Do you know what energy is?
This might seem like an odd question, especially coming from Green Energy of San Antonio, but it's one worth asking. We know that we use a lot of energy, but do we actually know what it means to use energy? We know it comes from gas, solar power, and other things. Those things are just processes that create energy, though.Energy, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is power created by physical or chemical resources. Energy is power. The power to move things. For instance, if you scroll down on this blog post, you are using a tiny amount of energy to scroll. You have generated enough power to move your finger a tiny bit. This is how energy is used in one of its most basic forms.Where we get into interesting territory is when we talk about energy consumption. Consuming energy means you use a lot of resources to create the power to do things. In a perfect world, you would want to create a good power-to-energy ratio. For however much energy you produce, you create an equal amount of power.
This is not always the case. According to one article, the United States wastes as much energy as it takes to run the United Kingdom for seven years. As a titan of industry, the United States needs a lot of energy in order to run. Needing this energy creates a significant requirement for resources.A good portion of the energy the United States consumes is due to something known as rejected energy. Rejected energy is not energy that is put to use, however. Rejected energy is the energy utilized to generate more energy. To use an example, it would be like eating an apple in order to generate the necessary energy to eat an apple later. You are putting in energy now so you can use more energy later.It makes sense. We truly do need to generate energy in order to get more energy. If we didn't, then many of the great things about the United States would not be as wonderful fantastic as they already are. However, as of 2012, the U.S. energy output only uses 37 percent of its own energy. More than 58 percent of the energy we use goes to making more energy. That's like eating two apples in order to generate the necessary energy to eat one apple later.From a financial perspective, this is inefficient. In order to best utilize the work we put forth, we need to set up our infrastructure in our individual homes better to cope with this. In order to cut down on rejected energy we need to be able to change our own habits. It can be difficult to affect change on such a large scale. However, what we can do successfully is worry about our own habits. By modifying our own personal habits, we will be able to cut down on the cost of energy significantly.
How can we stop wasted energy?
Turn Down Your Thermostat
In the winter, turn down your thermostat three degrees. Analyst Bill Prindle, Vice President at ICF International, says that we can successfully save 3 percent on our energy bills each month by simply turning down the thermostat one degree. If you turn your thermostat down by three or four degrees, you are saving even more money.The biggest issue here is being smart with your thermostat. Many of us leave thermostats on absent mindedly. This is creating energy for us to be cool or warm later. It's relaxing, but can we do better? If you want to be smarter about the way your home uses energy, invest in...well, invest in Green Energy windows. Obviously, we've biased for our own product, but this can cut down significantly on the amount of energy used. More on that later, though.
Turn Off the Lights
If you're leaving a room for more than 15 minutes, turn off the lights. It's easy to have lights be an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of situation. If we're not in the room, it's not a problem. If you don't have the right kind of lights installed within your home, you could be setting yourself up to pay big time later. For each hour your lights are used without you in the room, that's more wasted money and energy that you're contributing to your energy bill.Instead, look at your habits. Are you turning off the lights when you leave the room? Also, what kind of lights do you have installed? Installing "Green" lights like LEDs or similar models will give you the same amount of light for less energy use. Also, turning off those lights will ultimately save on your energy bill. This benefits you and it benefits everyone by not creating wasted energy.
Insulate Your Home
Reinforce your attic with insulation. A common misconception is that a majority of heat and cool air escapes through holes in walls and windows. While this may have some truths, it’s also important to note that a lot of heat and cool air escapes through the roof or attic. Remember, air, especially hot air, tends to rise up. This means all that energy is going to naturally arrive at the ceiling or roof.In order to prevent this energy from escaping, our Radiant Barrier insulating technology can help stop it from escaping. The Green Energy Radiant Barrier is more efficient than traditional attic insulation, keeping hot air inside or out and keeping your home cool when it counts. Furthermore, the technology within Radiant Barrier is committed to making your home more energy efficient. This saves you money and energy.Ultimately, what we all have to do is look out for how we work. We're not perfect and we can all make mistakes. What we can do is choose how to move on from those mistakes. By being more conscious of our energy using habits individually, we can help cut down on using energy. This helps our pocketbooks and helps out our country on energy usage. Hopefully, next time our statistics are released, we will have wasted a little less energy.
