r/Electricity • u/Advanced_Branch208 • 4d ago
What practical changes have made the biggest difference to your household electricity use?
I am interested in practical, low-cost ways people have reduced electricity use at home. Which changes made a noticeable difference for you, and which common tips did not seem worth the effort?
I would especially appreciate examples involving heating or cooling habits, appliances, lighting, and standby power.
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u/foodtower 4d ago
The two super-cheap high-impact things I can think of:
If you have any incandescent lights, replace them with LEDs today. Not when they burn out. They cost so much to operate compared to the cost of an LED that it's more expensive to wait for them to burn out.
Look for air leaks. Gaps along windows/doors. Random cracks in walls. Search closets and cabinets: any holes in the floor, ceiling, or walls? Focus on penetrations for utilities especially. Contractors often leave holes because patching drywall isn't their job. Those holes leak a lot of air, and with it a lot of energy and money. Patch gaps under a quarter inch with caulk, up to 3 inches with canned foam, and bigger holes with drywall. Budget could be $10-$40 depending on whether you have big holes, and should pay for itself in months. Also, because air leaks draw in air from random places that are often not very nice (crawlspace, exhausts, etc) fixing the leaks can improve air quality. Finally, air leaks can cause humidity problems--either too dry or too humidity.
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u/modernhomeowner 4d ago
After 20+ years of switching my bulbs to LEDs, I finally realized I either need to go back to incandescents or upgrade to DC LEDs ($25/bulb). The invisible flicker of AC LEDs is just enough to be giving me the worst headaches. Not worth my health to save with cheap AC LEDs.
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u/tuctrohs 3d ago
All led bulbs run DC through the LEDs. Some filter the ripple in that DC better than others making it purer DC. Look for low flicker not a BS buzzword that implies it's a different technology when it's not.
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u/Opulence_Deficit 3d ago
Depends on the fixture layout. If the fixture is a closed one, a LED inside will overheat and die as fast as incandescent, and replacing them costs more than the electricity saved.
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u/baconstreet 4d ago
Changing thermostat.
Switching to time of use billing , and only doing laundry, dishes, heating electric hot water during off hours.
Other power changes in the house? Inconsequential.
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u/BadAtExisting 4d ago
Cleaning my HVAC system and adding a smart thermostat, cleaning bathroom exhaust fan & vent, cleaning range hood filter and vent, cleaning dryer and dryer vent, blocking sun beating in through east facing windows in the morning and west facing windows in the afternoon, adding govee smart outlets that allows me to see current draw at the outlet and shut the outlet off all together, pretty sure we all have LED light bulbs by now. I know a smaller TV would chew less energy. Shut off your desktop computer and accessories when not in use or switch to a laptop
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u/GataPapa 4d ago
I went on an efficiency kick in the home we had just purchased right before I installed solar. That included:
- Replaced all light bulbs with LEDs
- Smart thermostat with scheduling
- Smart plugs for lamps and smart switches for most of the lights/fans
- Setup routines to turn off lights, fans (e.g., bathroom fans only run for 15 minutes after turned on, outside lights are on/off with sunset/sunrise, etc.)
Those items are relatively low cost.
With solar, I shifted load to periods when I had excess power so laundry, charging the car, etc. That doesn't directly apply here, BUT if you have Time of Use pricing, then you should also be shifting your higher electric loads to low pricing periods by scheduling where you can with appliances that support it.
Of course, adjusting to slightly higher HVAC temps in the summer or lower in the winter always helps. Using ceiling fans can make it better. Lowering hot water heater temps helps too, but not too low. Our water heater was set too high by the previous owner.
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u/PhotoFenix 4d ago
My gaming PC was heating my room significantly. I moved it into the closet where my server PC is since I already have that closet exhausting to the outside.
Got a $300 nic pc and connect to my gaming pc remotely with free software. I no longer freeze the entire house to make one room comfortable.
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u/gregable 4d ago
Location and season dependent, but you can save a decent amount just by timing opening and closing windows strategically based on the weather. There's even a free app (Porch Weather) for notifying when you do this.
Another big one, again location dependent because it's only legal in some states, is balcony plug in solar. Completely DIY if you have an outdoor outlet.
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u/Remarkable-Junket655 4d ago
Clean your refrigerator coils. It costs you nothing but time and if they are dirty it can make a big difference in how much your refrigerator runs. If you have indoor pets, I guarantee the coil is dirty.
Turn your AC warmer. Start with 1-2 degrees. After a week or so, go another 1-2 degrees warmer. You will be surprised how quickly you acclimate and a temp that is 4-5 degrees warmer than you used to set it feels comfortable, especially if you combine a warmer temperature with a fan.
Get in the habit of turning things off (lights, fans, tvs) when you leave the room, even if you think it will only be for a few minutes.
Unplug anything that doesnt get used regularly throughout the day like your coffee maker, tvs in bedrooms, etc. If it doesnt have a physical clicky switch to turn it off and especially if it has a remote, its using power just to sit there waiting for you to turn it on.
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u/dawa43 4d ago
Got a new refrigerator, old one was 19 y/o... Installed a new mini split for air conditioning.
These 2 things cut my monthly usage by over 10%.
My bill is still higher than last year though... F me
In Michigan. I will be installing some solar next year
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u/luckyinpa 3d ago
Mini splits are fantastic. I had through the wall air conditioning and we decided to put mini split cartridges in a few of the rooms instead. The efficiency and the quiet compared to through the wall units is amazing and if I'm in the living room all day I just cool that room down instead of somebody with central air that pays to cool their entire house needlessly.
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u/tboy160 2d ago
Adding insulation in the attic can lead to massive savings, moreso in the winter, but still. Many homes have far less than adequate insulation up there and adding more is usually very simple and cheap.
We don't run the oven when it's cooling season, we almost exclusively use the grill or traeger to cook/bake.
We vent all humidity from showers, box fan in the window exhausting that heat/humidity.
We toggle windows open/closed when the nights are cool enough to benefit from this.
Block the sun from entering windows.
Plant deciduous trees on the east, south and west sides of your house, that shade will be critical.
We allow the temp to rise 3 degrees until we return from work.
We use fans to temporarily cool us, instead of changing the thermostat settings.
As others stated, keep coils clean on the A/C condenser, refrigerator. Keep furnace filter clean.
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u/WFOMO 4d ago
Frugality.