the room completely – this applies to infrared devices.
In the autumn-spring period, heating of rooms is also possible with the help of an air conditioner, if it is equipped with such a function.
At the same time, it will consume less energy for heating than any heating device.
For this period, you can additionally purchase heated bed sheets.
In this case, it is not at all necessary to heat the entire room, but in order to feel comfortable, dress warmly.
But the bed will always be warm, so you will not freeze at night. And sometimes it is enough to heat the cold before going to bed, and when you go to bed – turn it off.
In order for the heating of the room, as well as the cooling of its air conditioner in the summer, to be as efficient as possible, you need to tightly close all windows and doors.
Therefore, to keep the heat in the house, you need to take care of its insulation in advance, as well as replacing windows and doors with modern ones that do not allow heat to pass through.
Savings on other appliances
Televisions and computers also consume energy quite well. Fortunately, these devices are now equipped with all kinds of timers and energy saving systems.
Do not neglect them, their use will not only save energy, but also allow you to optimally use these devices.
It will be useful to equip a house or apartment with a “smart home” system.
This system involves equipping the home with a large number of sensors, with which you can set the operation parameters of all electrical appliances in the house, thereby optimizing all energy costs to the maximum.
If you have a private house, you can equip it with solar panels.
With the right approach in this matter, you can fully provide the house with electricity and refuse to use public electricity networks.
But even if you can’t completely abandon them, after installing solar panels, the latter are able to provide most of the appliances in the house with electricity for which you don’t have to pay monthly.
Of course, most of these tips boil down to the need to replace energy-consuming appliances with more modern and economical ones, which can involve significant costs.
Good to know: Should I use energy-saving fluorescent lamps.
The installation of solar panels will also be costly. Yes, and for a significant period of use due to savings, these devices will only pay off, and only then they will bear savings.
But it’s not necessary to change everything at once, you can do it gradually, but you shouldn’t postpone the replacement until later.
It is enough to first replace only the bulbs, then move on to other devices.
And even if the payback period of devices, especially large ones, can be long, but in the end they will allow you to spend less money on electricity, which constantly, on average, rises in price every six months.
You can also save electricity by knowing the norms of illumination in the premises, this will help you choose the right lighting fixtures.