{"id":11794,"date":"2020-01-26T22:39:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T06:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=11794"},"modified":"2020-01-26T22:39:37","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T06:39:37","slug":"ways-to-save-electricity-water-and-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/ways-to-save-electricity-water-and-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Ways to save electricity, water and money"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"437\" height=\"292\" class=\"wp-image-11754 aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/01\/water-color-1024x683.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/01\/water-color-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/01\/water-color-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/01\/water-color-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/01\/water-color-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/01\/water-color-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 437px) 100vw, 437px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Rylie Horrall\u00a0<\/strong> | Lifestyle Editor<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It can be easy to forget to turn off the lights in the house, or even to turn the water off when answering a text while doing the dishes. While little things like these don\u2019t seem too big at the time, they can unfortunately add up to a larger bill \u2014 and ecological footprint. However, it\u2019s easy to keep track of a few simple things to save electricity and water.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Keep unused appliances unplugged. When the coffee is done brewing or the toaster is no longer in use, make sure it\u2019s unplugged. Even when the contraption isn\u2019t being utilized, it will still use up electricity just from being plugged in. This also applies to extension cords, chargers and similar plugins.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Turn off the lights when leaving a room. While some people may have heard this multiple times from parents and guardians growing up, it does have its benefits. By remembering to switch off the lights, up to $15 can be saved on an energy bill, according to bchydro.com. If it\u2019s daylight, open the curtains or blinds and bask in some natural light until it\u2019s necessary to turn on the lights inside. On another note, switch to LED bulbs if possible, as they use over 75% less energy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Air-dry clothes when it\u2019s possible to do so; dryers can consume a lot of energy, so try hanging clothes on a rack or in the bedroom to air-dry. Avoid putting clothes on a radiator, as it restricts the heat from warming up the room and causes it to work harder, according to goodenergy.co.uk.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>For those who own a dishwasher, only run it when it\u2019s completely full. According to sustainability.ncsu.edu, the dishwasher only uses about four gallons of water during its cycle, but handwashing can use up to 20 when there\u2019s a large load of dishes. Alternatively, shutting off the water in between rinses or filling up one side of the sink with water also work for those who don\u2019t have a dishwasher.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. It\u2019s recommended that brushing your teeth for two minutes is best, but by shutting off the water while doing so, up to 200 gallons of water can be saved per month.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Shower instead of taking a bath; while baths can be relaxing for some, they can also use much more water than is necessary to get clean. Now that doesn\u2019t mean that baths should be completely cut out \u2014 especially for those who use them to relax. That just means maybe limit the amount of baths taken each month, or just get the most out of one when it\u2019s used.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Use cold or warm water when washing clothes, and make sure the setting size is correct for the load. Continuing from that, try to do laundry when there\u2019s a full load like the dishwasher. Running one large load can save more water than multiple small loads. Flip off the \u2018extra rinse\u2019 option if there is one as well.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Contact the author at <a href=\"mailto:rhorrall17@wou.edu\">rhorrall17@wou.edu<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Photo by <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rylie Horrall<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rylie Horrall\u00a0 | Lifestyle Editor It can be easy to forget to turn off the lights in the house, or even to turn the water off when answering a text while doing the dishes. While little things like these don\u2019t seem too big at the time, they can unfortunately add up to a larger bill [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":11754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"modified_by":"The Western Howl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}