Eco-Friendly Energy Resources

With the rapid development of modern technologies, man has become more and more dependent on machines that not only save you from arduous activities but also provide quality work in no time. Even in an average house there would be a great number of appliances and machines that comfort life. Yet these devices add a handsome amount to your utility bills each month and ultimately you have to earn more to pay off these expenses. Increasing tariffs of electricity is engulfing a large amount of disposable income. It’s time to think different and consider other available energy sources that have several advantages over conventional energy.

Since the beginning of human evolution, man has been searching for ways that could work efficiently for him with little effort. The invention of wheel, lever and other simple machines gradually gave rise to modern developments and advanced energy production plants.

Windmills have been in use for many decades and used to provide energy to grinding mills. The safest and most economical way of energy conservation. Now the engineers have produced new designs of windmills that optimally utilize the blowing wind and are powerful enough to support a full household unit. Yet you can install smaller versions of windmills near your house and can store energy of electrical devices. The greatest benefit is of course no monthly bill; all you have to bear is onetime expenses of erection.

If you think for a second about the greatest source of energy, you might probably end up concluding it’s the atomic power. Think again! Don’t forget to regard the greatest fire ball that is providing energy to all beings on Earth. Yes! It’s the Sun whose blazing heat is strong enough to run all machines of your house. Developed countries are now producing solar panels on large scale and are encouraging commercial and residential units to install solar panels in their buildings. These panels can store energy and are powerful enough to keep a house functional at night too.

Besides erecting solar panels on houses, solar cells are now used for many appliances and devices. This inexpensive and trouble-free way of storing and using energy is now becoming the upcoming trend in the energy sector.

On large dams, water is used to spin turbines that produce electricity. This perfectly environment friendly electricity production method can be used to empower houses. Even in remote areas people uses their own small turbines, on foundations and waterfalls, which are sufficient for their energy requirements. Energy produced through water is called hydropower.

An alternative to gas used at homes, is biogas, which is produced by burning various organic matters in the absence of oxygen. Waste materials, plants and manure can be used to produce energy that can heat house in minimal cost.

As is said ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’, these alternative energy resources can really cut your monthly cost of electricity and gas bills. Most of these are onetime expense and you only have to bear fixed cost to enjoy peace of mind for the rest of your life. Scientists and engineers are working to make these alternative resources perfectly functional for residential units and their production on commercial scale will bring down their prices soon.

Moreover, these sources are eco-friendly and do not emit any harmful substances in air neither do they deplete natural resources. So your contribution toward the protection of this planet is so beneficial and cost effective too.

Energy Consumption in Houses

The situation is alarming if your electric bills are getting higher after every. This may be due to additional or worthless usage of electric appliances. Generally, an American family would consume about $1500-$2000 on power bills.

If your bill in not in between these figures then you will be considered as a regular householder, which utilizes electricity unnecessarily. The reason is that are not required to spend to the extent of $2000 a year for energy. A regular house that spends this much amount often misuse the power and ultimately their money. As the use of electricity increases, the bill cost will surely gone higher.

There are five significant and basic means of cutting down the energy consumption in your houses.

1. Controlling the thermostat will help you in saving energy. Eventually, reduction of the thermostat aids you inn saving a lot of money. You can save about 5% of electric bill on every 1°C. Therefore, always maintain your thermostat at lower temperatures. You can keep it lower during sleeping times or when you are out of home to save more and more money. 68 °F is the best advised temperature for thermostats during winter season.

2. Water heaters also make use of a large amount of energy. Thus, try to limit its use especially when alternatives are available. It is the second largest power consumer after cooling/heating system of any house. Do not use hot water to wash your clothes because the job of germs eradication can be best done by detergents. With this precautionary measure you can save up to 90% of energy.

3. Small appliances like chargers of cell phones and iPods also adds to your energy bills. The 24/7 hour plugged items can cost bonus digits on your energy bill. Similarly, night-lights if switched on all the day and night will add to the power cost. Digital clocks that are plugged continuously and computer monitors kept on uselessly consumes a lot of energy. This again results in high electric bills. People usually think that these items do not contribute but actually they can add up to 5% on bills.

