Self-Reliance and Homesteading

Before you take the time and energy (and money…) to invest in an alternative energy solution for your home, you need to start conserving electricity with what you have now. By taking the time to pay attention to how much electricity you are using and how you can reduce that, you will be more prepared to implement an alternative energy solution for your home.

There are a few easy steps you can take to reduce your elecriticy consumption, which will in turn reduce your electric bill.

• Turn your air conditioner down (or up). If you’re hot, wear less clothes and turn on a fan pointed right at you. If you’re cold, put more clothes on, and wrap a blanket around you. Central heat and air is a great and comfortable system, but it is a power hog. Take a few simple steps to run your AC less throughout the day.
• If you’re not using it, turn it off. When you leave a room, even for a couple of minutes, turn everything off. Now, if you’re walking from your home office to the kitchen to refill your coffee mug, don’t worry about it. But if you are going to watch TV for a minute, turn off the lights and that fan you should have pointed at you (if it’s the summer).
• Use those compact fluorescent light bulbs for everything. You know, the little swirly-looking things. They last a really, really long time, and consume less electricity. I’ve got some that use 13 watts, some 26 watts, and so on. Much better than 60 – 100 watts.

There you go. Three simple things you can do to reduce your energy consumption. Start thinking about how much electricity you use and waste, and you’ll start improving. Then your bill will be less each month, and you can just sit and smile about it.

Take these simple steps, and you’ll be that much closer to creating a sustainable, renewable energy resource for your home. Rememeber to take baby steps in this process. It won’t do you any good to install a solar power array in your home and then burn it all up by lunch time. Reduce your energy consumption first, then we’ll move on to bigger and better energy projects.