From Guest Blogger Izzie: Bad Energy Wasting Habits (Are there any good ones? -ed)

Finding it difficult to save energy, despite making some changes in appliances? It could be because you haven’t shaken off certain bad habits, like this little minx pictured here, eating out of the refrigerator.

We are usually quite oblivious to our bad habits until they are pointed out to us. People don’t know they eat a lot of junk food until someone notices. You don’t know about your poker face tell until it is exploited by an opponent. The same thing goes for bad energy habits, so we’ve put together a quick list of habits you may still be doing without even realising it. The hope is that, now you think about them, you’ll stop yourself from doing it next time.
Don’t leave the fridge open

Clearly, leaving the fridge open all day is something you know not to do already. Anybody who’s had to suffer the headache that is finding your fridge ajar with all the food inside it ruined will attest that it is something to avoid. But any time you open the fridge door, it is using more energy than usual to maintain the temperature and turn the internal light on. Leaving it open as you stare inside is a waste, so always know what you want from the fridge before you open it.

Don’t fall asleep in front of the TV

Again, this is wasting an appliance’s energy for absolutely no reason. We’ve all been there, wanting to finish a TV show whilst fighting the urge to close our eyes. But if you’re out for the count, that’s potentially 9 hours of wasted electricity if your TV doesn’t have an inactivity auto turn off. If you feel yourself nodding off, turn the TV off. When you wake up, or feel awake again, put the TV back on.

Don’t leave laptops and phones plugged in

This is a very easy hole to fall into. It seems everything powered by batteries is either flat, or going flat rather rapidly. Plugging them in becomes second nature. But once these items have reached their maximum charge, it’s very important to unplug them. Not only are you wasting power, it’s also very detrimental to the batteries.

Don’t leave lights on

Sometimes switching to energy saving light bulbs isn’t enough. Though they will save you money in the long run, they can still be wasteful if left on for no reason. The habit of leaving lights on is usually born from living in a busy household – the constant darting between rooms naturally leads to you leaving lights on, under the impression you’ll be back in the room quickly. Instead, get in the habit of turning them off as you exit, so you don’t run the risk of forgetting to return to the room.
Don’t throw paper on fires

This may seem a little odd, but burning paper in a wood burning stove or fireplace is a bad idea for multiple reasons. Not only is it unsafe and bad for the environment, you’re also destroying a resource. It is so easy to recycle paper these days that there really is no excuse for burning it. That paper can become so many more useful things than just tinder for the flames.

Don’t leave things on standby

The prime suspect in wasting energy pointlessly. Standby is a great invention for the busy lifestyles of today, eliminating the tedium and effort of turning plugs on or off when using an appliance. But it is very bad for energy wasting, as these devices still use a little bit of energy in this state. It may be small, but when you consider the amount of these devices in your house, it quickly adds up. So don’t be lazy, and turn all your appliances with a standby option off at the wall before you leave the house.