Residential Energy Conservation

There are many ways to save on Energy costs as it relates to our homes. One of the easiest ways to save on utility costs is to replace your light bulbs with Energy Efficient ones. They will use 1/3 the electricity and you will notice a reduction in your monthly bill immediately.

When the energy efficient bulbs first came out, I was rather skeptical of these claims because it was a new technology. Sometimes new technologies get over rated. I reluctantly decided to invest in the expensive bulbs and place them all over the house. Replacing everything I could think of. After a few months of using the bulbs, I noticed that the average cost of our electric bill was reduced by $20 / month! This is because we like to keep the lights on for long periods of time which can run up a bill. With the new bulbs, we were able to keep the lights on and reduce our energy consumption and avoid spending the extra $20/month. The other thing that came into focus was the realization of how much we were leaving lights on in rooms that were not being used. (just wasted energy)

As I began to become more experienced with these new bulbs, I decided that they were not ideal for certain locations within the house. If you have ever used them, they require a bit of patience when waiting for them to come on. So, to get around this, I decided to pick strategic locations in the house that would not have their bulbs replaced.

For instance, inside my bedroom closet, when I wake up in the morning and am getting ready for work, I want the lights on. I do not have time to wait - nor do I want to wait. So this is one location that I decided to place a regular bulb. Also, the light is only on for a short period of time each day, so it really isn't one that is going to raise my electrical consumption very much.
Another location is at the top of the stair cases and near regularly used doorways. Like the entrance from the garage into the house. These are areas where it is important to be able to see in the dark "NOW" and not have to wait for the bulbs to heat up. Again, we only keep these lights on when we need them and run the more efficient lighting for extended periods of time to keep the electrical costs down.

In future blog posts, I will review other ways to save on residential home energy consumption.