Give the Gift of Energy Savings This Year with These Energy Efficient Gift I

by George Karonis

Giving friends and family energy-efficient gifts is a simple way for them to save energy and money year-round. Holidays are often a time where people spend a lot of money and consume a lot of energy. However, this year, by giving your friends and family energy efficient gift ideas, you’ll help them with both of these issues.

Here are some ideas:

For the Homeowner

  • Home Electricity Monitor: A great way to help them save energy is by providing them with real-time feedback of the amount they’re using and the money they’re spending. A home electricity monitor will track their electricity usage in their home by plugging into outlets or helping in another way. You’ll find many options, so be sure you understand how they work.
  • Whole House Fan: With a whole house fan, your loved ones can prevent ice damming which occurs when the snow melts from their roof and causes water to flow down onto the edge of their roof, making ice dams. These ice dams can damage their roof and cause a blockage in their gutters. You’ll be saving them extra maintenance costs for their roof by giving them a whole house fan.

Whole house fans also circulate the air better for better ventilation. The whole house fan will help bring in fresh air to your friends and family’s home and remove stale indoor air. It also improves indoor air quality, reducing indoor pollutants like volatile organic compounds.

You’ll be giving the gift of a whole house fan, which can range in price from about $450 to $1,350.

For the Outdoor Enthusiast

  • Solar Backpack: A solar backpack has solar panels on the front of it so your loved ones won’t need to pack an extra battery pack. Just an hour of sun will provide them with several hours of talk time on their cell phone. The bag’s fabric is made with a recycled PET (soda bottles) so it’s lightweight, waterproof and UV resistant.

For the Techie

  • Tablets: Tablets are still hot today. Tablets like the Kindle fire, iPad and Nook each come with a lot of computing power that’s a lot more energy efficient than desktop computer and laptops. Not to mention, you’ll find a lot of holiday deals so you’re sure to find a tablet within your price range.
  • Connected Home Innovations: With the internet occurring all around us, smart homes or high-tech homes are becoming more popular. For better energy efficiency, several companies have come out with programmable thermostats and other items that connect to one another for better energy efficiency. They program themselves, automatically saving you energy when you’re not home.

There are also smoke alarms that are WiFi-connected that communicate with other smart devices, signaling your thermostat to turn your furnace off if it detects carbon monoxide in the house. These connected home innovations are efficiency for your loved one’s homes through their phone.

For the Foodie

  • The Pressure Cooker: A pressure cooker can help substantially reduce the time you require to cook when you compare it with a regular oven. This is because the pressure cooker cooks quicker due to pressurizing hot air in an enclosed space. A pressure cooker can cook anything from soups, to meat, to rice. They come in various sizes.
  • SoftBrew Coffee Pots: Just about everyone loves the first sip of their morning coffee. But, having to brew coffee every morning is a wasteful process that requires paper filters or disposable k-cups. Making and disposing of these k-cups and filters requires a lot of energy. Fortunately, there’s an efficient and simple solution — SoftBrew Coffee Pots. These don’t require the use of pods or filters. They’ll provide your loved one with the same great taste but without all the trash.

Shopping during the holidays and gift-giving is a joyful part of the season. Just remember when you’re thinking of gifts that will help your loved ones, try to find those that will help them save money and energy.

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