Energy Saving Tips As Part Of New Years Resolutions

As mentioned before, I will start to share more of my New Years resolutions.  Part of them involves saving costs wherever possible.  As I was comparing my energy (hydro and natural gas) bills, I noticed that in general, I’ve managed to reduce the costs a bit.  This is encouraging but of course, we are just in the start of the winter season, the highest consumption period for heating.  So among my energy saving tips that I have implemented;

1) Lower the thermostat when I’m not home (my dogs don’t need that much heat with all their fur).  I may lower the thermostat a bit at night too.  Will close the heating vents in rooms I don’t use much.

2) Close curtains and blinds at night to further insulate the house but open them to let the sunshine in during the day (if there is sunshine)

3) No more marathon showers and certainly no baths since they are such a waste of time anyway

4) Unplugging appliances that use ‘vampire’ or ‘phantom’ power.  Many such as microwaves, TVs as well as any device that can be controlled by a remote, use power even when turned off, especially if there is a LED display.  I already have a clock on my range so I really don’t need a second one in my microwave (how many clocks does one really need?).  I’m unplugging all unnecessary appliances and plugging some of them into a power bar so I could use a single switch when I want to use them rather than fiddle with plugs and outlets.

5) Drive only when required and combine my errands on fewer trips.  I’m also going to top off the gas in my car when it reaches half full because evaporation takes place when the gas tank is not topped off resulting in wastage of gas.  And there’s a gas station near my ski resort that is significantly cheaper than in the city so I’m going to fill up there whenever I’m up there.

I’ll have more on my New Years resolutions in future posts.