While I’m busy grading term papers, enjoy this guest post from Jenna Smith!
Texas has, unfortunately, gotten a reputation for being a state that doesn’t care about climate change or energy conservation. The truth is that people here care about saving the environment a great deal. Unfortunately not everybody has the funds to use all of those energy saving measures and alternative energy providers that people who live in more affluent parts of the country can afford. Still, there are things that you can do—things that won’t cost you any extra money. Here are just a few of them:
1. Make sure that you aren’t paying too much across the board for your power. TexasElectricityProviders.com has electric rate information for many cities in the state. How does your current company compare to others that you might be able to use? If you can’t change companies, ask your company about switching to renewable energy sources instead. Some companies will allow you to do this without charging you a ton of money to do it.
2. If you live within walking or biking distance to the store or where you work, why not bike or walk there? This saves you money that you’d normally spend on gas. It also helps you get in some exercise without having to join a gym or pay for any expensive exercise equipment.
2a. Grow your own food as much as you can so that you can reduce the amount of money you need to spend at the store and the number of trips you have to take to get the ingredients you need to cook your meals.
3. Only wash full loads of laundry and then dry them on the line instead of in the dryer. This way you won’t have to waste energy on something the sun will do for free. During the winter months you can set up a line inside your home and let the ambient heat of your home dry your clothing that way.
4. In the summer, put blinds up over your windows on the outside of the house to keep the sun from hitting the windows and heating up the house. In the winter, cover the inside of your windows with clear thick plastic. This way the glass gets heated by the sun for that extra warmth but the plastic keeps the warmed air inside of the house from leeching through the window and heating the outdoors.
5. Cook outdoors as much as possible. Grilling your food is healthier than frying it or roasting it. Plus, using the grill reduces your dependence on your stove and oven, which reduces the amount of energy your home consumes (and money you’ll spend on an electric bill).
6. Make sure that all of your vents are open and clean so that your heating and cooling devices don’t have to work as hard to maintain the temperature of your home. It’s easy to keep these vents dusted and cleared and doing so will improve the efficiency of your appliances.
These are just six things that you can do to save money on your electric bill and the amount of oil, gas and power you use. There are plenty of other things you can do; you just have to get creative! Good luck!
About the Author: Jenna is a freelance writer who normally writes on the topics of personal finance, education, and career. Jenna has been writing on these topics for a number of years now and also writes about health and fitness on occassion. Jenna is a big fan of exercise, but not running! You can read more personal finance writing by Jenna at paidtwice.com
