There are a lot of things you can do in the bedroom. Saving energy is one of them. The average bedroom takes up lots of energy when not equipped with energy-efficient electronics. Add to that our bad energy habits and we end up with higher than necessary energy bills. So kit out your bedroom with some of the latest green inventions listed here and you’ll save yourself some energy, make your room more unique and benefit the environment, all at the same time.
Sound the alarm
Waking up is hard to do, which basically makes an alarm clock a requirement unless you have a well-trained beagle or partner to wake you up at the right time. Unfortunately, to use an alarm clock we keep them on all the time for it to do it’s once-a-day job in the morning, which uses up several watts a day.
You can save energy altogether by using the Bedol Water Clock, an alarm clock that uses water to power itself. It’s fully powered by converting ions in the water into energy, so you don’t need electricity or batteries to run it. This alarm clock works by manually unscrewing the top and filling it with water (only needs to be refilled once every six months), has a built in memory that will record the time you want to wake up and has a built-in memory chip that remembers the time so you don’t have to reset it.
Cost: $18.95
Tweeting in an energy-efficient way
If you don’t have a home office, you’ll probably do a lot of your socializing and work on your computer in your bedroom. A typical desktop with an old school CRT monitor, when turned on, will use up to 350 watts of electricity.
By replacing old monitors with LCDs you cut your energy consumption by less than half. These monitors have a high definition, creating a better viewing experience for you. Old computers can also strain your eyes and give you a headache, so a newer and thinner screen will do you good.
Your other option is to go for a laptop, tablet or smartphone, which are much more energy efficient than desktops and do basically the same job but on a smaller screen.
Cost: $100 to 150 (LCD monitor)
Convection heating
What’s worse than the cold we feel when we get in bed in the winter months? Not much. Instead of wasting unnecessary energy at night, invest in an Econo-Heat E-Heater, an alternative to a conventional heater that uses one-third the energy.
The eHeater uses efficient convection technology that doesn’t dry the air and another great thing about it is that it’s a wall panel that can be painted and made to blend into your walls. It’s rated to heat rooms of up to 120 square feet, so it’s best used for your bedrooms and other small rooms.
Cost: $89.79
Stop leaving the lights on!
One of the worst habits we’re all guilty of is leaving the lights on while running downstairs to get a drink or dashing off to the bathroom. The average incandescent light bulb will cost you about a quarter of a cent for every hour it stays on, which adds up over time when you think about how many times you have to leave the room for one reason or another.
Swapping a typical 60-watt incandescent for an LED will save you up to 50 more watts than a normal bulb and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Aside from saving energy, another appeal to these bulbs is their durability—these bulbs can last over 30,000 hours or up to 10 years when used for eight hours a day!
Cost: $5 – 20
Passive sound for active feet
Why use electricity to power your tunes when you don’t need to? Passive sound amplification is a way of amplifying sound without using speakers or batteries, just by using natural acoustics.
The Houd Passive Speaker is a box made of organically hand-treated, hand-cut, hand-dyed and hand-packaged wood from Bogota, Colombia. You simply place your iPhone or iPad in the slot, crank the music and the sound gets amplified inside the box and delivered to your ears at a volume you can dance to.
Cost: $50
Do you know of other eco-friendly appliances for the bedroom? Let us know in the comments section below.
[ background=”#b6c4b3″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px solid #cccccc” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #eeeeee”]Rachel Jensen writes for Conwy Valley Plumbing, the plumbing, gas and heating installers.[/]
