The issue of raising utility tariffs worries every citizen of towns and villages. Electricity is becoming more expensive as the reserves of resources used to transform heat into electricity begin to run out on our planet. Prices rise every year and consumption grows steadily. Therefore, the next question arises, how and why you should save electricity in a house, apartment or summer cottage. In this article we will try to answer these questions.
Why electricity is getting more expensive
The first reason, as mentioned above, is that the Earth's resources such as coal, oil and natural gas are depleting. The second reason is the environmental problem. When burning the same coal, harmful elements are released into the atmosphere in large quantities. The issue of ecology has begun to worry many scientists, which is why in many countries they have begun to move to environmentally friendly types of electricity generation, such as nuclear, wind and hydro. However, this is expensive during construction and is dangerous if not all safety points are observed.
It should also be noted that the consumption of electricity in cities is growing every day, because in our modern life household and other technical equipment requires a large amount of electricity. And as tariffs rise, the price is sometimes significant. Of course, there are many ways to save money.
The state of the economy, inflation and tax increases also play a huge role. Then we will look at options why you should save electricity.
Why saving electricity is important
As already mentioned, most people have a rather limited budget, so saving energy is often a top priority, especially in winter. Also, such savings will lead to a reduction in the consumption of natural resources and, accordingly, emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere will be reduced.
To give a rough idea of how it manifests, here is an example. The main resource used to generate electricity is coal. Approximately 50 kilograms of coal are used to generate 100 watts of power. Therefore, saving hundreds of watts of electricity saves resources and thus does not harm nature.
The same can be calculated for other types of resources. For example, generating 100 W of electricity consumes an average of 30 liters of oil and the same amount of natural gas. That is, saving electricity in your home, you do better not only for yourself but for the whole country.
Saving methods
Statistics show that the main amount of energy is spent on lighting the home, as currently no house can do without a light bulb. Some rooms can have up to a dozen of them. It is easy to calculate consumption yourself. For example, in the living room there is a chandelier with four shades. On average, 80-100 W light bulbs are used, ie about 400 W of electricity is consumed per hour. As the light in the room often does not shine throughout the day, the consumption at first glance is not so great. However, an orderly amount is issued per month and this is only for coverage. Therefore, "household" light bulbs (fluorescent and LED) are used as an option to save energy. They reduce electricity consumption by three times or even more. They pay off in full, as their service life is measured in years, from about five to ten years.
Also, don't forget to save light altogether, as sometimes people may forget to turn it off and it stays on all night or all day. Alternatively, it is advisable to use natural sunlight during the day and turn on the lights in the evening. Be sure to also wash your chandeliers, windows and use light wallpaper on the walls. This creates the feeling of a brighter room and eliminates the need for additional lighting.
In addition, after lighting in terms of power consumption, heating follows, but you can switch to independent. You should not forget about the insulation of your home, whether you live in an apartment or in a private house. This plays a huge role, as the heat will not leave your home and you will not turn on the heaters as often. Install metal-plastic windows, as the wooden ones are warm, but over time they dry out and start to let the wind out of the street and expel the heat from the house. All this requires significant costs, but it is better to invest once and then not worry about unnecessary costs than to spend a lot of money on heating and lighting every month.
Next wiring in the list. Most houses still have old cables. It works, but during operation it wears out and the insulation can transmit electrical impulses to the outside. This leads to a loss of electricity as well as a lack of mains voltage. It is worth getting rid of unnecessary sockets, tees and extension cords that are not used, as they increase the resistance in the circuit and have higher consumption. Excess of this equipment can sooner or later lead to a short circuit.
Appliances connected to the mains but not switched on while in sleep mode still consume electricity. The costs are insignificant, but over a long period of time the costs can bite. If you are not currently using the device or equipment, we recommend that you unplug the device to save power. It is especially worth paying attention to devices that consume a lot of energy. Among them are an electric stove, boiler, food processor and more. It is better not to use them at full capacity unnecessarily. And so with almost all electrical appliances. For example: the refrigerator cannot be placed next to the heater, as it will not switch off and will be constantly cooled.
Wealthy people install systems and devices that regulate their own electricity consumption in the house. Although they have no questions why save energy. This is very expensive equipment and not everyone can afford it. So try to save electricity in all the ways listed above.
Exit
So, in summary, you can see that it is necessary and useful to save electricity in the house. This gives you a chance not only to save money, but also to protect nature itself.
We hope this article gives you an idea of why you need to save energy. Be careful and cautious when choosing a way to save money.