Energy Saving: 12 Tips for Eco-Friendly Bills

With the arrival of increasingly expensive billsil energy saving has become a real imperative for many families. 2022 is the year that represented a watershed in the habits of Italians, with the start of a strong energy crisis which has sent the price of gas and electricity skyrocketing.

The scarcity of raw materials on the international market and the difficulties in their importation due to the tensions caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in fact, have brought Europe into a complex situation not seen since the 1970s.

But how can we make the cheaper billswhat are the tips to put into practice to obtain good energy savings?

Although the prices of energy and gas components remain very high, there are small daily habits that can determine significant drops in bills, with an overall saving of even 200 or 300 euros per year. Below are all the suggestions for heating, energy and gas.

Energy saving: heating

Il Home heating It is perhaps the area that weighs most on annual bills for families, because it is certainly the area where the greatest consumption occurs. Consumption that can concern both the gas bill, for classic systems with methane boilers, and the energy bill for completely electrified solutions.

How to save?

Adjust the thermostat temperature

The first step to saving on heating is as simple as it is effective: regulate the thermostat temperature can lead to a reduction in consumption of up to 20%. All this simply by maintaining a constant temperature between 18 and 19 degrees, rather than the more traditional 20 or 21 degrees.

The temperature variation is so small that, in most cases, you won’t really notice a difference, even on the coldest winter days.

Yet, this small decrease has a big impact on the bill, with the consumption of hundreds of cubic meters less every two months. It is estimated, in fact, that the reduction of even just one degree on the thermostat can limit the demand for methane ed electricity even by 7 percentage points.

Avoid heat loss

The greater the heat dispersion in the rooms, the higher the bill will be: this is because the heating system, having to deal with rooms that cool down very quickly, must consume more energy and gas to maintain the desired temperature.

However, not everyone can afford large-scale renovations for theenergy efficiency of the house, for example by installing a thermal coat, however there are some tricks to apply on a daily basis.

First of all, you need to eliminate the drafts of airfor example by installing special draught excluders on doors and windows. Furthermore, it is necessary to carefully manage the opening of windows: it is necessary to avoid creating drafts, which cool the rooms very quickly, preferring instead an alternating exchange between the rooms of the house, of about five or ten minutes every hour.

Improving the efficiency of radiators

Finally, it is possible to increase the efficiency of your heating system – and therefore reduce the weight of this need on your bill – with some easy measures that lead to improving the radiator performance.

The simplest method is to install the appropriate ones heat reflector panels behind the radiator itself. These are fibers made of insulating materials – such as polystyrene and metal – that allow the heat generated by the radiators to be spread more uniformly, thus obtaining the same room temperature with less gas and energy consumption.

Energy saving and electricity: daily tips

With the increase in the number of home appliances and of electronic devices present in homes, our homes are becoming increasingly intelligent but also more energy-hungry. There are now many appliances that consume energy 24 hours a day and, for this reason, more careful management can lead to good savings on the bill. Here are some useful tips.

Optimize your washing machine

The washing machine is certainly one of the appliances that consumes the most in the home and, at the same time, it is also an indispensable appliance. In fact, an average family with children will practically start a washing cycle every day. To reduce its weight on the bill, it is possible to follow a few easy rules:

• Always wash with a full loadto avoid unnecessary waste of water and energy;
• Reduce the temperatureto reduce energy requirements by up to 15%. Most items, especially if not particularly dirty, can be washed at temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees. For very dirty whites, you should not exceed 60, while always avoiding 90 degrees;
• Use eco wash cyclesto reduce the duration of the wash cycle, limit the spin power and automatically control the temperature. By doing so, you can save up to 10% on each individual wash.

Adjust refrigerator and freezer

Also refrigerator e freezer They are two energy-hungry household appliances since, as you can easily imagine, they remain on 24 hours a day. Even in this case, there are easy tips to reduce their consumption:

• Maintain the refrigerator temperature between 4 and 6 degrees. Lower levels, in addition to not being optimal for food, also increase energy requirements by 25%;
• Storing food on the refrigerator compartments in an orderly fashion, respecting the sections defined by the manufacturer, so that there is good air circulation and no overload to cool the internal environment of the appliance;
• On the contrary, it is best to occupy as much space as possible in the freezer, thus avoiding the ice formation which can put pressure on the appliance.

