Gadgets have become a huge part of everyone’s lives, and it’s hard to remember a time when we weren’t walking around talking on smart phones, listening to music on our iPods, and surfing the internet on netbooks and tablets. These devices have become so integral to our lives these days that it’s hard to see ourselves functioning without them.
One thing that most people fail to consider is how much they’re going to spend charging those devices, which can drive up energy costs drastically! Even if you’ve checked out http://www.Texasenergycompanies.net/ to find the best rates on your energy, do you know how many appliances are sucking up power in your home?
The average U.S. household uses about 100,000 kiloWatt hours of energy per year, which is more than four times as much as the average energy used in homes around the world. Of that energy:
- 41% is used for the heating system
- 20% is used for heating water
- 5% is used for refrigeration
- 8% is used for the air conditioning systems
- 26% is used for lighting and appliances
That means that more than ¼ of the energy that you use in your home is to provide illumination, keep your machines running, and power your gadgets. That’s a lot of energy!
Light Saving Bulbs
Energy saving and LED bulbs have been around for a dozen years or so, and they will be the solution to help keep illumination costs low. You’ll find that switching out your light bulbs can cut back on energy use drastically, as the average light bulb uses about 4 times as much energy as an energy-saving bulb does. That means you will save yourself a small fortune in energy each year just by switching out your bulbs.
Your Appliances
This is where energy saving gets tricky…
Everyone needs to use their laptop, their TV, their smart phone, and their other small gadgets and gizmos, as those devices are what make life convenient. However, the fact that the gadgets must be used means that they will suck up power, which will raise the energy consumption higher. The more gadgets you have in your home, the more energy you will use.
How can you save money while still having all the appliances you want?
Unplug and Turn Off — If you don’t need the TV, computer, washing machine, coffee maker, or bar fridge on, turn them off. Make sure to unplug the devices, as they’ll still use energy even if they’re left on stand-by. It will be much easier to turn everything off if all your devices are plugged into a power strip, as a single switch will power everything down.
Look for Energy Savers — Try and find the devices that use less energy, or that have longer battery lives. If you are going to use battery-powered devices around your home, buy two or three pairs of rechargeable batteries. It will be much cheaper to charge the batteries than to buy a new pair every few weeks. Make sure to only use the devices that are absolutely necessary, and cut back on your use of appliances like the dishwasher, microwave, toaster oven, or dryer — appliances that use a lot more energy than they should.
I am agree to you on the point of light saving bulbs it’s must use thing for all of us.
A good power cord if used, can save alot of energy and can give you much more saving. Its a just like a single and lifetime investment.
Man…. people in The United States consume great amount of energy! In that amount, our country would run for 3-4 years smoothly 🙂
very nice article admin,
and totally agree with you naser. today nobody thinks about saving electricity.
If we overuse our resources to fulfill our present needs then our upcoming generation will have to suffer.,
everybody have to think about it..:)
That’s true, Rohit. Very little people consider just how much energy they are using and such ignorance will affect the next generation much worse than it affects us now.
Oh yes nobody cares about saving electricity today, so these power saving gadgets could come in handy not only for the world but for one’s pockets too