With the amount of technology people use in their houses these days, forgetting just how much energy you consume every day can be easy. You may not be aware of how overusing electricity can be harmful to the environment if you are not mindful of the way you use your appliances and electronics. Read on to learn why using less electricity can help the environment, and to see five simple ways you can do your part to help.

How Using Less Electricity Helps the Environment

Although you may not notice immediately, the overuse of electricity in your house can affect the environment. This is because excessive electricity consumption contributes to harmful fumes released by power plants. One of the major contributors to this air pollution is carbon dioxide, which creates a greenhouse effect, heating the planet. By using less energy, such as switching out your electricity to low voltage systems, you will cut down on toxic emissions, which will lead to an improvement on the Earth’s environment. Change starts small. While you may feel like you are not accomplishing much by cutting down on your personal electricity usage, if everyone made the following five simple changes, the positive effect on the environment would be tremendous.

1. Use Cleaner Energy Sources

One of the biggest changes you can make to your energy output is to switch to a cleaner energy source. These emit virtually no pollutants to the air and are renewable. The biggest example is solar energy, which uses the heat and light from the sun to generate power for your home. Solar energy in particular is becoming more affordable and more readily available, which makes for an easy and effective alternative to harmful energy output.

2. Use Energy Efficient Appliances and Fixtures 

Swapping your home’s lightbulbs to bulbs with a lower wattage is a great start to using less electricity in your house. You can also replace the larger appliances in your home with ones that are approved to be energy efficient. These include but are not limited to washers, dryers, stoves and refrigerators, which all have energy efficient alternatives.

3. Unplug and Turn Off Items Not in Use

By turning off or unplugging electronics that you are not in use, you contribute greatly toward saving energy in your home. If your cell phone is at 100%, unplug it and the charger from the wall. Unplug any other fully charged devices, turn off lights and TVs if you are not in the room, and unplug larger appliances if you will be out of the house for an extended period of time. You will notice the difference on your power bill by making these easy changes.

4. Use Your Washer and Dryer Less

Your washer and dryer consume big quantities of energy. To solve this, only wash and dry clothes when you have a full load of laundry. You can also hang clothes and towels to dry instead of using your dryer, which saves on energy and prevents your items from shrinking.

5. Turn Down Your Air Conditioner and Heater

If you are willing to sacrifice a small amount of comfort, use a little less of your air conditioning in the summer and your heat in the winter. Adjust them a few degrees to save on energy, and turn them off when you leave the house for a long period of time. Helping the environment starts with just one person. By making some small changes to the electricity consumption in your daily life and encouraging others to do the same, these small changes will add up to make an enormous positive impact on the world.