Energy conservation refers to a wiser use of the energy in order to lower the consumption and conserve the natural resources of the planet.
To use the energy more wisely, we need to implement a set of rules in our everyday life that will help us use less power, which will lower the energy bills and our carbon footprint.
Energy Conservation Definition
Energy conservation represents a set of rules that needs to be followed by everyone to reduce the energy consumption, which will lower the bills, will conserve the natural resources of the planet and will also reduce pollution.
Recently, the classic rules of energy conservation, such as: turning off the light when you left the room, unplugging the appliances during the night or when you don’t use them and walking instead of driving the car have been upgraded.
Nowadays, we have learned that building the house from natural materials (integrating the house back in nature and using the natural resources available on the planet) will help us use energy more wisely, will lower the consumption and also the carbon footprint of the building.
Using natural materials such as treated wood to build the walls and insulating the house will ensure a very good conservation of the energy inside the house, positioning the house to allow the Sun to enter the rooms will ensure natural light inside the rooms and free heating (during the winter), installing a system that will recirculate heat inside the house, and a system that will cool down the building during the summer will all contribute to very low energy bills and a reduced carbon footprint.
Basic Energy Conservation Tips
At home or at work we can easily conserve energy by following a few smart ideas.
1. Replace you old light bulbs with LED light bulbs
It is already known that LED bulbs consume way less energy than regular light bulbs even if they provide the same amount of light inside the room.
Replacing all your old light bulbs with the new technology (LED bulbs), will lower the energy consumption of the light bulbs by at least 50%, but your house will remain equally well lit.
Not to mention that LED bulbs live much longer than regular or CFL light bulbs, which means that you will go to the shop to buy light bulbs much less often.
2. Put the refrigerator on ECO mode
A small fridge will consume less energy than a refrigerator, so if you have a big family that consumes a large quantity of food every day, put the refrigerator on ECO mode because it will do the same job of cooling down the food, but consuming less power.
3. Turn off the light when leaving the room
Replacing the old light bulbs with LED bulbs will reduce the energy consumption inside the house, but wasting energy is not a choice when conserving energy.
Turning off the light when leaving the room will reduce the energy consumption even more because you don’t want to pay the energy used to illuminate an empty room.
4. Unplug the appliances during the night or when you leave the house
I’m sure that you have already heard that the appliances are consuming power even when you don’t use them, so it is wiser to unplug them, especially during the night or when you leave the house for a longer period of time.
5. Upgrade your appliances with new and more efficient devices
You know that on the market you can find today smart appliances that are more efficient than the old ones.
By upgrading your appliances from time to time to always have inside the house the latest technology available on the market will reduce the energy consumption and will lower the energy bills.
6. Always do a full load when using the dishwasher and the washing machine
You bought the dishwasher to no longer wash the dishes by hand, and you know that the dishwasher uses less water than you when washing the dishes (at each run cycle).
However, even if the dishwasher uses less water, it consumes energy to work, and this is the reason why you need to always do full loads in your dishwasher to avoid consuming more resources (electricity and water).
Do the same with your washing machine, and always do full loads to avoid wasting energy.
You will be amazed to see that the washing machine will clean your clothes the same way even if the temperature used is lower, and the washing program is shorter.
8. Clean or replace the air filters used inside the house
If you use air conditioners inside the house you need to clean the air filters at least four times per year.
If the air filters are dirty the device will work harder to lower the temperature inside the house and will consume more power.
By cleaning the filters in each season the air conditioners will work without wasting energy.
9. Use the water heater after a schedule to lower the energy consumption
A water heater that is connected to the outlet all day long will consume more energy than the heating or the cooling system used inside the house.
You can have warm water at your disposal all day long even if you establish a certain working schedule for the water heater.
Using this schedule, I have warm water at my disposal even in the morning.
The device is plugged back in the outlet only at 10 A.M., and this way the water heater ensures warm water all day long, only working half the time.
10. Insulate the house and seal all the doors and windows
An insulated house will keep the cold air and the heat outside the house, which will save energy.
By sealing all doors and windows of the house with proper materials, the heat produced by your heating system will remain in the house during the winter, and the cold air produced by your air conditioners will remain inside the walls of your house during the summer.
A well insulated home will always conserve energy and will produce smaller energy bills.
11. Always air-dry your clothes and dishes
I know that you are used to using dryers for your dishes and clothes because it takes less time, but you need to understand that your dryer is one of the highest consumers of energy in the house, so you better avoid using them.
During the spring, summer and fall, you can dry your clothes and dishes using the outside air.
By drying your dishes and clothes in nature you will make them smell nice.
12. Install renewable energy systems to produce your own energy
A solar PV (photovoltaic) system installed on your rooftop or in the yard, or a small wind turbine for residential use are always welcome if you want to conserve energy.
Any of these renewable energy systems can produce free and clean energy for you and this will reduce your energy consumption from the grid even more.
A larger system can produce enough clean and free power to cover all your energy needs and even some of the energy consumed by your neighbors.
To conserve even more energy you need to have a passive house.
What is a Passive House?
A passive house follows a building standard that creates homes that are energy efficient, comfortable and affordable and have a very reduced impact on the environment.
A passive home will consume a small amount of energy to ensure the comfort inside the building and will only lose a very tiny amount of energy.
Such a house is usually built from natural materials such as cross laminated timber (CLT), it uses a very thick insulation, doors and windows that keep all the heat produced inside the house, a system that recirculates the air and many others.
The house will be positioned in such a way towards the Sun to ensure that the sunlight will provide natural light and heat in the rooms during the winter.
During the summer the sunlight is blocked to prevent overheating of the building.
Air is recirculated inside the building
The system that recirculates heat inside the house during the winter will consume a small amount of power because it will use the heat produced by the people inside the house, the heat resulted from cooking, etc.
During the summer, the system that ventilates the house will provide cool air in all the rooms by recirculating the air.
By installing a solar PV system on the rooftop or in the yard, the house will generate its own power to cover all the energy needs inside the house and maybe even energy for the grid.
Being built from wood which is a natural material, the house will be very well insulated, will consume almost zero energy from the grid, and will have a very reduced impact on the environment.
Conclusion
By learning how to conserve energy at home or at work, we can lower the bills and the impact on the environment.
Reducing consumption will save the natural resources of the planet and will ensure a clean and healthy environment for us and the future generations.
