Photo by Mike Teegarden
Q: I’m making an effort to reduce my energy use, and I want my kids to start energy-saving habits as well. How can I encourage them to use less electricity at home?
A: When I was a kid, I dreamed of one day having a home where I could pay my own electric bill. Said no one ever. While it’s not the most fun way to spend money, people typically want to live in a home with electricity. Educating kids on energy use and costs can help engage them in your family’s goal to use less electricity. They can be electric conservation champions if you ask them to help. Here are some ways you can teach kids to use less electricity.
Show them how to read the electric bill. Focus on what you can control: kilowatt-hour use. If they are old enough, teach them how to do the math. You can calculate kilowatt-hour use by multiplying wattage by hours used and dividing by 1,000. Multiply this by the kilowatt-hour rate found on your electric bill to estimate how much you spend on power for each household appliance.
For example, if you have a space heater that uses 1,500 watts and is on for four hours a day for a month, it uses 180 kilowatt hours. With an average kilowatt-hour rate of 13.7 cents in the United States, the space heater costs about $25 a month to operate. That same space heater costs about $74 a month to operate if it is on for 12 hours per day.
For household appliance wattage, look for the amount stamped on the bottom, back or nameplate. If the nameplate does not include wattage, figure it out by multiplying the voltage by the amperage.
Teach kids to dress for the season. To teach children the impact of saving energy, have them help you conserve with the household’s biggest energy-consuming appliances: heating and cooling. Teach kids to dress appropriately for the seasons, even when they are indoors, which allows you to set the thermostat to balance comfort and savings.
If you leave the house during the hottest times of the day, have your children nudge up the thermostat a few degrees (to avoid wasted energy cooling an empty house) and turn off fans when you leave a room.
Time showers. The second-highest use of electricity is typically the electric water heater. Use a shower timer so bigger kids can monitor how long they are in the shower. Teach them to wash their clothes with cold water.
Turn off the lights when you leave the room. Explain how leaving the lights on wastes electricity and drives up the power bill. It also helps to recruit your kids as helpers when you switch from traditional lightbulbs to energy-saving LED lighting.
Power down gaming stations and computers. Explain how these devices use a lot of electricity, even in “sleep” mode.
Keep the refrigerator door shut. Teach kids to take a quick peek and shut the door while they think about their snack options.
Make it fun! After teaching your kids about electric bills and showing them how to save electricity, make a game out of your family’s energy conservation efforts. Challenge the family to use less energy than last month or the same month last year. Use the savings to reward them with a treat or let the winner pick the game-night activity or the film for family movie night.
Miranda Boutelle writes on energy efficiency topics for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national trade association representing more than 900 electric co-ops.