To reduce your utilities costs in a shared flat, you should consult well with your flatmates and follow these tips for saving energy in a shared flat. Then, after saving money on expenses, you can all start playing together online slots in Canada.
People who live in a shared flat often do so in order to save on rent. It is cheaper to rent a flat together than alone. However, the service charges are usually based on the individual residents’ water, electricity, and gas consumption. Therefore, if you want to save energy in your flat-sharing community, you can rely on yourself and your flatmates.
Where to Save Energy
Address the issue of saving energy in your flatshare
Before you take concrete measures to save energy, you should communicate to your flatmates that you want to reduce the energy consumption of the flat. Everyone must be aware of this to work together to find solutions.
Of course, it is always possible that individual flatmates do not feel like cutting back. This is not in your power and is generally to be accepted, but usually, compromises can at least be found. After all, there are so many different energy-saving measures, many of which are not even particularly costly, that your flatmate is unlikely to reject every single one.
Inform them about energy-saving measures
Even if your flatmates want to save energy, they may still be wasteful with electricity and gas. This could be because they have yet to study the subject in depth. So share your knowledge about energy-saving measures with them and, conversely, listen when your flatmates have tips for you.
Cook together
In many cases, energy can be saved by doing things together. For example, if your flatmate has just finished cooking and you only start when the hotplates have already cooled down, power is being wasted unnecessarily. It is better to use the residual heat from the hob or oven.
If your flatmate has just used the cooker, you can use the residual heat for your dish. It is also more energy-efficient to prepare a large amount of food in one pot than if everyone cooks their own soup. This is because the containers are also heated during cooking. So it doesn’t hurt to cook together once in a while to avoid such extra consumption.
Wash together
You can also benefit from a little cooperation when it comes to washing. For example, if you only get the washing machine half full, you can ask your flatmates if they have anything that needs washing and put it in the machine for them. This way, the number of washing cycles can be reduced.
Coordinate heating and airing
If you do not coordinate properly with your flatmates, they may inadvertently thwart your attempts to save energy. For example, if you have just heated the kitchen and the next person opens the window to air it.
It is best to agree on when and how long the shared rooms should be aired and heated. The idea is not to draw up a strict plan that must be implemented 100 percent daily. A little flexibility should be possible, but a rough orientation helps to limit energy consumption.
Ideally, you should have a hygrometer that measures temperature and humidity in your shared rooms. Then you can agree, for example, that you will no longer heat at a certain temperature or that you should ventilate at a certain humidity level (above 60 per cent there is already a risk of mould).
Distribute energy-saving tasks fairly
Certain household tasks need to be done every few weeks to live energy-efficiently. Depending on the hardness of the water in your household, you should descale the kettle every one to three months to remain fully efficient. Once or twice a year, defrost the refrigerator. It also saves energy to bleed the heating now and then. To avoid frustration, divide the tasks fairly among yourselves and take turns.
Replace light bulbs with LED lamps
LED lamps require about one-tenth as much electricity as a classic light bulb. Replacing a single bulb can save about 20 euros a year if they are used for four hours a day. Calculated over the entire flat, this is a huge savings potential.
