Biggest Summer Energy Expenses and How to Reduce Them

If you're looking for ways to save some money so you can spend it on fun-filled summer activities, you should start by evaluating your energy expenses. Summer tends to cause an increase in energy bills -- fortunately, there are easy ways to reduce these costs.

Biggest Summer Energy Expenses

Like every other time of the year, summer comes with its own unique energy challenges. Let's look at a few of the biggest culprits for increasing energy bills.

Cranking up the air conditioning: When the temperatures start to rise, everyone's first instinct is to turn up the AC. And while it's nice to have a cool, comfortable home, air conditioning can cause your energy bills to increase significantly. So try to remember that the closer the temperature is inside to outside, the lower your energy bills will be. Try other methods to cool down like opening windows for a cross breeze and utilize ceiling and floor fans.

Letting cool air escape: If your home has cracks and leaks around windows or doors, you may be letting your cooled air sneak out of your home. While this may not seem like a big use of energy, sealing air leaks and ensuring your home is properly insulated can save you up to 20% on cooling bills. When there are even small holes or leaks, your cooled air can easily escape, making your cooling costs skyrocket.

Using more hot water: With the kids out of school, your dishwasher and washing machine are probably running more often. And it's important to remember that you'll use the same amount of water whether or not the machine is completely full. So to avoid wasting water and energy, make sure you're always doing a full load of dishes or clothes.

Renewable Energy Options to Consider

Fortunately, if you consider using sustainable sources of energy, you can save significant amounts on your energy bills all year long. There are plenty of sustainable sources of energy to explore to fit your wants and needs.

Solar panels: With solar energy becoming one of the most popular renewable energy sources, solar panel costs continue to decrease. Even if you can only afford one or two, utilizing solar energy is a great way to save money on energy expenses, especially with the hot summer sun beating down.

Solar oven: If you're looking for more of a DIY source of sustainable energy, you should consider making your own solar oven to cook your meals with. They're easily made out of a few common materials and work by trapping sunlight. This is a great project to get the whole family involved with too.

Hydroelectric power: If you have a source of flowing water nearby, you can make some of the water flow through a turbine to produce energy. While you may need a professional to help install the hydropower generator, it's a great way to utilize natural resources to help power your home.

By exploring some sustainable sources of energy and being smart about how you're using energy at home, you can significantly reduce your energy costs this summer.

Reasons You Should Care About Conserving Energy at Home

Over 150 years ago, the U.S. relied on wood for almost 90% of our energy needs. Since then, the nation as a whole has continuously worked towards switching over to renewable energy options instead. Especially in the recent years, more and more businesses and organizations have been making significant efforts when it comes to energy conservation. But why should you care about saving energy? Let's talk about a few reasons individuals should care about conserving energy at home.

It's environmentally friendly: It's no secret that the environment is affected by almost everything we do. However, some people don't realize how much the environment is impacted by the production of power and electricity. Even a single household reducing their energy use can help improve the environment. The less pollution that is produced, the better off the environment, and people living on Earth, will be.

It will lower energy bills: One of the direct impacts people can see from trying to save electricity is their lowered energy bills. There are a few ways homeowners can conserve energy and save some money. There are simple things like changing light bulbs. Using energy-efficient lighting can not only provide better quality lighting, but can significantly cut electricity bills. And then there are a few bigger projects homeowners can tackle, like redoing insulation and investing in products like programmable thermostats. These things may not seem like they'll make a big difference, but you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results.

It can help the economy: When it comes to looking at the bigger picture, choosing energy saving technology can help the economy too. Energy efficient projects help create jobs. Whether it's installing solar panels, getting land ready for a wind farm, or developing new products, being energy efficient is helping fuel the growth of our nation's economy. So as more people invest in renewable energy, the economy will continue to improve.

Unfortunately, many homeowners don't invest in renewable energy because they think it won't make a difference. But that's not true at all -- whether it's a small difference, like reducing energy bills, or a big difference, like creating jobs, every energy-efficient act matters. So if you've been thinking about saving energy at home, do yourself, and the environment, a favor and go for it.