Saving Energy — The Holiday Edition
I know, I know… I’ve TALKED about saving energy here. But this list is different! Here are some tips aimed directly at saving energy for the holiday season! (And they’re easy!)
Direct Energy is recommending these measures to reduce usage and maximize efficiency during the holidays:
– Turn down the heat a few degrees. Doing so could save 10 percent on heating bills. Reducing the heat before guests arrive makes sense, too, because all their extra body heat will soon warm up the room.
– Dim the lights and have memorable holiday meals by candlelight. You could even “go organic” and try soy candles.
– Decorate using LED bulbs, which have a rated life of 50,000 hours, representing nearly 20 years of normal usage. That’s a bargain, especially when compared with incandescent lights, which last just 600 to 1,000 hours.
– Wrap gifts with conservation in mind. If everyone wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or fabric gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 ice hockey rinks. (NOTE: I really don’t think we should be covering hockey rinks in paper! Who came up with that example!?!)
– Don’t open the oven door to peek at what’s cooking. It can lower oven temperatures as much as 25 degrees, which increases cooking time and gobbles energy. Use the oven light and window instead.
– Remember your other cooking appliances when preparing a holiday meal. Great for cooking or for heating up holiday dinner leftovers, microwaves use about 50 percent less energy than conventional ovens.
– Use your dishwasher for cleanup. A dishwasher requires 37 percent less water than washing dishes by hand.
– Buy miniature decorative lights, which use about 70 percent less energy and last much longer than bigger bulbs. Connect them to an automatic timer to reduce the chance of leaving your holiday lights burning all night or while you’re away.
