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Energy Saving Tips for Home
Saving energy is a habit everyone wants to adopt especially now that energy costs are rising. Some don’t know just how much energy they are using everyday. But there’s much that consumers can do, too, including shutting off devices when they aren’t in use, adjusting settings on devices so they consume less power and shopping for gadgets with the government’s “Energy Star” rating. Doing so saves money and lowers greenhouse gases. Estimates show that consumers can lower their power bills by 5% just by doing things like turning off their gadgets when they’re not using them.
Here are some tips on how to start lowering your energy consumption:
Measure your output: Electricity usage meters, such as P3 International’s Kill A Watt (about $18 online), can tell you how much energy is consumed by particular devices when they are in use, on standby or simply plugged in.
Dim your TV: New LCD computer monitors and flat-screen TVs are frequently set to maximum brightness. Turning down the brightness can save significant energy without a notable difference in picture.
Turn ‘em off: Leaving gadgets like computers or routers on all the time can save time waiting for them to start up. But it also sucks energy-and burns money.
Unplug: Tech devices frequently use significant energy even when they are nominally turned off. So can power adapters, even when they’re not plugged into devices such as phones and laptops.
Use power strips: It can be a pain to go around unplugging everything. Using a power strip can save time, allowing you to shut off multiple devices with the flick of a switch.
Buy a smart strip: New power strips automatically turn off power to devices when they sense that the devices aren’t in active use.
Shop smart: When searching for new products, look for ones with the government’s “Energy Star” label. The program identifies the most energy-efficient products-generally the top 25% -in particular categories.
Consider energy costs: When thinking about buying new gadgets, think about how much energy they will use. That could mean buying more efficient devices, using more efficient devices for particular tasks-or even buying fewer gadgets overall.
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