All the holiday decorating and festivities have officially started, so don’t let your energy-saving efforts fall by the wayside amid all the fun!
DECORATING SAVINGS TIPS
Turn off decorative lights before you go to bed or leave home. You can put your lights on a timer to automate this task!
Holiday lights using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) use one-tenth the energy of traditional mini-lights and are cooler to the touch, reducing the risk of fire.
Turn off room lights when your tree is lit to see the holiday glisten and lower your lighting use.
IN THE KITCHEN SAVINGS TIPS
Cook with the lids on your pots to trap heat and shorten cooking times. To save even more energy, match the pan size to the stove burner to better capture and distribute heat.
Don’t open the oven door to take a peek at what’s cooking inside. Instead, turn on the oven light and look through the oven window.
Don’t overlook the other cooking appliances during the holidays. Fast and efficient microwave ovens use around 50 percent less energy than conventional ovens, and they don’t over-heat your kitchen.
Open refrigerator doors as little as possible and allow leftover food to cool down before storing it to keep your fridge from working harder than needed.
If you have leftover food on the plate, scrape it off instead of rinsing to save water. If you do rinse dishes, use cold water to cut down on water heating costs.