5 Tips to reduce your household energy usage

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Earth Hour, No Plastic campaign and recycling are amongst other eco-green activities that have been increasing in popularity. It shows that the rising awareness of the community towards the environment is on the rise.

You don’t need to be billionaire or celebrity to contribute in the protection of the environment. Anyone can and should do their part in helping the environment. Here are 5 tips we saw on PropSocial that we think is really good for you to go green at home and start saving money on the electricity bill.

1. Electrical Appliances

Turn off your electrical appliances to save money.

Most of the electrical appliances in your home have a standby mode, which means they’re still using energy even when they’re not in use. Thus, the best way to prevent this is to unplug all your electrical appliances when they’re not in use.

Besides that, choosing the right electrical appliances is just as important. Nowadays there are electrical appliances with the latest technology, which is able to increase the efficiency. In turn, this will reduce the energy usage.

For example, the fridge is one of the most energy-consuming appliances in a home. Therefore, you should choose a fridge that has the best energy star rating as this means it would consume less energy. On top of that, always remember to close the fridge door so that the cold air within can’t escape. Otherwise, it will require more energy to maintain the fridge’s temperature.

2. Switch to energy saving LED light bulbs

Energy saving light bulbs will go a long way.

Per Energy Star, the light emitting diode (LED) consumes 75% less energy and last 25 times longer than traditional light bulbs. Hence, replacing the traditional light bulbs in your home with LED will not only help the environment but it also can save you hundreds of ringgits in the long run.

However, the best practice to go green is still to switch off the lights when they’re not in use.

3. Install solar panels

Invest a little more for a long term solution savings when it comes to energy consumption.

Being near the equator, Malaysia can get between 4 to 8 hours of the sunshine per day. Therefore, it is a huge advantage that Malaysian can tap into. Malaysian should make use of all the sunlight by installing solar panels to fully utilise the renewable resource.

Moreover, thanks to Sustainable Energy Development Authority‘s (SEDA) Feed-In-Tariff (FiT) programme, electricity produced from renewable clean energy resources can be sold back to the utility companies. This means that individuals can install solar panels on rooftops of residential dwellings to produce electricity and sell it back to utility companies such as Tenaga National Berhad.

There are even banks that can provide financing options for individuals who want to install solar panels on their rooftops.

4. Remember to service your air-conditioners

To be more eco-friendly, cleaning your air con regularly will help conserve energy.

If you don’t service your air-conditioners regularly, the air filters will be full of dust and dirt. Dirty filters can and will restrict airflow, which in turn will require the air conditioner system to run longer to cool the room. This also means higher energy usage, hence a more expensive utility bill. Try to schedule monthly servicing to make sure your air-conditioner works efficiently.

5. Change the way you do laundry

Even changing your laundry habits will affect the amount of energy usage.

By just changing the way you do laundry, you can save a lot of energy. Best to collect a full load of clothes to do your laundry. It is wasteful for the washing machine to operate if it is just to wash few clothes.

Additionally, wash clothes at a lower temperature. With the right detergent, you can do your laundry at a lower temperature and still get them clean. The energy used to heat up the water is quite significant.

Conclusion

You might think that these tasks are small and won’t affect much. However, when these tasks add up, it can be quite a noticeable savings. The most important part is these tasks don’t require much time or money, all they need is your dedication. Start doing your part today by unplugging the electrical appliances when they are not in use. You can save the earth and reduce your household utility fees at the same time. Cheers!

This post is brought to you by Bumbung.

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