{"id":4301,"date":"2020-05-14T15:31:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T19:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/?p=4301"},"modified":"2020-05-14T15:32:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T19:32:37","slug":"the-hidden-energy-costs-of-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/2020\/05\/14\/the-hidden-energy-costs-of-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Energy Costs of Working from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/HOME-ENERGY-MGMT.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4305\" src=\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/HOME-ENERGY-MGMT-300x236.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/HOME-ENERGY-MGMT-300x236.png 300w, https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/HOME-ENERGY-MGMT.png 687w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">by <a href=\"mailto:chris.russell@maryland.gov\">Christopher Russell<\/a>, Energy Program Manager<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you find yourself working from home these days, you will probably notice a bigger utility bill at the end of the month. What used to be your employer\u2019s cost of workplace heating and cooling, computer use, water heating, coffee makers and other conveniences are now your expense. Some folks may shrug off this cost. But in other households \u2013 especially ones dealing with lost wages \u2013 expense relief becomes imperative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The good news is there are ways to save and reduce household energy expenses without large sacrifices to your comfort.\u00a0 All it takes is a little awareness and discipline. The main take-away is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">do not\u00a0 let appliances run when you are not using them<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0 Consider these tips:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Televisions &#8211; If you use a TV just for the audio content while you are working, use a radio instead.\u00a0 It takes power to run a screen not being watched.\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Power strips &#8211; Plug your entire home entertainment system into a single power strip and use that power strip to shut down everything at the end of the day.\u00a0 As a group, your TV, DVD, cable box and sound system draw more power than a refrigerator.\u00a0 Same goes for your computer printer and monitor, use a power strip for easy power management.\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hot water use &#8211; Do not let the tap run,\u00a0 especially hot water.\u00a0 Manage your water use when doing the dishes, taking a shower or even brushing your teeth. Minimizing shower time, only run full loads in the dishwashers or dryer. Excessive hot water use hits both your water and energy bills. Wash your clothing in cold water to save on your bills and extend the lifespan of your garments.\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Water heaters &#8211; Set the water heater temperature to 140 degrees is sufficient to save. Some dishwashers have heat boosting elements that would enable you to dial back your water heater to 120 degrees. Look up your dishwasher specs online or check the owner\u2019s manual.\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fans &#8211; These appliances do not cool the air but draw heat from your body as they move air past your skin surface.\u00a0 Running a fan in an empty room will only inflate your electric bill.\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Window blinds and curtains &#8211; With minimal effort, you can manipulate blinds and curtains a couple times per day to reduce your home\u2019s heating and cooling system costs.\u00a0 In the summer, reduce solar heat gain by closing window coverings on the side of the house exposed to the sun.\u00a0 During the winter, practice the same exercise in reverse; open your window coverings to maximize solar heat gain. Do this for all rooms, whether occupied or not.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Finally, consider altering your thermostat settings for heating and cooling the entire house. Decide if you can tolerate being just a little warmer in the summer, or cooler in the winter. This will probably require a change in at-home wardrobe choices: adding a sweater and warm footware in cold weather or choosing lighter weight clothing during summer.\u00a0 Working from home during summer months? Consider setting up a workspace in the basement, if possible. One last summer tip:\u00a0 Remember to hydrate through the day, as your water intake helps to regulate body temperature.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Christopher Russell, Energy Program Manager If you find yourself working from home these days, you will probably notice a bigger utility bill at the end of the month. What used to be your employer\u2019s cost of workplace heating and cooling, computer use, water heating, coffee makers and other conveniences<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/2020\/05\/14\/the-hidden-energy-costs-of-working-from-home\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8230;Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42,25,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-main","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4301"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4310,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions\/4310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}