Two ways to reduce your household's energy consumption

If you're concerned about your household's energy consumption, here are two steps you can take to reduce it.

Have your air conditioning system serviced on a regular basis

A poorly-maintained air conditioning system could easily lead to a spike in your household's energy usage. This, in turn, could lead to a rise in the cost of your energy bills.

For example, if the evaporator coil inside your air conditioning system is not cleaned on a regular basis, it will gradually become covered in dirt and grime. This could affect its ability to perform its main function (that is, to absorb the heat from the warm air that enters the system, and then transfer that heat to the refrigerant fluid).

In this situation, you may find that the air that emerges from your air conditioning system feels somewhat warm and that you need to keep the system on full-blast for much longer than you usually do, in order to maintain a comfortably cool temperature in your home.

Similarly, allowing too much dust and debris to accumulate on the air filter could result in it becoming partially blocked, which could then reduce the amount of cooled air that emerges from the system's vents. This, too, would most likely lead to you having to keep the air conditioner switched on at full power for longer periods of time, which would, in turn, lead to it using more electricity.

As such, it is important to arrange for a specialist who performs air conditioning maintenance to clean and service your system on a regular basis. Whilst you will, of course, incur a fee for using this type of service, it will save you a great deal of money in the long run, by lowering your electricity bills. 

Change the way that you use your electrical appliances and devices

If you want to lower your household's energy consumption, it's worth re-examining the way in which you use all of the electrical appliances and devices in your home.

For example, if you routinely opt for the 60-degree cycle on your washing machine when doing your laundry, you might want to consider using a cooler 30 or 40-degree cycle instead. With the exception of towels and baby clothes, almost all garments can be thoroughly and effectively cleaned on a cool wash cycle.

Similarly, rather than leaving the radio, laptop or television on standby when you're finished using it, you should plug it out at the socket. This can significantly reduce the amount of electricity that these type of devices consume.

Finally, try to avoid leaving your phone plugged into after its battery has already been fully charged.

These small, simple changes can add up to big energy savings over time.