From Guest Blogger Heather Roberts: Energy Saving Tips for Students
If you are a university student, then you may be paying for quite a few things for the first time in your life as you begin on your path to independence. You should therefore learn to save energy so you can lower your overall bills.
If you are billed for your electricity, then you will need to find out the rates at which you’re paying it.Under a schedule for pricing like that you will be charged with a different amount, depending on the time of usage. If you’re using up a lot of power on weekends or during the night, then your bills will be significantly lower overall. If you insist on figuring out the exact consumption of your household electronics and appliances, then you will need to know their exact average power consumption.
Air conditioning uses quite a bit of power. You can lower your overall bill by opening your windows instead and avoiding its use unless the temperatures are absolutely unbearable.
Turn off any lights you don’t need and also never forget to turn off lights you’re not using during the day. Although this may seem like a small thing, it will save you a good bit of power as well as prolong the life of your lights.
Turn off your TV and electronics you’re not using. Although modern LED and LCD models are much more energy-efficient than previous iterations, they are still hogging a good bit of vampire energy by just being plugged in on standby mode.
Speaking of electronics, you should unplug your cellphone after its charged, as well as your laptop or any other device. Even their chargers should always be unplugged, as they still consume small amounts of energy, even if they are not plugged into their respective device. This vampire energy is one of the biggest reasons for inflated bills worldwide.
Make sure you use electric heaters as rarely as possible, since they burn up a lot of power to warm your home. You can do better in more manageable weather by dressing warm, keeping your windows and doors closed and hanging thick curtains and weather stripping to keep the heat in during the cold winter months.
If you happen to have an electric water heater, then using it will have a significant impact on the electric bill you’re dealing with monthly. Even though most of us love taking long and comfortable showers, you should do your best to keep those within reasonable limits. Make sure you address any leaking taps and pipes, as their dripping can add on to your water bill as well as your electric bill.
If you have a washing machine as part of your home setup, then you should do what you can to wash your laundry in cold water. You should keep in mind that clothes dryers usually consume large amounts of energy as well, so air dry your clothes if you can outside or on balconies. Alternately, during the winter months you may do your drying inside your home to both save money and keep them from freezing.
Install LED lights or fluorescent bulbs, removing all if any incandescent light bulbs. LEDs and fluorescents use smaller amounts of energy to work, making them affordable in the long run as their lifespan is also longer.
One of the most important aspects of becoming a student is moving. In such cases they can also take advantage of Man and Van Westminster and storage companies specially servicing students.