Optimizing your energy consumption to save

Lately, I've been talking about how to optimize your household tasks to save money. But one of the most overlooked ways to save revolves around energy consumption. According to a study conducted by a federal research facility , the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (which is funded by the Department of Energy and UC Berkeley), 68% of all energy consumed in the United States in 2017 was wasted as a direct result of inefficiency. This statistic is both staggering to observe and incredibly unavoidable.

This week, I want to dive even deeper into our daily habits by discussing ways we can cut back on our power consumption, both to save money and to consciously conserve energy. Let's discuss how you can do this, especially with the weather slowly but surely heating up.

Optimize cooling in your home As the weather gets warmer, we'll all be using our air conditioners more and more. Remember that there are other ways you can cool your house without solely relying on your A/C.

First of all, make sure to get your A/C checked and tuned before the weather gets really stifling. You want to make sure everything is in good working order, so you don't experience breakdowns during the really hot months. This is both uncomfortable if it breaks in the heat of the day, and also costly. Don't forget to replace air filters throughout your home, as well.

Next, absolutely use ceiling fans (make sure that if you reversed them during the winter to circulate warm air back down into the room, you switch them back in the opposite direction). Remember that ceiling fans only serve to make the people in the room feel cooler by creating air flow – so turn them off when no one is in the room.

When everyone leaves the house for the day, make sure to turn off the A/C, so it's not running when no one is home. Additionally, when you are home, keep the thermostat set to the highest temperature you and your family can tolerate in order to prevent the A/C from overworking itself. Constantly keeping your A/C set to a very low temperature during hotter months wastes energy and stresses out your HVAC system. At night, bring the temperature up even more for unused areas of your home (if possible) by closing vents, or turn off the A/C altogether if that's feasible to further optimize your energy usage.

During the day, close blinds and curtains to keep the cool air in and the heat out. Moreover, consider investing in insulative weather curtains if you haven't already. These curtains work year round to keep the temperature in your house stable, keep the hot air out during the summer, and the cold air out during the winter.

Reduce your water usage To conserve your water usage, do the obvious things, like only run a load of dishes or laundry when you have a full load. However, there are a few extra steps you can take to really stretch what you're using.

First of all, as I mentioned in a recent , optimize your laundry habits. You generally only need to use warm or hot water for white laundry loads, and you can almost always exclusively use the express cycle for every load you'll ever need to run. Running most of your loads on express with cold water will save both water and energy, so consider switching up how you wash your clothes if you haven't already. Remember, it's the detergent that washes your clothes, not the heat of the water or the length of the cycle.

Next, limit your shower time. This goes especially if you have a large family; try to encourage your partner and older kids to limit their shower time as much as possible, and set rules for younger kids to instill good habits. You can set a ten-minute timer while the shower is running to help everyone get into the swing of taking shorter showers without sacrificing their comfort or quality of hygiene.

Additional power usage tips Remember to unplug all small appliances when they're not in usage; even then they're not being used, if they're plugged in, they're siphoning energy. These 'power vampires' really bring up your energy costs over time, so make a habit of unplugging things that aren't in use.

Another huge tip I can share is to invest in LED light bulbs and timers/motion sensors to turn off unused lighting. Ditch any incandescent bulbs you still use; I promise the initial investment is worth it. According to JustEnergy , LED bulbs can use up to 75% less power than incandescent bulbs and will last up to 25 times longer.

Regarding making your lighting more intelligent, start small and perhaps start incorporating sensors that turn off a room light after a period of inactivity. You may find yourself going down the smart home rabbithole like me.

Final thoughts This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to optimizing your energy consumption habits, but these changes to your daily habits are a great place to start. I highly encourage you to dive deeper into how you can cut back on your energy usage, so you can breathe easy when you pay your utility bills – and you can feel good about the efforts you're making to make your consumption more sustainable.