4. Removing leaks around your house will also help in controlling energy lost and hence higher bills. These leaks have plenty of contribution in high cost of power bills. These are the possible ways for air to go in and out of the house. This ultimately increases the workload heating/cooling system of house. Air moves in relation to air pressure as well as temperature. Generally, the temperature of inner side of homes differs from the outside temperature. This is why the air can easily pass through these leaks. Accordingly, make it certain that leaks are sealed properly. Thus, less work is done by cooling and heating system. In due course, it cuts down your house electric bill.

5. Another way of saving money at energy bills is making use of of energy efficient materials around your home and items inside it. These commercially accessible items significantly add to cut down the home energy bills. For instance, energy efficient windows are the best option in this regard. These windows deflect the external temperature from entering into your house.

Home Energy Utilization

Today, “Expensive” is one of the appropriate words used by people to describe home energy bills. It looks like that the electricity cost is kept on getting higher day by day. This is why people need to search and go for alternative means of energy sources. On the other hand, government is constantly telling the public that the search for other energy sources may not be economical too. At times, the cost of one type of unconventional energy source is just not reasonable enough to be surveyed by the government.

There is also the difficulty of transition from the usual energy sources to the unconventional one. Several people are doubtful about any new mean of energy source. They usually prefer to stick with the old conventional electric sources. But, the public is gradually persuading to the alternative side of energy sources basically due to the high price of energy consumption at homes.
Of course, new power technology will take some time to be ideal. Meanwhile, there are numerous things you can do to reduce your home energy utilization.

In 2001, the department of energy in USA has accomplished a survey on the home energy consumption of American households. With this data one can at least get an insight of the electric appliances, which are more energy costing. The climate control is at the top of the list. The USA households use about 355.7 billion kWh just to keep them cool or hot. This is about 31.2% of the total energy utilization of a single house.

Whenever you make use of an air-conditioner or electric heater/ furnace you shouldn’t turn the thermostat at higher temperature; you are not living on the North Pole or equator. Keep both the things off when you are not at home. You can reduce a great deal of your home energy expenditure just by turning such appliances off when you really do not need them.

Now, come to the kitchen, where appliances count for 26.7% of total home energy expenses. Obviously, you may not turn off your refrigerator when you are out of the house, could you? No problem; there a range of alternatives, which will surely help you in reducing reduce the electric bill.

Do not leave the refrigerator door open because it can increase your house energy utilization. The fridge will consume more electricity to maintain its inner temperature as cooling rushes out if the door remains open for long time.

Water heating system costs about 104.1 billion kWh of electricity use. You can have cold water showers as billion of people across the globe are utilizing it. Try to use other alternatives of electricity to heat the water required for any purpose. The solar heaters can save a lot of energy. You can go for it to heat your water. These may also be linked to power small electrical devices.

Lighting counts for about 8.8% of the whole energy consumption of any house. Try to use energy saving appliances and also do not keep lights on uselessly.

So, just by very little effort you can save a lot on your home energy consumption.

Ways of Lowering Home Electric Bills

We are blessed with the innovative technologies and appropriate utilization of energy around us. There are numerous sources of energy are available to make our living easier. Energy lights up our home every night, keeps us warm in winters, allows us to get entertainment. Energy has made our lives pleasant all the time without any difficulty. Today, it is quite hard to live without energy consumption for daily work. Sufficient energy is available for a lifetime but it does not mean that there is no need to conserve it. In any case, every technology has its own cost. And we have to pay for this cost with cash. Now, you can easily cope with your energy bills. Numerous ways have been derived for lowering home electric bills.

1. Good roof coating helps in deflecting heat. This ensures that your home would significantly maintain temperature on the inside.

2. The well insulated attic will facilitate you in keeping your entire house cool. Attic is one of the significant parts of any house especially in relation to cooling system. But attic can only perform this key purpose if it is insulated properly. The attic door should also be sealed make sure that air from the house is not going through it and vice versa. Weather strippers are best to seal the attic door.

