It seems like we had lived the worst during the pandemic. We thought, as naive as we are, that the arrival of vaccines and the return back to normal would bring us to a life similar to the life before 2020. Then the world got into a war. And the prices skyrocketed.
With the energy expenses on top, everything has fired up. And our savings blame it. As a background noise of this perfect storm, we heard the scientists and we start to feel it ourselves. Just look at the unbearable heat wave we’ve suffered this June in Spain. These are the effects of climate change.
That’s why perhaps it’s a more timely moment for all, not only for the factory owners nor for the government, but also we started to think what we can do for the planet while at the same time we lessen our finances.
From that, today’s article is about the alternatives to reduce energy costs through “green” measures. To begin with, it’s good to know that each Spanish home, according to different studies, allocated an average of 1,400 euros to pay electricity, gas and water bills in 2021.
But we all know that average and percentage will fire up when studies are conducted related to this trembling and hostile in 2022, the year when gas, petroleum, and electricity maddened and we are dealing with these.
With that, let’s see some measures that any family can take:
- Control the lighting systems. Not to be very repetitive from telling it’s important that we change the contaminants, from the very traditional bulbs to the famous LEDs. It doesn’t only save 75% of energy but also they last much longer, thus savings go up. But that’s not all. We can also install a dimmer at home. Pay attention to movement sensors too, which turn off the lights when they detect there’s nobody nearby. Very automated indeed, but really useful.
- Use a Smart Thermostat. This simple device, which can also be controlled from the mobile phone, allows you to schedule when you want your house to be chilled and heated. It’s proven that this simple tool saves more than 10% in the cost of heating and cooling.
- Use cold water in the washing machine. Did you know that 90% of the energy used in the washing machine is to heat the water? Well then, you won’t have this problem by using cold water. And don’t forget considering hanging the clothes to dry them, which will save you much energy in the dryer. This device, in fact, consumes almost 6% of the total energy consumption in households.
- Give a second use of the water. The water you use in the shower or bath tub or the excess from the sink or even from the dishwasher can be reused in the garden. You only have to make sure that the soaps you use are organic to help your plants grow, giving a second use of the water and saving a huge quantity of liters.
- Limit the use of hot water. And how can that be done? Well, the explanation is very simple. You have to insulate the pipes of hot water so that the heat stays, especially in winter. In that way, much lesser water is wasted while you wait for it to heat up. Of course, no matter how little it is, this extra water can be saved and use it to water the plants, clean, or flush the toilet.
- Reduce shower time. Every minute under the water wastes around 12 liters of water. Let’s assume three members of a house take a shower for 20 minutes, as the World Health Organization recommends to take a shower for 5 minutes. This would involve a huge daily savings of 180 liters per person and per day! To avoid it, a shower timer can be installed that saves both energy and water quantity. In this sense, Arelia has developed the perfect tool called Acqua-Tempus. The device limits water and energy consumption with three modes, restricting the maximum shower time.
In this way, it avoids prolonged unnecessary showers, causing huge savings in water and gas.
Acqua Tempus has a sensor for open faucets: it detects when a user has left the faucet open and closes it automatically to avoid wasting water. - Change appliances for others with low consumption. Similar to what happens with newly styled vehicles, every time companies think more about the environment and manufacturing products with low consumption. That’s why if it’s possible for you, consider throwing old appliances. It will require an investment of course, but in the long run, savings will compensate that.
- Keep the oven door closed when you cook. Each time you open it, the temperature inside lowers to 4 degrees centigrade. This makes the device still work harder to get the previous temperature again, which consumes more energy. Try to open it a little, check the food, or rely on the light inside the oven.
- Unplug electronic devices. Indeed, this has been said many times already, but do you do it? So try to remember why majority of the energy expenses come from electronic devices. It’s because they’re not unplugged when they aren’t used. This is called phantom power, and it has a very simple way to cut it down.
- Install PVC or aluminum insulating windows with double or triple glazing and maximum insulating level.
- Review the insulation of perimeter walls of your apartment or house: there are insulating boards that increase up to 40% of the house’ insulation, leading to the huge decrease in the heating and air-conditioning expenses.
- Lastly, if it’s possible, we can install a biomass boiler in our home o photovoltaic pannels to cover the electric consumption during the day. They are investments that can amortize in 3 or 4 years.
They’re small day-to-day details that we can include in our routines and in this way save energy and money.
Arelia’s commitment, each Kw counts.