- Replace your old holiday lights with light-emitting diode (LED) light strings.
- Plug your indoor and outdoor lighting displays into a timer set to run during the earlier evening hours. If you don’t use a timer, be sure to unplug your lights when you go to sleep or leave home.
- Cook as many dishes as possible in your microwave over the holidays. Because microwaves cook food so quickly, the typical model uses as much as 75% less energy than a conventional oven.
- Use your slow cooker. For about 17 cents worth of electricity, you can prepare an entire meal.
- When using your oven, check cooking progress by looking through the window. Opening the oven door for even a few seconds lowers the temperature inside by as much as 25 degrees. If your stove doesn’t have a window, try not to open the door to check your food until it’s as close to the expected finish time as possible.
- When cooking on your stovetop, match the size of the pan to the heating element. More heat will get to the pan and less will be lost.
- Turn down the thermostat when holiday guests arrive. Those extra bodies mean free heat.
- Taking a holiday trip? Turn off and unplug all equipment that pulls power, such as TVs, computers, phone chargers and game consoles, and lower your thermostat.
