Common Myths about Energy Saving

When it comes to saving energy there is plenty of advice and information available everywhere you look on how you can help save both energy and money on your bills. However, because there is such opportunity to misinform people there are also a lot of myths floating around and it is therefore important that you are aware of them.



One of the most common things people hear is that by switching your lights on and off you are using more energy than it takes from just leaving them on if you’re out of that room for a small amount of time. Although this was true for fluorescent tube lights years ago which took a long time to start up it is now redundant and in fact the longer you leave the light on the more energy it uses. Regardless of the type of bulb you use you will save money of your energy bills by switching the light off when you leave a room.

Another myth that people often hear is that leaving your heating on overnight will use less energy than reheating a cold building. However, a boiler that will spend an hour heating up the house in the morning will work no harder than when you leave it on overnight. The difference is that heating your home all night compared to an hour in the morning will cost significantly more and use a lot of energy.

Many people will also avoid using energy efficient light bulbs because they have been told they can’t be used with dimmer switches, but this is simply not true. There are a wide variety of energy saving bulbs that you can use including ones which are suited to dimmer mechanisms and are able to emit different hues of lighting.

With the use of computers increasing drastically in the last decade, many myths regarding their use have also arisen such as repeatedly turning computers on and off reduces their lifespan and wastes energy. However, leaving your computer on when you aren’t using it will actually reduce their lifespan as moving parts are being unnecessarily worn out. Not only that but it is also believed that computer monitors use less energy when put into screen saver mode but regardless of the mode it is in, LCD screens use the same amount of energy.

If you’re looking to reduce your energy consumption, contact Winrow today for more efficient heating solutions.