Be Power Smart in Your Home This Holiday Season

By Kari Kylo, BC Hydro Power Smart

With the merry-making season almost upon us, this can be a joyous time to showcase your fresh abode, and celebrate the holidays with your family and friends. However, with all of the prepping, shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning, stringing holiday lights and entertaining that needs to get done, your electrical consumption could become a significant stress on your power bills.

• Switch to ENERGY STAR® LED holiday lights. Holiday LEDs have an extremely long life, and are more durable, with no filaments or glass bulbs to break. They also produce almost no heat, reducing the risk of fire.
• Try cooking a few holiday dishes using a crock-pot and/or toaster oven. They use far less energy than cooking in your oven.
• Turn the thermostat down when the holiday baking begins. Your oven is a significant source of heat and will keep your kitchen warm while you bake. Once you have finished baking, open your oven and let the warm air continue to heat your home. Also try and do all of your baking at once in order to avoid heating your oven several times.
• With a home full of guests, the extra bodies can warm a room quickly. This is a great time to turn down the heat.
• If you are purchasing a new stereo or TV for entertaining make sure that they are ENERGY STAR® labeled. The most efficient ENERGY STAR® TVs use at least 25% less energy than a standard television.
• With all the entertaining, there will be a lot of dishes to wash. Only run your dishwasher once it is fully loaded, and turn off the heat-dry option.
• Turn off the lights and entertain your guests with a candlelit dinner.

Make this holiday season warm and inviting in your home, while saving power and money.

For more information on BC Hydro Power Smart residential programs such as Team Power Smart, the Fridge Buy-Back program, ENERGY STAR® Lighting and Power Smart New Homes visit www.powersmart.ca.