10 Ways to Lower your Electricity Bills this Summer

Summer is officially here! Temperatures are beginning to rise again, and if that wasn’t enough to make you hot-headed, just wait until you get your electricity bill. By turning on the air conditioners and electric fans to cool ourselves down, our energy bills usually soar during this season.

But don’t let that get you all heated up. There are ways to tame your energy consumption this summer. Here’s our list of energy-consuming hotspots to look out for:

1. Air conditioning.
If you already have an air conditioner, make sure it is installed in a shady spot. If not, you could either relocate it or find a way to shade its current location. Air conditioners that are under direct sunlight use 10% more electricity than air conditioners that are placed in the shade.

Keep hot things away from the air conditioner inside the house too. Lamps, televisions, and stoves that are placed near the air conditioner fool the thermostat into thinking the room is hotter than it really is, so your air conditioner works at full capacity longer than it really should.

Keep your aircon filters unclogged by cleaning or replacing them regularly. Dirty filters will prevent your air conditioner from properly cooling your room, so you’ll just be wasting electricity.

If you are just about to purchase an air conditioner, consider getting one that uses inverter technology. Inverter-type air conditioners use up to 50% less electricity than conventional air conditioning units.

Make sure to get the right-sized air conditioner for your room. A too-small air conditioner will not be able to cool a room efficiently. A too-big air conditioner will use up too much electricity. Refer to the list below to find the right size of air conditioner for your room:

 

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2. Cooking. 
Cooking indoors generates indoor heat. So here’s a cool idea: cook outdoors instead!

Barbecues are a great way to enjoy a sunshiny summer day. The hot, dry weather results in dry charcoal and firewood that are easy to ignite.

If you want to be even more energy-efficient, search the Internet for instructions on how to build a simple rocket stove, which you can fuel with twigs and sticks! Take advantage of the dry weather to do all your cooking al fresco. You won’t have this pleasurable option available once the rainy season comes in.

As much as possible, use a microwave oven to cook or heat small portions of food. Microwave ovens generate very little external heat, and if you consider the short time you need to operate them, they actually consume up to 51% less energy than gas ovens, 65% less than oven toasters, and 81% less than conventional electric ovens.

Another way to lower the heat in your kitchen: ditch your LPG stove, which can release as much as 60% of its heat to the surrounding air. Instead, use an induction cooker, which only lets 30% of its heat escape into the kitchen air. And while an induction cooker will inevitably add to your electricity bills, the money you save on LPG costs will more than offset your additional electricity expenses.

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3. Lighting.
If you’re still using incandescent lights, it’s about time you replaced them! Not only do they use up to 75% more electricity than compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), they also generate more heat – that’s something you definitely don’t want when the room is already too warm to begin with.

CFLs may look more expensive than incandescent bulbs, but they last 10 times longer, so you not only save on lighbulb purchases, you also need to make fewer trips to the hardware store.

Now if you want to push your energy savings to the maximum level, go for the top bulb of all: LEDs! Compared to CFLs, which have a 40% energy efficiency rating, LED energy ratings are at a whopping 90%! In addition, LEDs last twice as long as CFLs (and 20 times longer than incandescent bulbs), and if you drop your LED, it is far less likely to break.

 

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4. Laundry. 
If you use a tumble dryer, give your machine a rest during the summer months and line dry your clothes instead. Not only will you save electricity, the sun will also help disinfect your clothes and make your whites whiter!

If you only spin dry, halve the time you normally use for spin drying to halve your energy consumption as well. For instance, if you normally put the timer at 5, you can just put it at 2.5 (or even 2). In this heat, you could almost hang your clothes dripping wet at noon, and they’ll still be bone dry before night.

As for ironing – do you really want to iron clothes in this heat? Why not hide (or sell) your clothes that need ironing and switch to clothes that don’t wrinkle easily or that hide wrinkles well?

