Energy Saving Tips at Home (Part 1)

It is always good to be able to save some dollars here and there every month, and one of many areas in everyday life where you can accomplish that is in the energy you use in your home.
Not only you can save money, also, you can save carbon dioxide emissions; I know,.... I know, this is a very controversial issue nowadays....Climategate, Copenhagen, etc.

I am convinced that man made carbon dioxide emissions in the past decades are accelerating the increase of our planet's temperature; the aftermath of this and its implications are by no means good for all of us (no matter if we live in a developed country or in a poor one; it is a planet earth's problem)......there is sufficiently solid scientific evidence that supports, at least, the fact that something out of the ordinary in earth's history has been developing since the industrial age (for a more graphic proof on global warming, please take a look at my previous post on a news report form CNN ("CNN-Time-Lapse Photography Shows Glaciers Melting").

Even if you don't agree with me on global warming, which is perfectly possible and acceptable, I'm sure you'll agree with me on the fact that saving money is a very good thing. So, with this in mind, let's take a look at several things you can do in your home to save energy:

1) If you're not using it, turn it off
This is a very common sense advice, but many of us oftentimes don't follow this. If you left a room that you are not going to get back in for a while, turn the lights off. If you are no longer going to watch the TV, turn it off (if you go to sleep watching
TV in your room, set the sleeper). The same applies with your computer or with any other electric equipment in your house.

2) Switch to low energy lights
Low energy lights, or CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) are more expensive (3 to 10 times more)than regular filament bulbs (incandescent), nevertheless, they use much less energy for providing the same amount of luminosity, and they last much longer.
For example, for a luminous power of 800 Lumen, you need a 60 Watt filament bulb, and a CFL of only 13-15 Watts!; we are talking about 45 Watt less of energy used to give us the same luminosity.
Another advantage of CFLs over bulbs is that their lifespan is higher: CFLs rated life span is between 6,000-15,000 hours, whereas bulb's is of 750-1,000 hours.

Depending on your usage of lights in your home, you could be saving about 12% on your electric bill when you change all your bulbs to CFLs. With this figure, the investment of switching from one lighting system to the other can be matched pretty shortly.

Also, and not less important, a CFL can save 2000 times its own weight in greenhouse gases emissions throughout its lifespan.

3) The Oven and the Stove
If you have an electric kitchen stove and oven, you have several ways to save energy. You can seize the residual heat of the electrical heaters in the range. For instance, if you are frying eggs you can turn the heat off when the eggs are almost done; the heating unit at the range will have residual heat that will last over 5 minutes to dissipate, you can use that heat to finish your cooking. The same can be applied when you are baking in the oven; in this case, because the oven is a closed system, its residual heat will take longer to dissipate.

Another tip is very useful when you are boiling food in your cooking. On one hand, try always to cover the olla or pot with a cap. This is a good way to save energy because the steam (which has a lot of heat) will recirculate and will make water to boil faster. Now that you got your water boiling faster, keep the cap on and the big amount of steam generated by boiling water will keep the pot with a lot of heat inside, by this, you can lower the power of the heating unit in the range to "Medium" or even lower ("Medium Low"), this way, saving a lot of energy. Here on the other hand, you can also use the residual heat tip at the end of your cooking.

Other useful tip is to use your microwave oven when ever possible, mainly for reheating foods and meals. A microwave oven is much more efficient in terms of energy consumption than a kitchen stove.

Well....I don't want to make this post a very long one, so; I will continue the subject of energy saving tips in another post very soon. I hope you liked this one and also hope you found it useful.

Thank you!


References: http://www.usnews.com/money/business-economy/articles/2007/12/19/faq-the-end-of-the-light-bulb-as-we-know-it.html
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls