The need to save energy will never lose its relevance. Who wouldn't want a reduction in their electricity bill? And saving, it turns out, is not so difficult. You don’t need ultra-modern household appliances and technologies; simple, proven methods will suffice.
At the same time, it is important to know not only how to save energy, but also why it should be done. And it’s not just about saving the family budget. By turning off the lights behind you and using energy-efficient solutions, you help preserve nature. But let's talk about everything in order.
The importance of saving energy
Many people do not understand why saving energy. Firstly, this way you can save money in the family budget. Secondly, many irreplaceable resources are spent every day on energy production: coal, oil, gas, and emissions from thermal power plants pollute the atmosphere.
In recent years, the volume of greenhouse gases, which appear due to the release of carbon into the environment, has been rapidly increasing. Their accumulation leads to global warming and natural disasters, which affects every inhabitant of the Earth.
If all people on the planet think about how to save energy and begin to use resources efficiently, there is a chance to preserve nature for future generations. Let's look at the best ways to save energy at home.
4 simple ways to save energy
Anyone can take care of nature; it only takes a little bit. Let's find out more about what allows you to save energy.
Using LED lamps instead of conventional ones
LED lamps consume 6-10 times less energy than incandescent lamps. At the same time, their service life is up to 50 times longer. LED lamps are 1. 5-3 times more economical than energy-saving light bulbs and shine 10 times longer.
Types of energy saving lamps:
- Mercury bulbs. They consume 4 times less electricity than incandescent lamps. After use, they cannot be thrown away, but must be disposed of in special receptacles.
- LED light bulbs. These are new generation consumables. They work much longer than mercury ones, consume little electricity, and do not contain toxins. The only disadvantage of light bulbs is their high cost.
Turn off the lights when not needed
The first way to save energy is to use the resource as needed. Sometimes the lack of good habit of flicking the switch leads to the fact that the light is on even during the day or when everyone has left the house. To remember to turn off the power, you can place a reminder note in visible places. For example: "Check the electricity, gas, water! "You can also turn off the power to the entire apartment using a common switch before leaving the house.
Heat water in a kettle on a gas stove, if available.
This is another way to save energy at home. It takes a lot of kilowatts to boil water in an electric kettle. This household appliance is quite powerful, some options have more than 2 kW. Compared to an LED light bulb, it consumes about 10 watts per hour. This is 200 times less than a teapot.
If you have a gas stove in your apartment, you can heat the kettle on it. This will reduce electricity consumption.
Using motion sensors
If you have a large private house and an area that needs to be illuminated, you can install motion sensors. They will turn on the lights when someone enters the area. The devices do not react to animals. In a private house, a lot of electricity is spent on lighting the area.
It is worth positioning the sensors so that the light turns on according to the person’s movement and turns off after he has passed further. The device operates at a distance of three meters. Motion sensors are one of the effective ways to save energy in a private home.
Similar devices are also available for indoor use. They automatically turn on the light in the room when a person enters it. The sensor notes changes in the capacitive component, and the light comes on.
Zoning rooms as a great way to save energy
Organize effective lighting of premises through proper zoning of space. Use different light sources in different functional parts of the room: chandeliers, table lamps, bedside lamps, sconces. Each zone has its own lighting methods. For example, in the living room install:
- A large chandelier in the center of the room with a two-key switch for adjustment.
- Floor lamp in the recreation area.
- Table lamp on the desktop.
If light is needed in a separate area, you can simply turn it on there, rather than always using the main lighting. To maintain normal vision, the room should not be dark when doing creative work or reading. Also, lack of light negatively affects the nervous system, which leads to depression or headaches.
Saving electricity using a multi-tariff meter
If you are thinking about how to save electricity in your apartment, you can install a multi-tariff meter. It will help reduce your electricity costs. Ordinary consumers have access to two-tariff and three-tariff meters.
Two-tariff electricity meters calculate energy consumption for the day and night separately. The night tariff for electric current is lower than the day tariff. To save money, you can turn on washing machines and dishwashers after midnight by setting them to a delayed start mode.
Not all areas have the opportunity to switch to two tariffs. With this service you can save up to 70% of your energy consumption.
Having a two-tariff meter, you can use devices such as a bread machine or multicooker, which will prepare delicious meals for you at night, while saving energy.
For people who use a boiler to heat water, using a two-phase meter will be a good way to properly save energy. You can set a timer to operate the device only at night from 11 pm to 7 am.
