5 Popular Energy Saving Myths

Everyone wants to save money on their energy bills each month. Heat, cooling, and powering your home uses a great deal of electricity. In an attempt to save money, we often listen to energy saving myths that claim to help decrease your power use, but ultimately end up costing you more money. To clear this misinformation, below are 5 of the common energy saving myths out there.

Number 1: You Should Leave Your Heat on Low During the Day
This myth has you believe that it’s actually cheaper to keep your heat on low all day which results in you saving energy and money. The truth, however, is that you should only have your heat on when you need it. The best way to do this is by using a timer that is designed to turn your heat on or off to maintain your desired temperature. The fact is, you are constantly leaking out energy from your home and how much depends on how well your home is insulated. Therefore, if you leave your heat on all day (even on low), you are losing energy all day long.

Number 2: You Should Use Electrical Heaters
Another myth is that electrical heaters can save energy. You should only use these when it’s absolutely necessary. This is because they use up an excessive amount of electricity in order to heat your home. It’s best to use your central heating system or even other heating sources like radiators which are far more energy efficient than electrical heaters.

Number 3: You Should Reduce Strain on Your System by Closing Vents
When you have central heating, you may believe that closing vents in rooms that aren’t being occupied will reduce the strain of your entire system. This is another myth. Closing a vent is not the same thing as turning off a light. A closed vent doesn’t reduce how much energy you use and doesn’t help your system in any way. It can actually have an opposite effect. By closing a vent, you are actually making your system work harder to get air to the other areas of your home and this overcompensation leads to more energy output.

Number 4: You Should Turn up your Thermostat to Heat your Home Faster
Your furnace will take just as long to heat your home. Not to mention, you shouldn’t be keeping your furnace off long enough to get your home cold anyway. No matter what temperature you set your thermostat to, your unit will generate heat at the same rate, therefore, cranking the heat up will actually take just as long to get your home heated, but will also use more energy.

Number 5: You Should Turn Your Electronics to “Off” Mode Doesn’t Use Power
Most electronic devices that are plugged in use ‘standby power’ regardless if they are turned on or off. When you are not using your device, unplug it to keep it from using up energy.

Do you know what is NOT an energy saving myth? Whole house fans can drop air conditioning usage by 50-90 percent.

A whole house fan can be used as an alternative to your cooling system for most of the year (depending on your climate). When you combine a whole house fan with ceiling fans, you can keep your home comfortable, even in hot weather. You can even modify your heating and cooling unit’s ducts to offer you whole house cooling. Plus, you are saving energy too by not having to use your air conditioner, which we all know is an energy guzzler.

Sources:

http://www.resnet.us/library/five-common-energy-saving-myths/
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/energy-saving-myths
https://www.angieslist.com/articles/save-money-don-t-fall-energy-saving-myths.htm
https://energy.gov/energysaver/cooling-whole-house-fan
https://www.volunteerenergy.com/7-energy-saving-myths/
http://air-treatment.com/2017/02/15/debunking-common-energy-saving-myths/