10 Easy Ways to Save Electricity

I’m always looking for ways to save electricity on our homestead. For me, using less electricity is a constant quest, especially since one of our long-term goals is to have our homestead powered by renewable energy. The more energy we save, the less we’ll have to spend on our solar setup.

There are so many benefits to using less electricity: you save money on your electric bill, you reduce your carbon footprint, and you waste fewer resources. The best news is that saving electricity doesn’t have to involve a lot of extra work. Making a few small changes around your homestead can lead to significant savings throughout the year.

How Much Electricity Do We Use?

In two words: A LOT.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2019 the average annual energy consumption for a residential customer in the United States was 10,649 kWh, or 877 kWh per month. The World Bank reports that as a country, China consumes the most electricity in the world. However, the United States, despite having a fraction of China’s population, is a close second.

The problem with all this energy use is that it’s completely unsustainable. The EIA states that 60% of all the power generated in the United States is from fossil fuels, like coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases. Burning these fossil fuels creates air pollution and contributes to harmful algal blooms our water systems.

Another challenge is that globally, we continue to want more power. According to the EIA, global electricity use continues to rise faster that the global population. Here in the United States, EIA also estimates that electricity use will increase by 2.1% in 2021.

Tips to Save Electricity

There are many things you can do to save energy on your homestead. Some changes, like adding insulation to your attic or investing in a home energy audit, can have a huge payoff and lead to significant energy savings. However, for this post I’m focusing on easy changes you can make, or easy products you can invest in, to save energy.

1. Use a Dishwasher Instead of Hand Washing

This might sound counter-intuitive at first, but using a dishwasher instead of hand washing dishes can help you save electricity on your homestead.

According to Energy Star, using an Energy Star rated dishwasher can save up to 5,000 gallons of water per year, and will use 50% less energy than washing dishes by hand. Using a dishwasher can also save you 230 hours, or 10 full days, of personal time over the course of a year. Just take a moment and think about what you could do with an extra 45 minutes every day.

You can save even more electricity with a dishwasher by not using the heat dry setting. Instead, turn off the dishwasher once the wash cycle is finished and open the door a crack to let the dishes air dry.

We don’t have a dishwasher in our home, but my goal for this year is to get one.

2. Use a Heat Plate for Baby Chicks and Ducklings

When I first started raising baby chicks, I used a heat lamp. Heat lamps were an inexpensive option and, as far as I knew, that’s just what you used. However, heat lamps use an enormous amount of energy, especially when you have to keep them running 24/7. They’re also a fire risk.

After that first brood of chicks and ducklings, I upgraded to a Brinsea EcoGlow chick brooder. And if you’re looking to save electricity around your homestead, this device is definitely worth the investment. I never thought I’d be in a position where I was raving about a chicken heating device, yet here I am. This thing is amazing.

What I love most about the Brinsea Eco Glow is that it’s really energy efficient. The Brinsea uses only 12 watts of electricity. A heat lamp uses 250 to 300 watts. This saves an incredible amount of electricity. There’s also very little risk of fire with this device.

The Brinsea uses so little energy that ours is powered by one solar panel out in our barn. Our inverter uses more power than the heating element. Because of the Brinsea EcoGlow, we’re able to raise our chicks and ducklings without paying for any electricity at all.

Overall, the Brinsea will more than pay for itself over time, especially if you plan on raising chicks every year.

3. Use Ceiling Fans to Save Electricity

A ceiling fan can help you save energy and keep cool this summer. According to Energy.gov, a ceiling fan will help a room feel 4 degrees F cooler than it really is by creating a wind chill effect. However, ceiling fans use a fraction of the electricity as the air conditioner.

One strategy is to keep the windows open and use a ceiling fan to stay cool. On hotter days, you can use a ceiling fan to supplement your air conditioner. Instead of setting your air conditioner to 75 degrees F, set it to 78 degrees F and turn on the fan. This will still keep you cool, but you’ll use less electricity.

To save even more energy, purchase Energy Star rated ceiling fans. These fans circulate the air 20% more efficiently than other models. And, make sure you turn off the fan when you leave the room.

