The Reality Behind Home Energy Consumption

"Expensive" is just one of the words that people today use to describe electricity bills. It seems that every day, the cost of electricity keeps getting higher and higher. Because of this, home energy consumption needs to be a top priority for any household, especially these days with times as tough as they are.

New energy technology, of course, takes some time to perfect. In the meantime, there are a lot of do-it-yourself home improvement projects you can do to minimize your home energy consumption with small adjustments to your home in order to improve its energy efficiency.

When you use the air-conditioning system or the furnace, maybe you shouldn't turn the thermostat up so high. It's not like you are living in the equator or the North Pole, for crying out loud. And when you go out of the house, you do not really need to keep your air-conditioning on, do you? Think of how much you will be able to eliminate from your home energy consumption by just turning these appliances off when you are not using them.

What about the kitchen? Kitchen appliances count for 26.7 percent of home energy consumption. Of course, you can't really turn off your refrigerator when you are not home, could you? Don't panic, however, there are a lot of alternatives in order to help you reduce your electricity bill. Leaving the refrigerator door open increases your home energy consumption, so don't leave it hanging open while you spread the butter on your toast in the morning. Heat rushes inside the refrigerator which means that the fridge has to consume more electricity in order to maintain its internal temperature. If you leave the door open, you are wasting electricity and increasing your home energy consumption.

The energy of information administration of the US department of energy has recently concluded a survey on the home energy consumption of US households during the year 2001. Through this data, we can at least gain an insight of which appliances are costing us. At the top of the list, of course, is climate control. Would you believe that American households consume 355.7 billion kWh just to keep themselves cool or hot? That's 31.2 percent of the total home energy consumption! Do you really need to consume so much energy just to feel hot or cold?

Water heating cost US households 104.1 billion kWh in electricity. Cutting down on the time you spend in a hot shower can cut down on your water heating bills.

As a matter of fact, there are solar heaters out there which not only save electricity by using solar power to heat your water, but these can also be connected to power small appliances. If everyone just invested in these ideas, people would be able to lessen their home energy consumption considerably.

There are a lot of easy ways you can cut back on your home energy consumption. Just by exerting a little effort, we can save a lot of our money. Did you realize how much energy our homes consume just because of wastefulness?

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Reality-Behind-Home-Energy-Consumption&id=1746978