Energy Actions

Some people agree that it makes sense to conserve energy produced from nonrenewable resources because there is a limited resource and it pollutes. All nonrenewable energy impacts our environment. It costs a lot of time, money and resources to dig it out of the ground and transform it into a usable form of energy. Conserving energy means saving some of that time, money, and other resources.

Energy conservation also helps save money by increasing efficiency. Efficiency means using less energy to do the same job. By buying energy efficient technologies like efficient light bulbs, appliances, and cars that get more mileage per gallon, we save money because we use less fuel. Conserving energy not only helps the environment and benefits our health, it saves us money at the same time.

Just because we conserve energy does not mean that we have to "freeze in the dark" , or turn down the heat and not use as many lights. We can be a lot more efficient with the energy we use. For example, if a house is heated with electricity, the electricity must first be generated at a power plant, then transmitted to the house over power lines, and finally turned into heat. If a house is heated with the sun's energy or by burning natural gas, the energy is used more efficiently because it doesn't have to be generated and then transported over electric wires that cause some of it to be wasted.

There are other ways to light your house and keep it warm while using less energy. If you and your parents seal the cracks around your windows with caulk and better insulate your house to keep the cold air out, you can heat your house with less energy and still be just as warm. Also, some light bulbs use less electricity but give off the same amount of light. Called Compact Fluorescent Lamps or CFL's, these bulbs are more expensive than regular (incandescent) bulbs, but last longer and are three to four times more efficient at producing light. This means that they produce the same amount of light with 1/3 or 1/4 the energy used by a regular light bulb. These bulbs save energy and money over their lifetime.

If you'd like to help conserve energy in your community, there are a lot of simple things you can do. If you ask for help from your parents, teachers, or other community members and they participate with you, your efforts can have an even greater effect.

Start by examining for yourself how, when and where you use energy. Do your parents drive you to school every day, or do you ride your bike or the bus? How many car trips does your family make in a week? What appliances do you use every day? What kinds of energy do you use in your house? How many lights do you use regularly at night?

Most families in the US use the most energy for heat, which accounts for about 66% of total household energy use. The next largest energy consumers in the average house are the appliances and hot water heater. However, if you have an air conditioner, it probably uses a lot of energy — about 22% of all the energy used in the house.

As a second step, ask your parents to look at your electric and other energy bills with you and see if you can think of ways to help save money and make them lower. If you've got your parents or another adult around to explain things, take a look at the Home Energy Briefs. They'll give you specific ways your family can save energy at home, without having any less light or comfort — definitely not freezing in the dark.

You might have to ask your parents for help with some of them, but they are all simple and inexpensive.

• Turn off the lights when you leave a room or ask your parents to install motion detectors that will automatically turn off the lights when no one is there. Also, try to remember to turn off appliances like stereos and televisions when you leave the room.
  
• Don't waste water by leaving the tap running. When you leave the hot water running, you're also wasting the energy used to heat it. Ask your parents to install water-saving showerheads to help save water when you shower and suggest they put an insulation blanket over the water heater.
  
• Air-dry your clothes and hair instead of using a dryer.
  
• Close heating vents in unused rooms.
  
• If you use air conditioning in summer, help your parents plant trees or tall bushes along the south, west, and east sides of the house to shade it from the sun's heat. When you can, use a fan instead of air conditioning to keep cool.
  
• Carpool, ride your bike, take the bus, or combine trips to use less fuel in your family's car or truck whenever you can. The next time your parents look for a new car, remind them to consider its fuel efficiency so they can think about cars that get more miles per gallon of fuel.