There are meters that divide the day into three periods: "night" – from 23. 00 to 7. 00, "peak" – from 7. 00 to 10. 00 and from 17. 00 to 21. 00, "half-peak" – from 10. 00 to 17. 00 and from 21. 00 to 23. 00. Electricity costs are lowest at night and most expensive during peak times. Installing meters with multiple tariffs has a number of advantages:
- Using electricity when the cost is minimal.
- The cost of the device is justified if proper distribution of the load on the network is observed.
- Three-tariff meters cannot be hacked and reconfigured.
- Possibility of transmitting readings via the Internet.
The option of using two-tariff meters is often encountered. Three-tariff devices should be purchased by those who spend a lot of electricity during daylight hours. By avoiding the load on the network during peak hours, you can save on electricity, because the morning and evening hours are the most expensive according to the tariff - the cost increases by 70%.
People who live in private houses and heat them with electric boilers must reduce the power of the device during peak hours, otherwise they will not be able to reduce energy costs.
Ways to save energy with a boiler and electric boiler
All owners of cottages and private houses are concerned with the question of how they can save electricity if heating is done using an electric boiler and water is heated using a water heater. It seems like the boards will be huge. It all depends on your efforts.
It is necessary to carefully consider the heating and hot water supply system.
- Good home insulation. For this purpose, different thermal insulation materials are used. Insulated walls, floors, and roofs will retain heat better and you will have to spend less on electricity.
- Installing an additional heat accumulator. The device is built into the heating system so that it accumulates thermal energy during the period of minimum electricity cost and releases it when the boiler is turned off during the phase of maximum peak energy consumption. The system operates using automatic on and off controls.
- Installation of ventilation systems with recovery, which helps retain heat and return it to the room, as well as preventing the entry of cold air from the street.
- Maintaining normal temperature in the apartment at the same level. To do this, it is necessary to install special equipment that will automatically control the temperature in the room when the indicators change outside.
- Using double-circuit boilers, allowing you to heat water in boilers to a comfortable temperature without overheating it, as this increases the load on the electrical network.
- Installing a boiler with good thermal insulation that will keep the water warm for a long time. As a result, water can be heated at night, saving energy costs.
Is it possible to save energy on A+ class household appliances?
Household appliances for the home are divided into energy efficiency classes. The advertisement states that an A+ class refrigerator or washing machine will help you save on electricity costs. Is it really?
It is worth comparing the actual energy consumption of equipment of different categories to make sure that all models consume approximately the same amount of electricity during operation. The only advantage of higher-class appliances is that for the same amount of kilowatts, the refrigerator freezes more, and the oven heats up faster. Thus, replacing equipment will not globally solve the problem of how to save energy at home.
That is, with equal power consumption, high-category models use electricity more efficiently in terms of doing their job.
Let's look at an example. A Class B refrigerator uses 485 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. A model of equipment with the same volume and number of chambers with class A+ consumes 272 kilowatt-hours per year.
To find out how much money you save if you install a high-end refrigerator, you need to multiply the kilowatt-hours by the average tariff rate, for the capital it is 5. 38 rubles. It turns out that you can save 1146 rubles per year.
If a new refrigerator costs 30 thousand rubles, it will pay for itself in 30 years. If you already have equipment that was purchased many years ago, but works properly, purchasing another one will not bring you any savings. In case of serious damage and the need to replace the refrigerator with a new one, choose models taking into account your own financial capabilities. Purchasing a more expensive high-energy efficiency option does not guarantee a reduction in electricity costs.
Consequences of illegal energy saving
Illegal actions can lead to problems:
- If the electricity meter is damaged or magnetized, the owner will be obliged to pay for the use of energy according to the tariffs and rates adopted by the Resolution. As a result, the cost of electricity will be much higher than when paying by meter.
- The owner will need to buy a new electricity meter costing from one and a half to four thousand rubles.
- The offender will be subject to an administrative fine of 10–15 thousand rubles (Article 7. 19). If a person steals electricity worth more than 250 thousand rubles, he faces criminal punishment.
- The owner will be held civilly liable if the claim of the energy supply organization is satisfied, and he will have to pay penalties and interest.
Advertisements for special devices that help reduce energy consumption by 25–30% are posted on various information resources. But you shouldn’t think that there is a device that can do this using legal methods. There are real facts confirming that this device will not help save on electricity:
- This is not profitable for resource supply organizations; they will not allow this.
- According to the laws of physics, this is impossible - you spend as much energy as a kilowatt is consumed from the network by your equipment.
You should not be deceived and commit crimes in pursuit of profit. Better use legal methods to save energy. This way you will spend less money on electricity bills and will also help reduce your harmful impact on the environment. To do this, you just need to be smart about resource consumption.