• Turn off lights and electronics whenever they leave a room.
• Turn off the water while they are brushing their teeth.
• Encourage your children to take short showers instead of baths to cut down your hot water usage. A bath can consume as much as 25 gallons of water, so switching to a shower can conserve a lot—assuming you keep your showers reasonably short, that is!
• During the spring time, have your kids help you plant a tree in your yard. When properly placed, trees can help shade your home on those hot summer days and reduce your need to use air conditioning! Plus, it’s a great time to talk to your children about sustainability.
• What’s more, your children can help you with various landscaping projects that can increase your energy efficiency. This is important to keep in mind as spring approaches.
• Don’t leave the refrigerator door open, and stop chronically opening it to see what is inside—this can waste a lot of energy!
• Point out light bulbs that are burned out so they can be replaced. If they aren’t placed too high off the ground, your kids can replace old bulbs with a new CLF or LED bulb.
• Use a microwave instead of the stove to cook food. This will keep your little ones safe and use considerably less energy!

Are you looking for even more ways that you can save energy around your home? Our Energy Saving Ideas page has some great energy efficiency advice—check it out to learn more!

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Hot water

• Use only one five-gallon bucket of water during each shower to save energy. Considering that the average shower consumes 2 gallons of water, this can save you a lot of water and money in the long-term!
• To avoid wasting energy, turn off your hot water heater when you go away from home for several days in a row.
• For the bold: consider turning your hot water heater off entirely during the summer. Taking cold showers can be a great way to cool down during the hot summer months and will save you a lot of energy.

Saving water in general

• When you are waiting for water to be warm or cold from your faucet, collect that water and use it for something else. For example, you could use this water to make coffee, tea, or to water your plants. You’re paying for the water either way, so you might as well use it!

Miscellaneous

• Paint your roof. Opting for a white roof if you are trying to make your home cooler can have a big impact on heating costs. In fact, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Heat Island Group, you could lower your energy costs by 20%. Wow!
• Consider hanging your clothes to dry instead of using your dryer as much as possible. Drying clothes with a dryer accounts for roughly 4–8% of the average home’s annual energy consumption.

Do you plan to try any of these unconventional ways to save energy? What are some tips we might have missed? Let us know in the comments section below!

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