6 Ways To Save Electricity In Your Apartment
Making smart use of the electricity in your apartment is a great way to improve your home. Smart home thermostats, light switches, and power outlets can make your life easier and more convenient in a lot of ways. It can also save you money while helping the environment at the same time.
- Customize your heating routine.
Most people sleep better when it is cold at night and warm in the afternoon. Still, just because we sleep well in the cold doesn’t mean we want to wake up in a blizzard. A smart thermometer is the best tool to customize the heating schedule of your home. While you are away, the heat can be shut off in order to save electricity. While you are driving back to your apartment, the heat can switch back on again to welcome you home.
- Change the thermostat from afar.
You may have a reliable routine for your heating, but what about the days when you’re out late with friends or need to stop at the store? There’s no point in heating an empty apartment, and the only way to prevent it while on the move is to have a connection to the thermostat through your phone. The added perk comes in when you come home early and don’t want to arrive to a freezing apartment.
- “Unplug” unused appliances.
You may have heard that appliances continue to burn electricity even when not in use. This is true. In some cases, this helps them to warm up faster, but is it really worth the wasted electricity. Plug your appliances into wifi-enabled outlets and cutting off their electricity is easier than ever before.
- Turn off abandoned lights
Sometimes you may leave the bedroom to fix up a sandwich only to realize the laundry is mid-cycle and no one has sorted through the mail. It may be a while before you work your way back to the bedroom and meanwhile the lights are still on. A quick tap on your smart home app will fix that.
- Check in from outside.
Are you worried you left the lights on, or worse, the stove? Smart home-enabled cameras will let you peek back home on your smart phone and double check. If your light switches are as smart as your phone, you can even shut them off while on the go.
- Surge protect manually.
When a wind or lightning storm comes in, your expensive electronics and computers are safer shut off. Many people choose to leave their computers on so that they can get back to what they were doing moments from getting home. It also cuts out wasted time waiting for the machine to start up. If a storm is coming, though, the computer is only safe if cut off from electricity. Wifi-enabled outlets will let the homeowner cut off the power and protect their electronics even when out of reach.
When in doubt talk to your apartment community manager, they are a great source of insight.