The monthly utility bill will, for most families, be one of their largest budget items. Any way to cut this down to size would, for a typical family, be most welcome.
Thankfully, there are plenty of different ways by which this can be achieved. Some of these involve making use of modern technology to
reduce your energy usage. Many of them are simple, inexpensive and very effective. The majority of them will produce an almost immediate improvement in the size of your bill.
A common sense approach to reducing the amount of electricity that you use each month is simply to turn off any devices that are not being used. Common sense is a commodity that can be in rare supply at times - and many modern electrical gadgets are rarely, if ever, turned off. Instead of being properly turned off, a lot of modern gadgets enter “standby mode” instead. As well as devices on standby, charging devices - such as those used for notebook computers, cell phones, and various other portable electronic devices - continue to draw power when they are left plugged in - even when they are not actually charging anything.
As much as 10% of a typical family home's electricity can be used up in supplying devices which are not actually being used but are sitting "on standby". Turn these devices fully off and watch your energy usage, and your bill, reduce. Given the large number of gadgets and gizmos in the average family home these days, it might be difficult to keep track of what's on standby, what's in use and what is switched off. If you struggle, get yourself some special power adapters which can detect when a device has entered standby mode and then kill the supply to it.
This could save you quite a bit of money. You might find that it also prolongs the lifespan of some of your electrical devices.
Another way to use modern technology to your advantage when trying to get your utility bill down is to fit low energy light bulbs throughout your house. Traditional light bulbs are not very energy efficient at all. As little as 10% of the energy supplied is used to produce light. The other 90% is wasted as heat.
Modern energy efficient light bulbs use less than 25% of the energy of conventional light bulbs for the same level of illumination. They also have a much longer life - so as well as saving you money, you won’t need to get your step ladder out to change light bulbs anything like as often.
As a final example of how modern technology can help you to reduce your energy bills, consider the latest low temperature cleaning agents and detergents now available on the market. These allow you to run your washing machine and dishwasher on a lower temperature setting.
Washing machines and dishwashers tend to be two of the highest energy consumers in the average family home. Operating these devices at 30 degrees could save as much as 40% of the energy used - and that should make a very positive difference to your monthly bill.
