How to Reduce Energy Consumption in Your Home

Sunday, April 18th, 2010 at 5:54 pm

Nobody likes paying bills and the sight of that newly delivered brown envelope lying on your doormat is never a welcome sight. Electricity prices never seem to stop rising all of the time. The good news is that the size of your bill is something that you do have some control over and it can be minimized.

Before you dismiss the suggestion of converting your home to run on solar power due to the extremely high costs, you should be aware that you can build your own solar panels very cheaply. To give you some idea of the costs a typical commercial solar power system may cost $ 30,000 to purchase and have installed, but the cost of creating your own is between $ 100-200 per solar panel.

Another great way to cut your electricity bill is to only use the electricity that you actually need. This means that when lights and appliances are not in use you turn them off. If you have a family you will need their co-operation to make this work so try and discuss your plans with them. It’s all the little things such as switching off lights whenever you leave a room that all add up to create a reduction by the time you get your next bill.

Household appliances such as TVs have a standby feature where they appear to be switched off but are still actually using electricity as they lay dormant waiting for you to press a button on the remote control. So remember to turn these appliances off instead of leaving them in standby mode. Do away with those 100W light bulbs if all you need is a 60W bulb. The old fashioned incandescent light bulbs are not nearly as efficient as the modern compact fluorescent bulbs. You can make significant energy reductions by switching to these more energy efficient bulbs.

It is important to be aware that it is not only the number of electrical appliances you use which determines how much power you consume. It is actually how often you use your appliances. Some people use their washing machine every single day when they don’t need to. If you have to use your washing machine every other other because you haven’t got many pairs of socks, buy some new socks! Wait until you have a full load of washing if you have enough clothes to last until your next wash.

When you think that a homemade solar power system can reduce your electricity bills by up to 80% and it won’t cost you the earth to build it, then solar power suddenly become a realistic option. It is very easy to make your own and all of the materials are locally and cheaply available. There is no need to be an expert in DIY. There is an infinite source of energy that is available to you that will save you money and help you contribute to the environment in the process.

To read more on how to reduce energy consumption in your home and how to make homemade solar panels please visit www.greencheapenergy.com