10 Ways to Save Energy When Leaving Your House for the Holidays

When leaving for a holiday break, you often tend to plan perfectly your stay: accommodation, restaurants, sightseeing... but you forget what you leave behind when going to an exotic place: you home.

Indeed, you can lose money if you do not take actions before leaving your property to ensure it will still be energy efficient while you’re away. For this purpose, we have categorized tips to help you reduce your energy expenses when leaving your property for some time.

You sometimes think about turning off the TV or your computer’s multiplugs. But what about kitchen appliances? Microwave, oven, blender, kettle and coffee machines can also use electricity even when they are not being used. The same goes for phone chargers, laptop chargers, razors batteries, hair dryer, etc.

If you do not want to unplug all the appliances after each use, you can also install on your plug a system of manual switch to discontinue electric current. You just need to take the habit of switching off the current after each use of a certain appliance. By doing so, you will reduce sensibly your electricity consumption.

It is also useful, when you’re leaving your home, to close both curtains and windows shutters. This will allow you to decrease heat loss due to the weather but also to keep the room temperature as it was, especially if you live in a warm region and you want to keep the inside of your house cool.
The sun also fades colors, so installing curtains and closing windows shutters will help you keep the color of your walls longer (or furnitures or linen if it concerns your bedroom).

If you have thermostats installed in your property, do not forget to use them! They are particularly convenient when you are away from home, as you can plan up to one week the heat you would like to maintain in certain rooms. On most of the thermostats nowadays, an “eco” mode allows you to keep a steady temperature while using little fuel (according to the type of boiler installed you will have a certain fuel consumption and therefore a heating bill that will differ significantly).

To prevent draughts and heat loss, be sure you close doors and windows properly to keep the optimal temperature previously programmed.

When leaving for holiday, you generally always try to empty your fridge to reduce the amount of food that will end up in the trash because you won’t have time to eat it before leaving. Therefore, when you leave your place, make sure you reduce the power of your fridge and thus save electricity.

Leaving for a holiday break is also a good reason to reduce the power of your boiler. As you will be gone for a certain period, your boiler does not need to be set up as if it was used daily in your accommodation. Therefore, decrease its power to save energy and thus money by lowering its thermostats.

If you have a swimming pool in your property, you probably know how much money it requires to operate properly. Hence, you better be aware of all its surrounding appliances such as robots, water squirts, lights and water ventilation when you are planning to leave your house for a few days. Having those appliances turned off can significantly reduce your pool energy consumption and by extension, your property energy bill. So beware!

We will never say it enough, but switching off lights can help you save so much energy and money! It is such an easy action to get used to, so try to keep it in mind from now on. It is not only a gesture for your wallet but also for the planet!

Really? What does that have to do with reducing my bills?
Well, in fact, if you take care of your garden before departure it will need less maintenance when you return home. Thus, you can avoid spending an afternoon watering your grass and plants, mowing your lawn and so on.

In order not to miss any of the previously mentioned points, we suggest you to list all of them on a checklist and review it before leaving your home for holidays. Pencil and paper are an old, but always effective strategy to keep us focused.

To make sure you make the right choice when investing in an energy appliance such as a boiler, a solar panel or a heat pump, you can fill out the form on the top of this page providing us with information regarding your house and its location. We will make sure to contact you as soon as we receive your contact form and provide you with up to 4 different suppliers located close to your place. This service is of course free of charge and with no obligation.