Why Do You Need to be Energy Efficient?

Energy efficiency is quite an old term, but it’s something that not everyone knows in and out. The fact is energy efficiency should no longer be viewed as something that’s optional. In a world that relies heavily on fossil fuels and other finite sources of energy, it has to be something that the government must enforce to its constituents.

By definition, energy efficiency is essentially doing more while using lesser energy. When you choose to be energy efficient, doing so benefits not just you but also the world you live in. It also allows you to save money; help improve the economy, and generally enhancing the quality of life in this generation and the future generation.

The truth is an average household in the U.S. will spend about $5,000 on energy. But this amount can substantially be reduced by purchasing and using more energy-efficient appliances and performing energy-efficient actions. For instance, buying appliances with ENERGY STAR certification can lead to saving about 30% on electricity bills, and this includes refrigerators, ovens, gas ranges, and others. You also might want to consider replacing your traditional incandescent light bulbs with halogens, which actually are a lot more energy efficient. If you don’t like halogens, other options include LEDs and CFLs, which according to manufacturers, can slash up to 80% on energy bills. If you try to convert that to dollars, that would amount to almost $100 per year of savings.

Aside from appliances and bulbs, you also would want perform simple actions that can lead to energy efficiency. One very simple yet effective energy-saving tip is to wash clothes using cold water. Although you feel like there really is no difference, the truth is you get to save about $60 per year when you do that. Likewise, if you make sure your tires are always inflated, it means you get to save another $60 per year.

It is also worthy of mention that when you become energy efficient, you also can help improve the economy. When everyone’s doing it, the city, state, and federal governments get to save, too, including businesses and private companies. If energy efficient projects are built within the local community, i.e., infrastructure, building improvements, and manufacturing plants, there also will be jobs available for the local residents. As a matter of fact, the energy efficiency industry created almost a million jobs in the country back in 2010.

Last but not the least, being energy efficient means you get to help the environment’s cause. By minimizing the use of energy sources, especially fossil fuels, you no longer will be contributing to carbon emissions, which leads to slowing down the bad effect to nature.