The good news about going green and installing energy-efficient devices at home is that you don’t need to make any major changes right away. You can make your home energy-efficient by installing one device at a time. What devices are these? Let’s look at the popular ones.
1. Programmable Thermostat
Installing a programmable thermostat, instead of a regular one, will help you regulate the energy used to heat your house. You can program the thermostat to lower the heating level during the day and just before bedtime. These thermostats also come with an override feature, which will allow you to lower or raise the temperature of the home as you wish, without cancelling the pre-set programming. So every time you step out, you can lower the temperature of the house and save energy.
2. Solar Charger
The concept of using the sun’s unlimited storehouse of energy to charge phones or laptops is pure genius. Portable chargers use the sun’s rays and even indoor lighting to charge your devices, and are a smart way of keeping your phone or laptop running even when you’re out somewhere for long periods.
3. Eco-Switch
Getting an eco-switch for every switch board will help you save energy that would have otherwise been drained when the appliances plugged into the board were not being used. Install an eco-switch for every power strip, and you can use it to turn off all the appliances plugged to that board.
4. Smart Plug
You know how we sometimes forget to unplug the phone after the battery has been fully charged? Smart plugs can resolve that. You can fit these into any plug point of your house and then use them to charge your phone or laptop. After the battery of your device is charged, the smart plugs automatically turn off the power supply, thus saving a lot of energy.
5. Energy Management Systems
Installing a smart energy management system will let you control the energy usage in the entire house via a remote. In some cases, these systems can even be synced with your smart phones, so that you can regulate the power supply to all the devices and appliances in your house when you’re outside. So now, you don’t have to worry about keeping your lights on or any other power source running, as you’ll have the switch to this power in your hand. Literally!
6. LED And CFL Bulbs
Both LEDs and CFLs are good energy-efficient alternatives to the more common incandescent bulbs. Even though they cost much higher than the incandescent bulbs, they’ll turn out much cheaper in the long run, as will be evident to you from seeing your monthly electricity bill. These light sources even last longer than the normal bulb, have a much lower carbon footprint, and emit stronger intensities of light. Win-win situation, isn’t it?