Urban Blog

Unfortunately your home may be using more energy than you expect. The number one goal of manufacturers is to sell you products and increase profits, and that means energy efficiency isn’t always tops on the list. Right now most consumers are not throwing tantrums demanding lower energy consuming devices and machines in their homes. In this article, we are going to look at 5 things you may find in your home that are gobbling up lots and lots of energy. As it turns out, the odds are excellent that you are losing hundreds (if not thousands) to energy inefficiencies throughout your home every year.

Energy Thief Number One-Video Game Consoles

Video game consoles can use a simply amazing amount of energy, even when turned off. Some video game consoles have been found to use as much energy while off as many other appliances do while on! A video game console may rank at the very top of energy consuming devices in one’s home.

So what should you do? While it may seem odd, one of the easiest moves you can make to cut down on your energy bill is to unplug your video game console while in use. Newer units have made some progress as of late. This is due in no small part to a tremendous amount of bad press. But there is still a very long way to go.

Energy Thief Number Two-Old Insulation
Without the right insulation in place, your heating and cooling system uses a great deal more energy than you might realize! Few people think about insulation and with good reason. Insulation is usually out of sight, and that means it is out of mind. But this comes at a price.

Old insulation or major gaps in insulation coverage means that your home can costs far more to heat and cool than it should. Investing money in new insulation might sting a bit, but insulation is one of the very few investments that will begin paying for itself almost immediately. Also not all insulation is created equally. Most insulation is made from materials that should not be inside of homes, but there are also non-toxic alternatives, such as blue jean and wool insulation.

The best insulation on the market is actually cork insulation, as it is very lightweight, very resistant to insects and rodents, does not rot, will last for decades, is an exceptional sound absorber and contains no harmful compounds. The drawback is that it is still rather expensive. For now, most people will find that options such as blue jean insulation and wool insulation stand as the best option for many applications.

Energy Thief Number Three-Your Water Heater

Much like insulation, most people don’t think much about their water heater. Usually the water heater sits in the corner of a basement and only gets attention when it either stops heating water or springs a very unpleasant leak. However, just like ignoring insulation is costing you, the same can be stated for an old or inefficient water heater. Heating water is extremely energy intensive, and this factor is even truer if you live in a cold climate.

A poorly performing water heater will cost you dearly. Like new insulation, a new water heater can start paying for itself as soon as the day it is installed. There are other benefits to be had as well, such as the fact that a new water heater can be much quieter than your old model.

Energy Thief Number Four-That Old Refrigerator

What helps to make an old refrigerator such an energy-draining monster is that it is on all day and all night. When it is the last time you turned off your refrigerator? The odds are good that the last time your refrigerator was off was either when you moved or when the power went out. Even new refrigerators consume a tremendous amount of energy. But old refrigerators can be a little scary. If you want to start saving, recycle that old refrigerator and get a new one.

Energy Thief Number Five-The Cable Box

When it comes to stealing energy, the ubiquitous, but declining, cable box is something of a problem for your wallet. Unlike a video game console, cable boxes often don’t like being unplugged. That means that they can actually cause users problems if they are unplugged. Some cable boxes use so much energy that they are actually quite warm–almost hot to the touch. In short, these little guys are big when it comes to using energy.

Studies have found that cable boxes are often the second largest consumer of energy in most houses! Experts have stated that these devices could be far more efficient. Worst of all, you have virtually no way to control the amount of energy that these beasts use.

The solution, do what millions of people around the country and the world are doing, say goodbye to the cable box and all that comes with it. There are plenty of small streaming devices that use a tiny fraction of the energy of the big and inexplicably power hungry cable boxes. Besides you have better things to do than watch 24-hour “news” channels sending you “breaking news” on a woman in Topeka being reunited with her dog who had been missing for two days. Turn off the cable box and save both money and your sanity.

If you find an appliance with the EnergyStar rating, that means that the manufacturers considered energy savings when they built your machine.  When buying something new, always consider whether you can select EnergyStar products as they will save your pocketbook in the long run.

There are definitely other energy hogs lurking within your home, but eliminating these five is a great place to start. Don’t worry, with some time and focus, you can reduce your power consumption and save big!