4. Save Energy With a Solar Oven

Ovens can use an enormous amount of energy. According to Energy Use Calculator, most ovens use between 1,000 and 5,000 watts of electricity. If your oven uses an average of 2,400 watts, and it’s turned on for one hour per day, this means you’re using 2.4 kWh per day. If you pay the national average of $.13 per kWH, this is $.31 a day, or $9.49 per month, in electricity.

Using the oven during summer can also cause you to use more energy because it raises the interior temperature of your home. This forces the air conditioner to work harder to keep the house cool, increasing your electric bill.

To save electricity, consider investing in a solar oven. A solar oven gives you a way to prepare meals without using any electricity at all.

We have an All American Solar Oven, and we have used it for years to save electricity and keep the house cooler during the summer.

Another advantage to investing in a solar oven is that they can help prepare your homestead for severe weather. If you lose power, you’ll have an electricity-free way to prepare a hot meal for your family. Whether you face threats from hurricanes, tornadoes, or winter storms, a solar oven can be an important tool in disaster preparedness.

How Does a Solar Oven Work?

A solar oven works by harnessing the sun’s power to cook food. Solar ovens can reach temperatures of 400 degrees F or more on a sunny day. However, I’ve found that ours hovers around 300 degrees F to 350 degrees F most of the time. To maintain a high temperature for a shorter cook time, you do have to move the oven every hour or two as the sun tracks across the sky. The oven comes with solar sights that makes perfect alignment very easy.

The beauty of the solar oven is that the cook box is completely sealed, so moisture can’t escape like it can in a traditional oven. Food cooked in a solar oven is perfectly moist, every single time. Because of this, cook time is flexible. The food never burns in a solar oven, so if you leave it out there and forget about it the quality of the food usually isn’t affected.

You can also use a solar oven like a slow cooker. Instead of adjusting the solar oven to follow the sun, set it out early and leave it one position for the entire day. The temperature will stay relatively low (around 200 degrees F) and your food will be perfectly cooked by dinner time.

What Can You Cook With a Solar Oven?

In short, you can cook just about anything with a solar oven.

We use our solar oven to bake bread, steam vegetables, slow cook soups, and cook chicken. Using the solar oven is such an easy way to prepare dinner because you don’t have to worry about burning food or drying it out. I can’t tell you how many times I put a chicken out in the solar oven and then completely forgot about it because I got wrapped up in doing other chores. When I finally remember and take it out, it’s perfectly moist and flavorful. The same goes for bread. I use our solar oven to bake bread all the time, and it’s always perfectly moist when I pull it out.

The only thing you can’t really use a solar oven for is roasting food, or if you’re baking bread and want a hard crust. A solar oven keeps moisture contained within the cook box, so if you desire anything with a crispy exterior or hard crust, you’ll need to use a regular oven. Other than that, the solar oven can be an excellent way to use less energy.

5. Install Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

Replacing old light bulbs with more energy efficient options are an easy way to save energy in your home.

According to Energy.gov, LED light bulbs use 75% less energy compared to halogen bulbs. Yes, they’re more expensive up front but they will pay for themselves over time.

For example, Energy.gov compared the costs of running LED holiday lights and incandescent C-9 lights. If you ran the lights for 12 hours a day for 40 days, the C-9 lights would cost you $10 in electricity, while the LEDs would cost you $.27. That’s an enormous savings in money and energy.

Upgrading your lighting can be especially beneficial in a barn, where outdated lighting is more common. If your barn uses old fluorescent lighting, upgrade to LEDs for significant savings.

6. Line Dry Clothes

I love the smell of line dried clothes. They smell like everything wonderful, like sunshine and fresh air and summer afternoons. In addition to transforming the scent of your clothes, line drying is an important way to save energy on your homestead.

Here in the U.S., we love our clothes dryers. According to Green America, 75% of U.S. households own a clothes dryer, compared to half of households in Europe.

The dryer is the third highest energy consuming appliance in your home (after the furnace and refrigerator). And, ditching your dryer could reduce your home’s carbon footprint by 2,400 pounds per year. Line drying also eliminates the risk that your dryer will start a house fire. FEMA estimates that there are 2,900 house fires started by clothes dryers each year.

Line drying clothes is something I want to here on our homestead, but can’ because of ticks.

