For years now, homeowners have been working to create energy-efficient living spaces. While there are many obvious ways to use less energy in your home — such as investing in energy-efficient appliances or replace your incandescent light bulbs with LED light bulbs - there are still some lesser-known ways that you may not know about.
Here are 7 unique ways to conserve energy in your home:
Rather than using your dryer to dry all of your clothes, you can take an old-fashioned approach to laundry. Hang drying your clothes in the sun will not only help you conserve energy, but it also will help you extend the lifespan of your clothes. You will find that your clothes feel softer and fresher when they have been left in the air and sunshine to dry.
Instead of adjusting the thermostat throughout the day and forcing your HVAC unit to run constantly, you can use your curtains to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home. On cold days, open the curtains so that the sunlight pours into the room and naturally heats it. On hot days, close the curtains in order to keep the sun out and the temperature down.
From your laptop to your flat screen TV, many of your electronic devices conveniently go into sleep mode when they are not in use. While you may not even realize that these devices are on because their screens have gone dark, they are still using up energy in your home. Instead of letting them sleep soundly, power these devices down completely to save some energy.
While you are at it, unplug your chargers when they are not in use. Even if your phone is not plugged into the charger, the charging device is using electricity.
Everyone has been there - that moment where you don't know what you want, so you linger in front of your open refrigerator trying to decide. However, as you stand there with that door open, you are letting the cold air out and forcing your refrigerator to work that much harder in order to keep the temperature down. Instead, try to make your decision before you open the door.
Taking shorter, cooler showers will help you conserve both water and energy in your home. You can still feel relaxed and refreshed afterwards, but you also can feel good knowing that you are making an extra effort to reduce the amount of energy that you use in your home.
It seems like something simple and obvious but turning the lights off when you leave the room can make a big difference. There's no reason to use energy to light a room with no one in it.
A lot of these energy-saving hacks are simple changes that anyone can make. It's just a matter of creating a new routine and establishing a different habit. They may seem like small decisions that don't have a big impact, but the amount of energy that you conserve can really add up. By combining these measures along with the more well-known energy conservation tricks, you can truly transform your house into an eco-friendly home.
“My Passion is people and relationships and I promise to provide my clients with exceptional service tailored to their individual needs.” -Robin Anderson
Georgia native, Robin Anderson brings her passion for people and her love of homes to work for her clients. She and her husband, Andy, have been married for over 30 years and have two adult children, Ellen and Drew. They currently live in Fulton County, but Robin has lived and invested in properties throughout metro Atlanta as well as helped clients buy and sell. She has been integral to many real estate endeavors including designing and building several custom homes, remodeling homes, subdividing land, managing rental properties, and buying and selling properties. She spent her first 3 years in real estate working with a new home builder, and she has spent the last 6 years working with buyers and sellers in her own community. Robin is highly motivated but sensitive to the fact that buying and selling homes can be an emotional experience, so she makes it a priority to keep clients closely informed throughout the process and strives to produce quick results. She appreciates the opportunity to help her clients navigate the real estate process, and she aspires to deliver quality customer service that is both informative and positive. She is driven to provide outstanding service for her clients and she is focused on building successful and lasting relationships with her clients. This personalized service earns her enthusiastic referrals from clients she is pleased to call friends.Edit