It happened again. I got more often (more often than they
my combined never we currently do) so they’re
gas-and-electric bill and more efficient.
had absolutely no idea how it
could possibly cost so much. My • Get power-controlling devices
roommates and I sat down and for some of the appliances that
looked over the bill and we we have. We certainly aren’t
really aren’t sure quite how going to replace all of the
we’re going to cover the cost. appliances that came with the
We’ll manage somehow, I suppose. apartment but we can easily make
But in the meantime, I’ve been them more efficient. We’re also
doing some research on how to going to ask the landlord about
make our apartment more energy replacing them with more
efficient. My roommate said this energy-efficient items when they
wasn’t up to me since our get old.
landlord is the one who is
ultimately responsible for making • Layer our clothes in the winter
the building more efficient. But so that we don’t have to have the
the landlord isn’t the one paying heat up high all of the time.
our electric bill!
• Paint our walls white so the
Here are some of the tips I’ve rooms look brighter and need less
learned about increasing energy lighting.
efficiency here at the apartment:
• Put all of our computer
• Buy energy-efficient bulbs for equipment (like our printers and
the lamps that we use most often our fax machine) on a power strip
in our apartment. and turn that strip off when we
aren’t using those items.
• Clean our lighting fixtures
• Take shorter showers. We to cool the apartment. At the
thought that we didn’t have to same time, we’ll block some of
worry about costs here since the the sunlight that’s coming in
landlord pays the water bill, but during the hottest hours of the
then we realized that we’re day so that the apartment doesn’t
paying to heat that water. gather as much heat and therefore
doesn’t need to be cooled down as
• Turn off lights when we’re not much.
using them. Open the blinds to
let in sunlight. We’re planning Sure, it’s technically not our
on covering the windows that are responsibility to make a number
near our neighbor’s windows with of changes to the apartment, but
a light paper so they can’t see there are all sorts of little
in but we can still get sunlight. things that we can do to make
this place more energy efficient.
• Turn off our desktop computer And since we’re the ones that pay
monitors if they’re not going to the gas and electric bills, we’re
be used for at least half an the ones that benefit. Plus, we
hour. Turn off our desktop get to take some pride in the
computers entirely if they’re not fact that we’re not wasting
going to be used for at least two energy so we’re helping the
hours. environment around us at the same
time."
• Use fans and open the windows
instead of using air conditioning
About the Author:
Kinan Beck is the Broker and co-owner of One Source Realty in Austin Texas. Visit Kinan’s Austin Apartments Guide, visit his Tulsa Apartments company’s website.
Read more articles by:
Kinan Beck
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