How to Lower Your Summer Electric Bill

Summer brings memories of neighborhood barbeques, days spent at the lake and fun with family and friends. This is especially true in Park City, where the dazzling weather and sheer abundance of outdoor activities make our summers some of the best in the country. It sounds perfect, but if lazy days by the pool turn into lazy energy consumption habits, your energy bills can skyrocket. Luckily, a few easily-implemented habits can seriously throttle back your energy consumption and make those bills far more manageable.

Use It or Lose It

One of the simplest ways to save on your energy bill is to shut off and unplug electronics that you aren’t actively using. For example, when you leave a room, shut off the lights and turn off the ceiling fan. Obviously, the inanimate objects in the room don’t need the lights on to keep them company, and ceiling fans work by moving air about the room – meaning if you aren’t there to feel it, it’s not cooling anything off. It can also be beneficial to shut the door when you leave. Again, no sense cooling off a room when no one is there to benefit. Lights aren’t the only thing drawing power, though. Some electronic items continue to consume energy, even when they are turned off. Computers and televisions are great examples of this. Even if it’s off, it’s still drawing power, and the only way completely cut the cord is to, well, remove the cord. This can be done by either literally unplugging the device (though this can get pretty tedious) or by plugging all of your devices into power strips. That way, all you have to do is shut off the power strip and – voila! – your devices no longer consume energy.

Not There? No Air.

In this same vein, if there are rooms of your house that you won’t be spending much time in, shut off the air vents to those rooms. No sense cooling a room that you won’t use. When it’s your entire house you won’t be in, like when you are at work or if you’re spending the day at the lake, turn off the AC entirely, or adjust your thermostat so it won’t run until it hits a certain temperature. It is also important to close the blinds on all the windows before you leave. That will keep the overall temperature in your home lower, and postpone the AC kicking on. At night, consider using ceiling fans and keeping the AC off, and on cool nights, leave the windows open to let in a nice breeze.

 Make Sure Your AC is in Tip Top Shape.

An efficient AC unit can use significantly less power than one that is on its last leg. Early on in the summer, have your AC unit inspected. Not only will this make sure it is running at its utmost efficiency, but it also is a great way to catch critical failures before they take out your entire unit and leave you without air on the hottest day of the year – because isn’t that always the day it decides to kick the bucket? One other way to make sure your AC unit is giving it all it’s got is to consistently change out your filters. Filters full of pet dander, dust and pollen can not only exacerbate allergies, but also prevent the full force of the air from reaching your rooms.

Give Your Appliances a Summer Vacation

Another way to keep those bills to a minimum is to avoid using appliances whenever you can. One key culprit? The oven. While this appliance may not use a lot of energy on its own, it certainly heats up the house which means you will be warmer and you will be more inclined to turn on the AC. Look for meals that don’t require an oven, like salads, gazpacho and smoothies, that also help cool down your body temp in the process. Also use summer as an opportunity to revamp your laundry habits. Take advantage of that warm summer sun and fresh breezes and dry your clothes on the line. When you wash your clothes, make sure you run full loads with cold water temperatures. No matter what type of washer you have, it uses more energy to wash clothes in warm water.

At GCD, we are constantly seeking out new ways to build our homes to be even more energy efficient. We know that lowering energy bills and reducing our tax on the environment is important not just in summer, but every day. That’s why we build with 2×6’ exterior walls, install energy efficient appliances and windows, and make our homes as green as the rolling hills of Park City in summertime. To learn more about how we are striving for energy efficiency in our homes, or for more information on how you can be the proud owner of your own GCD home, visit https://shorelineparkcity.com/.