The Whole Family Can Help Save Energy

Saving energy is easier than most people think.

Getting the whole family to help conserve energy at home is a great way to increase energy savings and teach an important life lesson – little things can make a big difference!

Here are six easy ways the whole family can help save energy:

Keep the Refrigerator Door Closed
Challenge family members to decide what they want from the refrigerator before they open its doors. It may not seem like a big deal, but according to Home Energy Magazine, keeping the fridge door open while you decide what you want to eat accounts for seven percent of the appliance's total energy use.

Start a Shorter Shower Challenge
According to the EPA, running a hot water faucet for five minutes uses about the same amount of energy as burning a 60-watt bulb for 14 hours. What’s more: a five-minute shower creates 2.25 lbs of CO₂, and a ten-minute shower 4.5 lbs of CO₂. Implementing a friendly contest in the house to see who can keep their showers to five minutes or less is not only fun, it also helps your family save energy and reduce its carbon footprint.

Take Turns Cleaning the Lint Screen on Laundry Day
The lint screen, a seemingly mundane part of your dryer, actually plays an important role in keeping the appliance running efficiently. The more build up on the lint screen, the harder the dryer has to work to keep running, wasting energy (and time!). Cleaning out the lint screen in the dryer after every load of laundry helps it run more efficiently, saving you energy and money.

Take a Break and Unplug From Video and Computer Games
In case you needed another excuse to turn off the video games and get the whole family outside to enjoy the weather: As of 2018 in the U.S., games consumed $6 billion worth of electricity annually — more power than electric water heaters, cooking appliances, clothes dryers, dishwashers, or freezers. Before heading outside and away from the video games, be sure to turn off the video game controllers when not in use to minimize energy use even more.

Turn Off the Lights
The cost to light your home accounts for about 20 percent of your electricity bill. Turning lights off when you leave a room – or the house – can help save money and energy and is something that everyone in the family can help with.

Make Family Movie Night More Energy Efficient
Did you know that streaming movies and shows through a game console uses up to 10 times as much energy as streaming on a laptop or tablet? Consider using another kind of device to stream—like a Blu-ray player or smart TV that has earned an ENERGY STAR^® label.

If you're looking for even more ways the whole family can make your home a more comfortable, more energy efficient place to be, check out NYSERDA's site: easy energy-saving tips.