3. Securing leaks around your house will also aid you in controlling energy lost. These leaks have a great deal of contribution in high cost of home electric bills. Since, leaks make possible for air to go out of the house and vice versa. This results in increase of workload of home’s heating/cooling system. You know that air moves in accordance to air pressure together with temperature. Mostly the temperature inside the home differs from the outside one and air can easily move through these leaks. So, make it sure that leaks are sealed well. Consequently, less work is done by cooling and heating system of your house. Eventually, it cuts down your house electric bill.

4. Reduce the thermostat to save a lot of money. 1°C equates the 5% of electric bill savings. So, always keep your thermostat at low temperature. You can keep it further low during sleeping or when you are out of home for saving more money. 68 °F is an ideal temperature of thermostat during winter season.

5. Water heaters also utilized a large amount of energy. Therefore, try to limit its use. It is the second largest energy consumer after cooling/heating system of your house. Avoid the use of hot water to wash your clothes because it is the job of detergents to eradicate germs from clothes. This will help you in saving as much as 90% of energy which would be consumed by the washing machine.

6. Use of energy efficient materials and appliances around your home is another way to save your money at energy bills. These commercially available items would considerably add to the reduction home energy bills. One of these items is power efficient windows, which deflect the outside temperature from inflowing into your house.

You can lower your house electric bills to your desired level by following the above mentioned ways.

Use and Saving of Home Energy

Do you know where does your energy consumption go? Have you ever thought of saving energy and lowering of your electric bills? If not then do think about it and try to find out the solutions to these issues.

The major portion of your electricity is utilized by space heating, which is exactly about 47%. It is approximately half of the cost of your monthly electricity bill. The remaining one is shared lighting and appliance (24%), water heating (17%), air conditioning (6%) and refrigeration (5%). Now, you can easily decide when you are going to start saving energy by lowering its consumption. You can take a start from space heating because it consumes the major part of electricity.

Walls and ceiling insulation in your homes will surely help you to save electricity up to 30% on heating cost which equates to 15% of reduction in total cost of electric bill. Although, you need to spend money on insulating materials for different parts of home, yet it will be quite significant in coming days. You can save approximately $150 every year just by the insulation of your home.

If you are living in cold environment then it is recommended to go for super insulation of your home. You can also lower your electric bills by bringing few alterations around your house. If living in warm climate then shade of a deciduous tree will be helpful in cooling down the surrounding area of your house. This results in decreased utilization of air conditioner, which ultimately reduces the cost of your electric bill.

Proper painting of walls and roofs will further help you in extra savings on electric bills. You can also cover your windows with synthetic/plastic coatings to provide additional insulation. Seal the leaks all around your house and make it sure that the heat will not go outside. Leaks may come from doors, joints, windows and sills etc.

The habitual maintenance examination on furnace will make it operating proficiently. In this way the space heat equates the electricity consumed. Use of clean air-filter will again ensure that you are getting good air recycling and clean air as well. Leaking ducts can cause more power consumption because your heating system has to work 30% more than normal. This will result in more energy loss and hence, increase in your electric bill.

Approximately quarter of the bills goes to the lighting and other electric appliances. So, you should also try to control the useless consumption of lights and electronic appliances. Always, turn off all the extra lights, stereo and television when not in use. Also, turn the lights off before leaving the room even for few minutes.

Thermostat of the refrigerator should be reduced as it utilizes about 20% of the total household electric use. You can save about 90% of power consumption by washing the clothes with cold water instead of hot water. Germs on the clothes are eradicated through detergents rather than hot water. Also, try to make less use of washing machines as much as possible.

Temperature reduction of the water heater also helps in cutting down the cost of your electric bill. Try to employ water heater jacket, which is economical and will surely yield to larger electric bill savings.

Always seek for energy efficient appliances. For instance, compact energy bulbs are more power efficient than ordinary incandescent bulbs.