How to be Merry and Bright: Conserving Energy During the Holidays

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If you aren’t careful, your energy costs can skyrocket during the end of the year! The holiday season means that you probably have extra holiday lights and decorations up, and your furnace is likely doing extra work to keep your home nice and toasty. All of this energy usage is on top of your normal usage!

Luckily, these energy management tips will help keep your energy costs in check without costing you an arm and a leg!

  • Use LED holiday lights to save some serious money! LED lights are better than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs in nearly every way: they last longer, are cheaper to run, are cool to the touch, and have a strong epoxy shell that makes them extremely durable. They are more expensive initially, but you’ll enjoy lower energy bills for many years to come!
  • Use a timer for your outdoor lights. You don’t want to them to run all night when nobody is home or when you are off on vacation. Luckily, timers are relatively cheap to purchase and will automatically turn your lights on and off whenever you please.
  • If you’re going to be away from your computer for many days in a row, turn it completely off instead of putting it to sleep. Your computer is one of the strongest energy vampires in your home!
  • If you want to save energy and still give your home a festive look, consider lighting your home with candles. There are easy-to-use, battery-operated LED candles that work just as well as regular candles but without the risk of fires.
  • Space out your electronic devices so that you don’t have too many things plugged into one outlet. If you don’t adjust your habits, you run the risk of blowing a fuse—remember when this happened in “A Christmas Story”? Instead, try strategically planning where you will plug in all of your extra holiday decorations (your tree, holiday lights, other decorations, etc.) and utilize power strips so that you don’t have to mess with tangled cords.
  • Set your thermostat at 68 degrees for comfort and efficiency. If you will be traveling, you could even turn your thermostat down to 55 degrees. This temperature will keep your home warm enough to keep your pipes from freezing without wasting a lot of money.

 

Still hungry for more energy efficiency advice? Visit the rest of our Bright Insights blog to see more great energy efficiency tips!