Electricity has become very useful and has changed everyone’s life since the day it was discovered. Of course, it couldn’t be invented for it is a natural phenomenon. It is something that people cannot live without in the modern day. Without it, life will be so much difficult and slow.
Electricity prices are rising and utility bills are getting ugly. Fight back with these 10 tips, and lower your electrical bill by up to 40 percent.
Switch to CFLs
Replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) is one of the quickest, easiest ways to save money—and a place everyone can start. CFL bulbs will offer 10,000 hours of light and use $10.40 of electricity (at 8¢ per kilowatt hour). To get the same output with incandescent, you would have to use seven bulbs, which would cost less up front, but the electricity would cost $48. Choose CFLs with the Energy Star label to obtain the greatest savings.
Install smarter switches
Motion sensors (occupancy sensors) automatically turn lights on and off so you only get (and pay for!) light if you need it. Using motion sensors can save you $100 per year. Some motion sensors need to be manually turned on but turn off automatically. They’re great for bedrooms because they won’t turn on when you move in your sleep.
Buy Energy Star appliances
When you shop for appliances, look for the Energy Star label. It means the appliance meets certain energy-efficiency guidelines. The general household spends $2,000 each year on energy bills.
Energy Star says that appliances bearing its label can cut those bills by 30 percent, for an annual savings of about $600. But you don’t have to replace everything to see a savings.
Just replacing an eight-year-old refrigerator with a new Energy Star model can save $110 a year or more in electricity.
Kill energy vampires
Seventy-five percent of the electrical use by home electronics occurs when they’re turned off, according to the Department of Energy. These “energy vampires” suck electricity all day long—costing you an extra $100 each year. So if you’d like to keep that Ben Franklin in your wallet, unplug your electronics or plug those into a power strip, then turn off the strip.
Service your air conditioner
Roughly half of an average home’s annual energy bill (gas and electric), about $1,000, is spent on heating and cooling. A/c supplies placed in direct sunlight use up to 10 percent more electricity.
If yours sits in the sun, plant tall shrubs or shade trees nearby—but don’t enclose the unit or impede the airflow. Place window units on the north side of the house or install an awning over them.
Keep your window or central air conditioner tuned up so it runs at peak efficiency. Every 2 or 3 years, call in a pro to check the electrical parts and the refrigerant.
Fun Facts about Electricity:
- Electricity travels at the speed of light – more than 186,000 miles per second!
- A spark of static electricity can measure up to three thousand (3,000) volts.
- A bolt of lightning can measure up to three million (3,000,000) volts, and it lasts less than one second!
- Electricity always tries to find the easiest path to the ground.
- Electricity can be made from wind, water, the sun and even animal poop.A 600 megawatt natural gas plant can power 220,000 homes.
- The very first power plant – owned by Thomas Edison – opened in NY city in 1882.
- Thomas Edison invented more than 2,000 new products, including almost everything needed for us to use electricity in our homes: switches, fuses, sockets and meters.
- Benjamin Franklin didn’t discover electricity, but he did prove that lightning is a form of electrical energy.
