You may think because you reside in an apartment complex that it's too difficult to be energy efficient. This is not true.
While living in an apartment complex can make it more difficult to conserve energy, due to the nature of living in a huge structure with multiple units, it won't prevent you from saving energy entirely. Here are three easy things that you can do as an apartment renter that will help you reduce the amount of energy you consume or waste.
1. Stuff Your Freezer
Energy can be wasted when you open your freezer door, because the empty spaces in your freezer can fill up with warm air and has to be cooled again after you shut the door. The focus needs to be on the empty space, not the fact you just open the door to remove frozen items. While you may not be able to coordinate your food budget to keep your freezer fully stocked, you can use a couple tricks to fill up that all-important empty space.
In lieu of filling all the space with frozen food products, purchase a few cooler blocks, ice packs, or empty plastic containers.
Another neat trick is to take large-size bags and fill them with packing popcorn. Stuff the bags in empty spaces in your freezer to improve the efficiency and reduce your energy consumption.
2. Draft Stoppers
Another way that your energy efficiency is often compromised in an apartment is heating and cooling loss under doors, or windows. Your not going to be able to replace doors, or windows in an apartment rental like you would if you owned your residence.
A quick fix to keep the outside air from leaking into your apartment and running up your heating, or cooling bills is to use draft stoppers.
Draft stoppers can be decorative room accents; plus, there are do-it-yourself instructions to help you make your own window, or door draft stoppers. By blocking unwanted air from entering or leaving your apartment, you will help yourself be more energy efficient.
3. Use Power Strips
One frequent problem for apartment renters is a lack of wall outlets. This is one reason why power stripes are useful to apartment dwellers, to add electrical outlets.
But, when it comes to energy consciousness, there a number of these electrical items in your apartment that continue to drain energy even after you think they are turned off. They draw power when they're not running, and that power usage adds up over the course of time.
Being certain to turn off a bunch of appliances, or electronic devices can be difficult to remember. But, it will help if you plug a series of these types of electrical devices into a power strip.
With a power strip, all you will have to do is flip one switch to shut the power source off to a series of electrical devices with one finger. So, using power strips in your apartment will help you increase the number of available electrical outlets, plus boost your ability to be energy efficient.
It's not necessarily true that you can't be energy efficient in an apartment. These three tips are just a few of the ways you can make an environmental difference as an apartment dweller, reducing the amount of energy you use and waste. If you happen to be looking for an apartment, consider talking about your energy concerns with local apartment complexes, such as Dale Forest Apartments.