When we first moved to our homestead I began line drying our clothes to save electricity. However, I began finding ticks crawling on the clothes when I brought them inside to fold and put away. Some of the ticks were so small they were practically invisible. I couldn’t catch them all, of course, and eventually the ticks wound up in our clothes drawers, as well as on our skin. So, even though I don’t like it, I went back to using our dryer.

This year, I’m going to try a different approach. I’m going to try installing a clothes line on our back porch and see if that eliminates the problem.

7. Close Curtains to Save Energy

You can lower the temperature in your home on hot summer days by keeping curtains closed, especially for south and west facing windows. This is a super short entry because it’s really that easy. When the sun’s out, close the curtains. Your house will stay cooler and your air conditioner won’t work as hard.

8. Install Solar Powered Motion Lights

Solar power has come such a long way in the past few years, and these inexpensive motion lights are a prime example. These lights are a wonderful way to save electricity on your homestead and around your barn because they’re bright, they’re completely powered by solar, and they’re cheap enough that you can install them all over your farm.

Here’s how we ended up with several of these solar powered motion lights.

During the winter, it’s after dark by the time I head out to the barn to shut the chickens and ducks up at night. Although it’s not a long walk from the house, our barn is located on the edge of a forest. The forest is not spooky by any means, but after dark my overactive imagination turns it into the setting for M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs”, a film about aliens that invade Earth.

I’ll spare you the details, but by the time I’ve finished shutting up the coop I’m sprinting back towards the house, flashlight swinging wildly, convinced that a fleshy, long-fingered alien hand is about to land on my shoulder and drag me back into the shadows. Every. Single. Time.

What does all this have to do with solar powered motion lights? Well, I decided enough was enough. Did I come to grips with my insanely overactive imagination, or confront the obvious truth that a 42 year-old shouldn’t be running away from imaginary aliens? Heavens, no. I installed a lot of these solar powered alien motion detectors around the barn. Now, nothing moves around that barn without me knowing about it.

These motion lights are really bright, they turn on the moment they detect motion, and they stay on for 15 seconds before turning back off. An added benefit is that if you install them around your chicken coop, they may help deter nighttime predators. You know, like aliens.

9. Change Your Furnace Filter

According to Energy Star, you should change your furnace filter every three months. During peak times (summer and winter), you should check your furnace filter monthly. If it looks dirty, put in a new one.

Clogged air filters force your furnace to work harder to push hot and cold air through your home, which uses more energy. This an inexpensive fix that can help you save money and energy in your home. It will also help improve the air quality in your home.

10. Insulate Your Hot Water Heater

If your hot water heater is warm to the touch, you’re losing energy. According to Energy.gov, insulating a hot water heater could save you 25% to 45% on standby heat loss, and cut your annual energy costs by 7% to 16%. You can usually find pre-cut hot water heater coats at home improvement stores for around $20.

Before investing in a hot water heater coat, contact your utility company. Some utility companies sell water heater blankets at a low cost, and others might provide you with one for free.

What About Turning Off Electronics to Save Electricity?

If you’re like most people, you leave your laptop on standby overnight, your phone plugged in to charge, and your TV and DVD players off but still plugged in to a power strip.

Years ago, many people wrote about the electricity that was used by devices when they were turned off. This electric use was called standby power, or “phantom power” and “vampire power.” Some reports estimated that up to 20% of your energy use was made up of phantom power loads.

Typically, any device with an A/C adapter or bricks, like the power converter attached to laptop cords, uses phantom power. At least, they used to.

In the early 2000s these devices did draw a significant amount of power when they were turned off. However, the good news is that public awareness lead to technological improvements that have drastically minimized the standby power from electronic devices. USA Today reports that on average, today’s devices use 90% less standby power than they used to.

So, can you save electricity by unplugging devices as soon as they’re done charging, or when you’re done using them for the day? In short, yes. But, there are many other ways to save energy that will provide a bigger payoff for your homestead.

Last Word

Saving electricity doesn’t have to involve big projects. Sometimes, making small changes to your habits and routine, or investing in a new tool or device, can lead to significant savings long term. Every step you take to reduce your energy use is going to make a difference.

I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to save energy around our homestead. Every change we make to use less energy gets us closer to our long-term goal of having a self-sustaining homestead. Although it’s a journey, at least we’re on our way.