Iron more easily

Press It is not only a very boring activity that you cannot avoid, but it is also a necessity with great energy consumption. It is estimated that a session of about two hours a week, in fact, can weigh on the bill even 200 euros a year. Yet, there are tricks to limit consumption:

• Hang the clothes out wellso that fewer creases form and clothes can be ironed more easily;
• Always use starchto speed up the ironing of each item;
• Reduce the temperature of the ironto limit the appliance’s energy requirements by up to 10%;
• Always keep your iron clean and free of limescale on the nozzles, as debris on the internal heat-generating circuits can increase energy demands by up to 15%.

Promote natural lighting

Take advantage of thenatural lighting It is the simplest and most immediate way to obtain a good energy saving on your bill, without much effort. Of course, not everyone can take advantage of skylights or an apartment with a perfect southern exposure, which allows you to maximize sunlight for the greatest number of hours during the day.

Yet, there are some easy tips that are useful to everyone:

• Choosing light curtains and with soft colours that, while protecting the privacy of the rooms, allow you to take greater advantage of natural light;
• Choose light wall colors and place mirrors in strategic points of the rooms, so that they can reflect the light that comes in from the windows.

Install LED lights

As far as the old halogen light bulbs are no longer on the market, many examples are still in use inside Italian homes. In fact, it happens that we do not remember to replace the old and energy-hungry light bulbs, until they stop working.

However, by choosing new lighting technologies, you can cut consumption by up to 90%: just think that a warm light LED bulb, with a lighting power of 60 watts, typical of an analog solution, requires an expense of only 12 euros per year for 6 hours of daily lighting. A big difference, compared to the 30-50 euros of a now obsolete analog bulb.

Avoid devices from going into standby

Not everyone knows this, but keeping the dispositivi in stand-bysuch as the television, causes a large and unnecessary energy consumption per year. That little red light on the devices, which allows us to turn them on easily by pressing a single button on the remote control, can cost up to 120 euros in bills per year, if multiplied by all the appliances in the house.

For this reason, it is always necessary to completely turn off each device when not in use, not simply by taking advantage of the stand-by mode, but by directly disconnecting the appliance from the mains. electric socket.

Energy and gas saving: daily tips

Although the major gas consumption inside the house occur with heating systems, there are other daily activities that can have a strong impact on the bill. And, considering that gas is the energy component with the most skyrocketed rates during 2022, it is useful to apply some daily advice to lighten annual consumption.

Stove and oven: what to do in the kitchen

Although you certainly can’t give up cooking, even when using ovens and stoves you can apply some strategies that allow you to achieve good energy savings:

• Choosing the right stove for every cooking is essential to avoid waste. Burners that are too large compared to the pots and pans used naturally lead to a waste of gas, while undersized cooking points lead to consuming more gas than necessary;
• Prefer bunk cookingwhen possible, and the use of a pressure cooker to reduce cooking times;
• Use the oven only when necessarytaking advantage of simultaneous cooking for different dishes and avoiding having to continually open the door to check the cooking.

Bath and shower: how to save

Also there bathroom It is a place in the house where high energy consumption can occur, however it is possible to reduce its weight on the bill with small daily measures.

In particular, for personal hygiene it is always preferable to shower to the classic bath, because it leads to savings not only in terms of energy, but also in water consumption. Just think that filling the tub requires 100 to 160 liters of water, while a 5-10 minute shower only 75.

It is important to regulate the delivery temperature: unless you have particular needs, 40 degrees is more than sufficient for a comfortable shower with a low impact on your bill.

Manage the boiler

Finally, it is useful to pay particular attention to Boiler managementto optimize consumption both in terms of heating and domestic hot water production. First of all, it is useful to replace old models with new condensing boilers which, by recovering the heat generated by exhaust fumes, can reduce consumption by up to 30% compared to traditional alternatives.

After that, if you have the possibility to invest, it is useful to think about replacing the boiler with the heat pumps for home heating.

It is also important to regulate the water temperature, at least for the production of domestic hot water: for domestic needs, temperatures above 50 degrees are rarely necessary.

Sources