Finding extra ways to save energy can save you money too! Whether you’re visiting family or traveling around, decorating to have the brightest and best house on your street, or staying indoors with your favorite holiday movies and snacks; here are a few helpful ways to save energy during the holiday season.
Decorations
We aren’t about to tell you to ditch your holiday light show or deck the halls with boughs of holly. There are many ways you can make your festive displays more energy efficient, which will save you money.
Making the switch to LED lights inside and outside will help your decorations to shine brighter, even though they use 70% less power. The lights also last nearly ten times longer than outdated incandescent ones! LED lights can be found in a bunch of different colors, including the old-fashioned “warm white” and the new-age “bright white” typically associated with LEDs. Now, you can find lights that allow you to switch colors, make them blink, and move in patterns!
Setting a timer for your lights will also save you money and electricity; your neighbors will thank you for not having the lights on all night! A timer also helps your light bulbs last longer, as it conserves the bulbs’ energy so they can shine when they’re most visible.
When you’re not using your lights and electronics that are plugged into your outlets, they still are accounting for energy leakage! Using a power strip and powering it off helps to avoid phantom power leaks and makes it easier to turn all your decorations and electronics on and off at once. Phantom power is the energy that’s wasted around your home when electronics are plugged in and using power, but you’re not actively using the electronics. This method can save you time, money, and energy!
There are also tons of ways to decorate without using electricity! Reflective decorations such as tinsel, crystals, and ball ornaments can glimmer just as brightly as light bulbs. The holidays are also a great way to get crafty too. Making homemade decorations like construction paper wreaths and ornaments, popcorn strings for the garland, and snowflakes out of printer paper are fun, cost-effective, and conserving energy!
Gift Giving
We don’t know if there will be snow, but giving energy and cost-efficient gifts is sure to bring a cup of cheer to your friends, family, and the planet!
One of the most energy-efficient ways to buy a gift is to buy local and shop at a small business! More than likely, those small businesses make their products by hand or with a much smaller production machine than say a big chain store. Buying locally and at small businesses helps reduce the energy used in manufacturing and shipping the items, while supporting local businesses too!
You can even ditch the physical gifts, reduce clutter, and save energy by purchasing a newspaper or magazine subscription, streaming service, tickets to a movie or concert, and so many other options that are sure to please your friends and family! Even edible gifts such as baked goods and holiday beverages still come right from the heart with love.
Even your gift wrapping can be done with “saving energy” in mind! Now, we aren’t about to tell you to wrap with the scraps of wrapping paper from three holidays ago. You can however re-use those gorgeous decorative ribbons, the large bows, and the cute holiday gift bags no one wanted back. You can even have a little fun by wrapping gifts with the comic section of the newspaper to add some humor to the holidays. By re-using these items, you can reduce holiday waste!
Traveling
While there’s no place like home for the holidays, we also know you may be traveling around to visit friends and family. You can still improve your energy efficiency on your way over the river and through the woods, even without an electric car!
Planning your holiday travels ahead of time not only is less stressful, but also gives you more flexibility to explore energy-efficient options such as carpooling, public transit, buses, and trains.
Even lowering your thermostat while you’re away reduces your energy consumption. Programmable thermostats can help you with that! You can also set your water heater to “low” or vacation mode setting if you have it. This helps your home reduce energy consumption from the water heater. These “stand-by losses” are one of the largest energy guzzlers in your home.
Hosting the Holidays
We know you can’t wait to rock the night away with your friends and family! Hosting a holiday at your home can be a lot for some people with preparations, food, cleaning, and other factors; but it doesn’t have to be a lot for your energy use and electric bills!
Having a house full of guests means an influx of body heat, which also means it’s the perfect opportunity to turn your thermostat down. You can take the gathering one step further and host an ugly sweater party so you can turn your heat down even more!
If you have to cook a lot of food, consider putting your dishes into the oven in batches! Cooking food together that has to be at the same temperature can save you time and energy. Every time you open your oven door, so much heat is lost and it takes more energy than we realize to get back up the 450-degree mark!
Wrapping It Up With a Bow
If you feel like your home is losing too much heat, and you’ve tried tons of tips and tricks to help reduce your energy consumption and costs, you should give us a call! An energy audit is a fantastic first step in assessing your home’s energy consumption and determining which measures are best to make your home energy efficient.
Phone – (802) – 359 -3384
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