Energy Saving Products To Reduce Your Bills

Thanks to the recent meltdown of the financial sector both in the UK and worldwide, 2009 is not shaping up well to be a good year for many. So why not kick sand in the face of the purveyors of doom and gloom and do something in your life that will make you feel good about yourself and has the added benefit of saving you money and reducing carbon emissions?

We can all save energy in our homes with very little expense or effort. There are the no-brainers, such as turning off lights when you leave a room and turning the thermostat down a couple of notches and putting on a jumper. But what we’re looking at here is energy saving products. There are an ever increasing number of innovative new products out there that are designed to make energy saving easy. So when you’ve done insulating the loft and renewing the boiler, why not take a look at some of these little beauties.

Electricity monitors.

There are basically two types of electricity monitors available: wireless and “plug-in” models. The idea of both is simply to allow you to make you more aware of you energy use so that you can alter your energy consuming behaviour accordingly. I would suggest these are a great place to start on your energy saving adventure as they can help you measure the effect of new energy saving products as you introduce them.

Standby Savers

Standby on TV, audio and PC systems can consume an awful lot of electricity even when the equipment is out of use. Thankfully there are a whole host of standby saving products out there to help. Most are simple “plug and play” type affairs that are controlled by automatically sensing when a machine is shutting down/starting up. TV and audio offerings usually pick up the signal from your existing remote control. Either way, when you power down in the normal way, these eco gadgets will do the rest for you ensuring that the kit is switched off at the socket when not in use and automatically powered up when it is.

Put the kettle on

All too often when making a cuppa we boil far more water than is required – this is a waste of energy. Eco kettles make it easy to boil just the right amount of water for the number of cups that you require. This can reduce your cuppa making energy consumption by a third and reduces time wasted waiting for the kettle to boil as well.

Reduce Hot Water Use

It takes energy to heat water up – so it makes sense not to waste it! Consider using eco-balls in the washing machine instead of detergent. They’re kinder to the environment and allow you to wash at a lower temperature. Also, if you have a shower hog in your household I would recommend the acquisition of a shower timer. For very little cost you can have a frog, duck or water drop shaped timer on the shower wall that will beep at when your preset time is up!

Energy Saving Bulbs

Energy saving light bulbs use about 80% less energy than conventional bulbs. They are a little more expensive, but reassure yourself that due to their vastly extended life time and cheaper running costs they are worth the investment.

So there we have a quick run down of just a small selection of vast array of energy saving products available. Make 2009 a year to remember for the right reasons, and feel good about saving energy and money.