Or learn tricks to help you avoid ironing even your most wrinkly clothes:
• Use fabric conditioner and simply smooth out the wrinkles with your hands. (Yes, the advertisements are true!)
• Before you hang your clothes to dry, shake the wrinkles out and set the collars straight. The sun will do the rest of the work.
• Fold clothes carefully and pile them on top of each other. After a day or two, most of the wrinkles will be pressed out by the weight of the pile.
• If all else fails, realize that for most clothes, after you’ve worn them for an hour or two, nobody will know whether or not they looked freshly ironed that morning.

 

5. Refrigeration.
On hot days, we want cold drinks. But every time you open the ref door, you’re letting heat in, and your refrigerator has to work harder (and consume more electricity) to cool your food.

Rather than keep cold drinks in the refrigerator, freeze bottles of water instead, then put them in a water-filled insulated cooler to thaw out and to keep other drinks cold. That way, you and your family can get your cold drinks without having to open the refrigerator door repeatedly all throughout the day.

A side benefit of freezing bottles of water in your freezer is that it helps keep your freezer full. Since it’s easier for your freezer to cool food and water than air, it uses up less energy to keep its temperature below zero if there isn’t a lot of empty space inside.

Before you put food in the ref, make sure the food is cooled to room temperature, and packed in a sealed and dry container. Food that is in an unsealed or wet container will release moisture, and that makes it harder for your refrigerator to cool the air. Putting hot food inside the refrigerator forces your ref compressor to work overtime as well.

 

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So those are the hotspots. But there are still smaller ways you can lower your electricity bills during the summer:

6. Get rid of phantom load.
“Phantom load” refers to appliances that use up electricity even when you’re not using them. If you have appliances that go on Standby mode (if you can turn it on with just a remote controller, it’s on Standby mode), unplug them at night or plug them into a power strip that you can turn off. Same goes for phone chargers and transformers.

Your computer’s voltage regulator and uninterrupted power supply (UPS) also fall under the phantom load category. Fortunately, they both have an off button. Use it. Switch these equipment off when your computer is not in use.

7. Use solar energy.
You don’t need solar panels to harness the free energy of the sun. Leave a long water-filled hose out in the sun for free hot water. Open the windows wide for free lighting. Put clear water in clean, clear, scratch-free plastic bottles and expose to bright sunlight for at least six hours to kill bacteria and make the water safe for drinking.

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8. Clean up.
Clean lightbulbs shine more brightly, so you can get more light for lower wattages. Clean aircon filters let your air conditioner cool the air more efficiently, so the unit does not need to stay at full blast for so long. Clean rice cooker pots and hot plates ensure efficient heating. If you keep your electric fan dust-free, that will prevent its motor from heating up and using more energy.

9. Pay attention to energy efficiency ratio (EER).
When buying a new appliance, look for the yellow tag that says “Energy Guide.” The number displayed on it is the EER of the appliance. The higher the number, the more energy efficient the appliance is.

10. Get wet and wild.
What are you doing in the house on a bright sunny day like this anyway? Turn off the electric fan or air conditioner, fill an inflatable pool with several inches of water, and soak in it with your kids. Make sure you step into a wash basin with some water before you step into the pool to keep the water clean longer.

When you’re done soaking, take a large, thin blanket and cover the pool to protect the water from dirt. When you finally need to replace the water, use it as a first rinse for your laundry so it doesn’t go to waste. (Your kids will love helping you out here. This will help save electricity for washing machine usage as well.)

If you don’t have a pool, you could take the hose, set the nozzle to fine mist, and hang it on a tree in the garden. Not only will the spray cool the air, it will also do most of your plant watering for you.

Need to work indoors? Wear a wet (but not dripping) shirt, let evaporation do its magic, and feel cool while looking absolutely hot at the same time!

Remember when we were kids, when summer was something to look forward to instead of something to dread? You can still look forward to summer without fear of skyrocketing electricity bills if you just follow the tips we’ve given you here.

Here’s to an enjoyable, affordable, and unforgettable summer for us all!

 

References:
“Bright Ideas.” Meralco. http://www.meralco.com.ph/brightideas/index.html#top1
“Microwave Ovens.” Consumer Energy Center, California Energy Commission. http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/appliances/microwaves.html

 

Photo by jenny louise johnson via flickr creative commons