Small Investments Pay Off Big With Green Energy
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Filed under Green Energy
Going green does not always require big changes; sometimes it’s the little things that matter. No matter whether you make a few minor alterations or do something more significant, you can have a positive effect on the environment. Use some of the effective tips below to begin the change to green energy in your home.
If you clean your dishes using a dishwasher, don’t run it until it’s completely full. You will use just as much water and energy to run a half-empty dishwasher as a full one. Run your dishwasher using the energy-saving mode so that you can air-dry dishes and save energy.
When designing your solar PV system, try to locate the battery storage system as close to the PV cells as possible. This helps to prevent any power loss in the cable. It also reduces the chances of the cable shading the cells and reducing their generation capability.
Use a green and tankless model as opposed to a tank-style water heater. Tankless heaters still use electricity or gas to provide hot water, but they only heat the water you actually need. You can purchase a tankless heater for a faucet or your whole home.
Degrees Warmer
If you’d like to be more environmentally friendly and cut down on your energy costs, try wearing warmer clothing. Even just a lightweight sweater keeps you two degrees warmer, and a heavyweight sweater will keep you four degrees warmer. You do not have to wear a small amount of clothing at home, so put on a sweater and increase your savings.
Understand the difference between passive and active solar power. Active power is the power stored for later use and passive doesn’t require pricey cells for storing power. To use active power it requires mechanical systems, solar panels and cells. Passive energy is about using windows and insulation to keep your home warm and well-lit.
Watch watt usage carefully. There are devices like Watt Minder or Kill-A-Watt that can monitor your wattage and help you see what is consuming energy. Plug your appliance or gadget into the watt-checking device, and it will tell you how much the unit consumes in energy in one hour, month or year. This way, you will know how much that appliance costs you, and you can adjust your usage or settings accordingly.
Less Energy
Swap your old appliances for newer ones that have an Energy Star rating. This rating ensures that the appliance was built to use less energy than the other non Energy Star products. Appliances like fridges and freezers can use up to 20% less energy, while washing machines can save up to 50%.
Consider more efficient home appliances, such as water-saving toilets. Toilets account for approximately 50 percent of water usage in the average home. The older models of toilets use about 5 gallons every time you flush. A water saving model will only use about 1.6 gallons which means you save close to 70 percent of you water per year.
It might be commonly known, but people still do not make sure they turn off lights, machines and various equipment when they aren’t using them. Most people could probably save a ton on utility bills by getting in this habit. Consider what you are doing before it is done, and turn those appliances and lights off when you are finished using them.
It can be surprisingly easy to go green. There are many ways you can approach this conversion. Make sure that all you’ve read from this article is applied. It might not take a ton of effort, but using green energy can be a positive change.