An easy fix is to reduce the energy used to run your devices.
Turn off devices. One fourth of residential energy is use on devices in idle power mode (2016)!
Go around the house, list all the appliances that are often left on standby and should be turned off.
Organise your house so that it is easy to turn off TV, internet box, computer, laptop, desktop-screen, electric toothbrushes, speakers, coffee machine, … when not in use – at least at night: Use plugs with switches; add reminders in your calendar at the end of the workday to remember to switch off your computer; get your housemates involved.
Power down your computers if you are away for more than 2 hours.
 | Often people don’t want to turn off their computer because they have many Internet tabs open. But you can set Firefox, Chrome, to re-open tabs on start-up. So this is no reason not to shut down every night! Check this. |
Screens: do not use animated screen savers, lower the brightness of your screen. And obviously, turn off screens when not in use (TV, computers, phones).
Printer: switch off when not using; print only after a thorough check and only what you need; print in lower quality mode (draft); densify your text to use less pages (work on margins for example); use a low ink font like Calibri, Century Gothic, Garamond, Times New Roman or Ecofont Vera (holes punched in it, and so requires less ink to print - up to 30% less ink).
Charging: avoid charging your devices overnight. Telephone chargers continue to use electricity even when you unplug the phone. Charging appliances overnight are not only a fire risk but also a drain on battery life.