If you’re renting an apartment, then you’re already familiar with the dent your monthly energy bill can put in your household budget. We all use power daily, but at the end of the month we still need to pay for that energy use.
The good news is that you have the ability to start saving money on your monthly power bill, every single month! The easiest way to save on utilities in an apartment is to lower your electricity usage, which is why we’ve got answers to all of your energy-saving questions, along with plenty of energy-saving tips for apartments.
Without further ado, here’s how you can make your apartment more energy-efficient and lower your monthly electric bill in the process.
How Can a Renter Save Energy?
Saving energy for a homeowner is more straightforward than it is for an apartment renter. A homeowner can replace windows or appliances with more energy-efficient products, or improve the insulation of their home’s walls or attics.
But renters don’t have the same latitude to alter the apartment in which they’re living. With major home upgrades like all-new ENERGY STAR water heaters or radiators out of the question, apartment dwellers need to get a little more creative to use less energy and lower their monthly electric bills.
What Uses the Most Electricity in an Apartment?
The biggest energy hog in your apartment isn’t much to look at: It’s your thermostat. It takes a lot of energy to heat an apartment when it’s cold out or to cool an apartment down during the dog days of summer.
As a renter, you may be able to replace window air conditioning units, but if your apartment is cooled by a central air conditioner, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to upgrade to a more energy-efficient HVAC system without your landlord’s help.
Heating an apartment is a similar story. Upgrading central heat or radiators to a more energy-efficient option will probably be out of the control of the average renter, but if you use space heaters to warm your apartment, keep an eye out for options that use less electricity. This can end up saving you a lot of money.
How Can Weatherstripping Make My Apartment More Energy Efficient?
For most renters, improving the insulation of an apartment is out of the question. Landlords won’t go for it and the upfront cost will likely be higher than the money you’d save during the time you rent the apartment.
That said, there’s still an option for improving the energy efficiency of your apartment by preventing drafts or air leaks, and it’s called weatherstripping. Weatherstripping comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, but generally it’s a form of insulation material that can be attached to areas in an apartment where air might be able to otherwise pass through.
You can use weatherstripping to plug gaps on the sides of doors or windows and prevent cold air from leaking in. Weatherstripping is a relatively inexpensive energy-efficiency solution, and it’s easy to install. Take a trip to your local hardware store if you’re interested in learning more.
How Can My Apartment’s Thermostat Save Me Money?
Because you’re renting, how much you can lower your electric bill in an apartment using your apartment’s thermostat is likely going to depend on the thermostat that you currently have (unless you’re able to convince your landlord to upgrade). Here are some energy saving tips for whichever kind of thermostat you have in your apartment.
Older thermostats are simple: If you want the apartment to warm up, you need to manually adjust the thermostat up. If you want it to cool down, you need to turn the thermostat down. Easy, right?
The problem with these thermostats is they can end up heating or cooling your apartment when you don’t need your apartment heated or cooled, increasing your energy consumption (and your monthly utility bill) unnecessarily.
There are newer options on the market now. Programmable thermostats allow you to set specific times of day for your heating or air conditioning to turn on and off. If your apartment has one of these thermostats, take advantage of it! Program your thermostat to turn the heat or air conditioning off when you’re not going to be in the apartment for a while (for instance, when you’re at work).
Smart thermostats work on a similar basis, but these thermostats can be controlled by an internet-connected device like your phone or computer. Smart thermostats give you even greater control over the heating and cooling of your apartment, and can be highly energy-efficient if used correctly.
If your apartment has a smart thermostat, make sure you talk to your landlord about connecting to it — it will save money and save energy.
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Can a Ceiling Fan Cut My Apartment’s Utility Bill?
Few things are better at cooling down a room than a ceiling fan, and in the middle of the summer, a ceiling fan can actually save you money.
Check to see if the ceiling fan in your apartment is ENERGY STAR certified. If it is, then you know it’s an energy-efficient cooling system for your apartment.
Best of all, a ceiling fan can be turned on or off as needed, so you don’t waste money cooling a room when it’s not in use.
How Can I Make My Apartment Windows More Energy-Efficient?
Did you know that you can lose a lot of the cool or hot air your air conditioner or heater creates through the windows of your apartment?
Homeowners might be able to replace older, single-pane windows with better-insulated and more energy-efficient windows, but this won’t be an option for most renters.
Don’t worry though, there’s a solution for renters to improve the energy efficiency of their windows. A number of companies make window insulation, which most often takes the form of thin plastic that you can install yourself on the inside of your apartment’s windows.
This DIY window insulation can lower your energy usage and save money by helping keep warm air inside during the winter, or cool air inside during the summer.
Are Power Strips Energy-Efficient?
Power strips can be an energy-efficient option to help you save money and use less energy. Many electronic devices (phone chargers, for example) use energy even when turned off. These are called energy vampires, and across the many electronic devices likely plugged in around your apartment right now, the cost of their vampirism can really add up!
If you plug your devices into power strips and turn these power strips off when not in use (or try unplugging them), these devices will no longer be able to waste energy in your apartment, and you’ll start saving money.
But if turning power strips on and off manually sounds like too much of a hassle, consider investing in smart power strips. These products typically cost a little more than conventional power strips, but smart power strips can be controlled by apps on your phone or computer, and programmed to turn off automatically — lowering your utility bill in the process.
How Can Light Bulbs Lower My Apartment’s Electric Bill?
If you’re reading this in your apartment, take a quick look around at your lightbulbs. Are any of them incandescent bulbs? If so, you’re using more energy than you need to in order to light your apartment.
To start saving energy, upgrade any incandescent bulbs you might see in your apartment to more energy-efficient light bulb options like LED light bulbs or compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. These use less energy to light your rooms, and will save money in the long run.
Can My Showerhead Lower My Energy Use?
So far, we’ve been focused entirely on parts of your home that use electricity to function. You may be wondering, then, how your showerhead of all things could reduce your cost of utilities and save you money on your monthly bills.
If you enjoy a hot-water shower (and who doesn’t?), then you rely on a water heater to take a comfortable shower. Water heaters can run on gas or electricity, but either way, you’re likely paying for your hot water on your energy bill at the end of the month.
To lower your shower’s energy costs, you can do one of two things: embrace cold water showers (brr!) or invest in a low-flow showerhead. Water-efficient showerheads can reduce your hot water usage, which in turn means your water heater will use less energy — saving you money each month!
You’re Ready to Start Saving Energy and Money While You Rent
Everyone’s home is their castle, and that’s true for renters, too. You want your apartment to be cozy and warm (in the wintertime at least), but these days that requires a lot of electricity.
We’ve gone through some of the top tips for how to easily improve your apartment’s energy efficiency, from weatherstripping to low-flow showerheads and smart thermostats to smart power strips. Armed with these energy-saving tips for apartment living, you’ll be prepared as a renter to reduce your energy use without lowering your quality of life.
Best of all, once you start putting these ideas into practice, you’ll be able to see your electric bill start lowering each month, as well. That’s the win/win of energy savings: You reduce the amount of energy you need while saving money at the same time.
If you’re interested in learning more tips about how to save energy, there’s a large archive of articles just like this one on the Energy Savings blog. Go check it out to learn more about how you can start saving energy — and cash.
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