As we spend more time at home, many are worried about the energy bills they are going to get, particularly given that financially there is a lot of pressure on people.
Below you will find some simple tips to help you reduce your energy usage at home:
- Use microwaves and toaster ovens when you can to cook or warm leftovers, as they use less energy than a conventional oven.
- Don’t open the oven door when cooking – use the light instead to check how the food is getting along. Every time you open the oven door, the temperature drops as much as 25 percent!
- Turn off the oven a few minutes before the cooking time runs out – your food will continue to cook without the extra electricity.
- When you are boiling food in a pan, make sure you only use the amount of water needed because boiling extra water wastes a lot of energy.
- Make sure the size of the pan matches the size of your cooking stove as you can waste a lot of electricity otherwise.
- Leave enough defrosting time by leaving the food in the fridge overnight. Defrosting in advance halves the cooking time and you don’t need to use extra energy in the microwave to defrost something!
- Wash your clothes with cold water (around 30-40 degrees Celsius) as 90% of a washing machine’s energy expenditure is spent on heating water.
- Use the curtains and drapes as a way to naturally heat or cool down your homes. Open drapes can naturally warm your home and closed drapes and help keep cold drafts out.
Climate Four 