It’s always nice to get a raise, and you can get one without having to confront the boss and demand more pay. What if you could experience a significant boost in savings just by cutting back on your HVAC energy usage? You can. Here’s how.
What’s Using All That Energy?
Home appliances use up a significant amount of energy. And even if you have the latest and greatest, most efficient appliances on the market, you may be using more energy than you need to by letting them run all the time. It’s a fact that when you turn off many appliances these days, they’re still “on” and consuming energy.
But before we get into that, let’s look at how energy use is likely to be consumed in your home. Homes may differ, but this is how the average looks nationwide:
- HVAC – 47 percent
- Water heater – 14 percent
- Washer and dryer – 13 percent
- Lighting – 12 percent (depends on the kind of bulbs being used)
- Refrigerator – 4 percent
- Electric oven – 3-4 percent
- TV, DVD, Cable – 3 percent
- Computer – 1 percent
We mentioned above that some of these appliances are using energy even when “off.” The top 10 “energy vampires” are:
- Computer (laptop uses more than desktop)
- Digital cable and satellite DVR boxes
- DVD and VCR
- Routers and modem
- Phones and answering machines
- TVs
- Microwave (it’s the clock)
- Printers
- Gaming console
- Heating and air conditioning (the furnace uses a lot of energy when not turned on.)
How to Kill Energy Vampires
To prevent your appliances from adding to your energy expenses, do the following:
- Buy products with low standby power usage.
- Plug several appliances together on a power strip, then turn it off.
- Buy Energy Star appliances that rely less on standby. Replace old energy-wasting appliances with new, efficient models whenever you can.
- Simply pull the plug on stand-alone appliances that don’t need to be running all the time (obviously, not the refrigerator).
If you’d like more pointers on how to save on HVAC energy usage and run a more efficient household, contact Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company of Yuma.
