self sufficient life

5 quick energy saving tips

It’s still dark outside when the alarm clock goes off and it’s dark again before dinner time. We got our first snow for the season yesterday, winter is really starting. This is the time for high energy bills, it’s also the time when you can save a lot of energy. I’ve compiled a list of energy saving tips that can help you lower your energy bills and save you some money. Here they are in random order:

1.Turn down your heater
Do you walk around in t-shirts during winter? A lot of people turn their heating up too much during colder weather. If it’s getting colder, wear a sweater instead of turning the heaters up. Turning down your heater just a single degree can help you save close to 10% of your heating bill.

2.Install energy saving light bulbs
During the short winter days we use a lot of energy to light our homes. Replacing your light bulbs with energy saving light bulbs can save a lot of energy and money. An 11 Watt energy saving light bulb produces about the same amount of light as a 60 Watts incandescent light bulb, while only using about 20% of the energy. Energy saving light bulbs are more expensive to buy, that’s why a lot of people still buy incandescent light bulbs. When factoring in the 80% energy saving and the many times longer lifetime that energy saving light bulbs have, the higher purchase price of the energy saving light bulb is a really good investment and will save you a lot of money in the long run.

3.Keep your fridge and freezer full
Your fridge and freezer are good at cooling objects placed inside of them. Common sense would probably make you believe that less things in your fridge will mean less energy is needed to keep things chilled. The opposite is true however! Once everything in your fridge or freezer has been cooled to the set temperature only very little energy is needed to keep things at that temperature, thanks to good insulation in the appliance. When you open the door, to get something out or put something in, the cold air escapes and is replaced by warm air. The cold items already in the fridge or freezer will help cool the warm air. A lot of cold is stored in the items in your fridge. Cold (or heat) storage needs mass, air in your fridge or freezer has very little mass and makes for a very bad storage medium. If you don’t have a lot of items to store in your fridge or freezer you can fill up the unused space with jugs of water. Water is a very cheap and highly effective cold storage medium.

4.Turn off your appliances when not in use.
A lot of electricity is wasted when you leave appliances in stand-by mode. Likewise, unused wall warts still use electricity when nothing is connected to them. Unplug your laptop charger, phone charger, printer and anything else that comes with one of those over sized plugs that contains a power supply.

5.Don’t use electric gadgets for things you can do manually.
We are way too used to our gadgets. I’m sure you have some electric appliances that you can easily live without. By the time you have plugged in your electric can opener, my can is already half way opened with sheer man-power! An electric can opener is a handy tool if you can’t use your hands because of an injury, but with two healthy hands, I’m opening my cans with a manual can opener that doesn’t need electricity.

These are just a few tips, there are a lot more ways to save energy. What are you doing to save energy in your home?

Winter composting

Most gardeners know that good compost is an invaluable addition to their garden soil and the avid gardeners I know all have a compost pile to make their own compost. Few, however, continue their composting during the winter months because they think the cold weather will grind all activity in the compost bin to a halt.

Yes, the composting process is a lot slower in winter, but the process doesn’t stop completely. Even if the temperatures drop well below freezing this winter, a little work and planning now will give your composting a head start once spring arrives.

Harvest your compost, so you have plenty of room in your bin for the winter composting. Since you will be mostly adding greens to your bin throughout winter, you’ll need some browns to keep the bin in balance, this is where all the leaves you raked up come in handy.

With a steady supply of fresh kitchen scraps, your compost pile should be able to keep itself fairly warm and do it’s thing. Some insulation around the bin can help to keep the temperatures up and speed up the composting process a little. While the best place for your compost bin in the summer is under some big trees, or any other shaded place to prevent the compost from drying out, in winter you’ll want to place it in a sunny spot, so the sun can warm up your compost pile.

What if you don’t want to move your compost pile or add insulation? Keep on adding your kitchen scraps to the bin and balance with dry leaves. When your compost pile completely freezes this winter, don’t worry, it’s a good thing! The freezing and thawing will damage the fibers in your soon-to-be compost making the breakdown easier once spring arrives.

Do you compost during winter?