Property Press Online

With the environment in crisis and countries around the world failing to meet their emissions and sustainability targets, it’s clear that drastic action is needed to protect the planet and preserve it for us and every other living entity.

Everyone can make a difference, and while it’s easy to think that you need to make a major change, even small adjustments to your lifestyle can make a difference.
After all, not everyone has the money and resources to do something significant, like using alterative power sources or going completely off-grid. Adding alternative sources of power can come with additional costs, and going off-grid is a massive life decision that requires a lot of thought and preparation.

Thankfully, small changes can easily save energy in your home. If you’re interested in reducing your energy bills, and your impact on the environment, then keep reading. We’ll offer small changes that can make a huge difference to your energy consumption over time.

We’re not talking about changes like buying new appliances, which is costly and takes a lot of time and effort. When we say small, we mean small; changes so tiny you’ll hardly notice them! They might seem insignificant, but over time they could amount to a massive energy saving, which will benefit the planet and your bank balance.

Use Smart Energy Strips
It’s tough to know exactly when your devices are done charging, or when something’s powering down, but thankfully smart energy strips can help. These innovative devices can tell when your devices are in sleep mode, or have finished charging, and will switch them off so that they don’t use background electricity. While the background electricity that devices use might not seem like a lot, it quickly adds up, which is why smart energy strips can be a massive help to many busy homeowners. You can get some that come with apps and offer you handy advice and tips to save even more energy.

Air Dry Your Clothes
The average tumble dryer uses around 2.50 kWh of energy per cycle, which can cost a little under 50p per cycle. While that might not sound like a lot of energy, both the price and the energy used can add up over time. Meanwhile, using a clothes horse to dry your clothes uses no energy, and you only have to pay the one-off cost of the clothes horse itself, and these aren’t usually very expensive. If you’ve got a well-ventilated, warm room where you can dry your clothes, such as an airing cupboard or a conservatory, then you could consider ditching the tumble dryer. This approach will save you money and allow you to reduce your energy consumption and clear space in your kitchen at the same time.

Wrap Up Your Food And Drinks Properly
When you’re eating a quick snack, it’s easy to throw the rest back into the fridge without wrapping it up properly. However, uncovered food and drinks and can release extra moisture into your fridge. This moisture makes the compressor work harder, which in turn makes your fridge use more energy. So, the next time you have a half-eaten meal to store, remember to cover it properly in an air-tight container. Not only will this save energy, but it’ll also improve the life of your fridge and ensure that your food doesn’t spoil.

Draught-Proof Your Home
It’s easy to think that small draughts aren’t worth worrying about, but they’ll let the hot air that you’re paying to heat out of your home. At the same time, they’ll allow cold air from the outside to enter and make your house chilly. Draught can come from poorly-fitted windows, doors that don’t fit correctly or even through other openings that you didn’t even think of, like your chimney. If your home has a chimney, then consider getting a chimney balloon or sheep to stop hot air from rising out of your home and cold air flooding in through the chimney.

Stop Relying On Your Oven
Ovens aren’t an energy-efficient, as they’re a large space that needs to be heated. As such, they use a lot of energy, especially if you’re only cooking a small amount of food. Where possible, try to fill your oven and cook as much at once as possible. Alternatively, consider using a smaller, more efficient appliance, such as a slow cooker or an air fryer. These smaller appliances can cook entire meals and use significantly less energy, so you can save the planet and still enjoy tasty treats!
Saving energy doesn’t mean making significant changes to your lifestyle. As this list shows, there are plenty of ways that you can reduce your home’s energy consumption and still live your life to the fullest.