Save on energy costs with a smart home
Monday 18 October 2021
Make your home energy smart by saving on energy costs
We can expect that with the latest developments regarding gas and energy use in the Netherlands, we will all have to become increasingly economical! It is also socially responsible to do your best in this respect. Not to mention it is nice for your wallet and we would like to help you with this, through the tips in this blog. The first thing you may want to ask yourself is: how energy efficient is my house? Do you already have an energy label? The energy label of your house shows how well your house is insulated. You can get this information when buying, selling or renting a house. Every energy supplier must be able to keep you informed of your own energy consumption. Make sure you get that information.
Save on energy costs with a smart home
With a smart energy meter from your supplier, you receive a monthly energy report in which you can read off the energy consumption of the past month. You will also see the comparison with the month and the year before. If you do not yet have such a meter, you can still check this on the annual accounts, which show the consumption of the past year. Compare these with previous years and gain insight into your energy consumption.
Insulate better, you don't have to sit in the cold
Now that you know what your consumption is, you have some homework to do. How can you do better? Or how to do it even better. What often costs the home unnecessarily, especially during the cold months, is the heating of course! Almost all households in the Netherlands use gas and during those months, consumption is naturally very high. You don't necessarily have to sit in the cold to make savings. Making sure you have good insulation saves a lot. Do know that 3 out of 4 homes in the Netherlands are not optimally insulated. You don't want to be one of them.
Save on energy costs with the help of the thermostat
Better insulating your home may cost a bit, but the energy bill will go down dramatically and in the long run you will get the investment out of it. But before you spend a lot on things like insulation, there's a lot you can start doing or not doing on a daily basis. The thermostat determines the temperature of your home and therefore plays a key role in this. You can set it to 15 degrees when no one is at home during the day and turn the thermostat down if you are away for more than 2 days, because why would you heat your home if you are not at home? There are apps that allow you to manage the thermostat remotely. This allows you to set the thermostat to the desired temperature from your smartphone half an hour before you think you will be home.
Save on energy costs through smart power use
You can save on electricity use by having a good policy with regard to lighting, but also by charging all those smart devices. Lighting only the room you are in is an old tip. But nowadays, you can save a lot more with LED lighting. LED bulbs may be a bit more expensive to buy, but you can replace them gradually, by replacing burned out bulbs with LED ones one by one. You can also place lamps on time slots. The result of these small interventions on your energy bill will certainly be noticeable. Did you know that a charger continues to use power as long as it is not unplugged? Well, that gives you the next tip, unplug all sockets if they are not in use at the time. To save even more power, you can also choose to do your laundry at a lower temperature and let it dry on the line. In the summer, this is certainly an option. And set the computer so that it switches to sleep mode after a few minutes of inactivity. You can also save on hot water use by taking showers more often instead of baths, by spending less time in the shower and of course by showering less hot. The latter is also healthy! As you can see, with a conscious personal energy policy, you are already well on your way.