Lots of our readers have been asking for tips on energy-efficient Christmas lights, and all manner of other fuel-saving hacks. This is hardly surprising.
Last year, the average U.S. monthly electricity bill rose 13% on 2021. And with inflation stubbornly refusing to subside, millions of us are seeking winter energy saving tips to minimize our bills during the Festive Season and beyond.
Well, there’s one tip we can recommend right off the bat: adopting propane gas around your home. It’s more efficient than conventional gas or electricity, it can be used for all kinds of purposes and it’s portable, so you can store it wherever you want. Pinnacle Propane has a plethora of options to suit your specific needs, and you can get an intro for domestic propane here.
But there’s loads more you can do to make your Christmas more energy-efficient. And in this post, we’re going to provide a series of proven Christmas energy-saving tips, including:
Christmas trees bring joy to our homes throughout December, but they have a lasting impact on our household budgets all year round.
According to the Department of Energy, the U.S. as a whole uses an estimated 6.63 billion kilowatt-hours (kW h) of electricity during the holiday season. To put that number into perspective, it exceeds the entire annual consumption of over 90 different countries.
But this festive favorite doesn’t have to be an energy-waster. In fact, by shopping around and considering our options, we can significantly reduce the cost of our Yuletide lighting rig.
Well, we’ve certainly got more efficient options than we’ve had before.
For decades, we’ve been using incandescent ‘mini lights’ that rely on an internal filament. Around 90% of their energy produces heat, rather than light.
Thankfully, however, today’s LED Christmas lights are more energy-efficient than their incandescent predecessors. In fact, the Department of Energy says they use up to 75% less energy and last 25 times longer.
LEDs rely on illumination from microchips, rather than wasteful internal consumption, and LED strings allow you to run dozens together, which multiplies the savings.
Ok, so we’ve given you a list of energy-efficient Christmas tree lights. But there’s no point taking care of the tree in your dining room if you’re wasting stacks of energy in the kitchen.
And believe us, turkey and stuffing can be an extremely costly operation. Research from UK energy provider British Gas shows that a full Christmas dinner consumes 56 kilowatt hours of electricity - which equates to a full week’s consumption for the average household.
Unfortunately, Christmas dinner wasn’t designed to be efficient - either for our waistlines or our budgets.
Not only is the festive meal hugely calorific: it takes a huge amount of time to prepare. Although much of the work is done in the oven, which is typically more energy-efficient than a gas hob, this efficiency is negated by the sheer amount of time it takes to cook a turkey.
What’s more, Christmas dinner requires a lot of different dishes. During the rest of the year, we often rely on simple meals that require only one power-source. At Christmas, however, we’re required to create five or six different dishes, each with its own requirements.
And it’s not just the time taken; it’s also the time of day. Many readers will be on flexible tariffs, whose prices rise and fall according to demand. We all make Christmas dinner at roughly the same time, which causes prices to soar.
Actually, there are a number of different energy-saving cooking tips that will dramatically reduce our kilowatt spend, and we can use them throughout the year - not just at Christmas time
News flash: heating bills rise during winter.
Ok, you’re right, that’s not exactly news. We all know that we burn more energy when it’s cold. However, what many people don’t know is how to bring these bills down.
There are lots of simple home energy saving tips that can bring our bill down. And while this article is focused on Christmas, these energy saving tips can be used throughout the winter. In fact, we can apply them all year round.
The wonders of propane. We mentioned it at the top, but we want to explain the benefits in more detail before signing off, as we think it’s one of the best Christmas energy saving tips you can adopt.
Propane, also known as liquified petroleum gas (LPG), releases more energy per unit, so it gives you a better return on your fuel expenditure than traditional power sources. And it can make your home more environmentally efficient, too.
Some quick facts about propane:
Be sure to contact us. At Pinnacle Propane, we’re not just committed to providing tailored propane products for your home. We’re also dedicated to making your home more efficient, and sharing the knowledge we’ve gained through years in the business. Let’s chat. Contact us for more information.
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