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We use electricity for a lot of things in our lives with horses. But, what can we do to save money on the electricity bill? In these times with inflation and high electricity prices, it might be extra important to save money on your electricity bill by changing some habits. A penny saved is a penny earned. Besides, who would not want to have a little extra money for the horse?
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In our daily lives in the stable, we use electricity for lights in the riding hall, in the riding arena, in the stable, in the riders' room, in the tack room, and outdoor lighting in the darker months. We can save a lot on our electricity bill by looking at what we use for lighting at the various facilities and what savings we can make by replacing various light bulbs. The use of energy is 90 % less in LED (Light Emitting Diodes) bulbs compared to traditional incandescent bulbs and the LED lights last 25 times longer.
When you are at the stable with your horse, you can save a lot on your electricity bill just by establishing some new habits that will help you lower the cost of your electricity bill.
The first thing you can do is to make it a habit to always turn off the lights in the room you are leaving. That way, the lights will not cause your electricity bill to rise increasingly. Changing such a habit requires that you constantly remind yourself to turn off the lights in the room you are leaving - of course, as long as no one else is in the room. It is the last person who leaves the room or area who is responsible for turning off the lights.
When many people move around in the stable and outdoor area, it might be difficult to know when to turn off the lights and therefore, the lights can be left burning unnecessarily for a longer period and cause the electricity bill to increase. A solution could be to install a motion sensor - especially as outdoor lighting, as there is no risk of the light burning unnecessarily, or of someone switching it off while you are walking around in the field.
Whenever you have used your coffee machine, printer or other electrical appliances, it can be a good habit to always switch off the power after use, as there can be a lot of wasted money in having electrical appliances on standby. Perhaps this might make you think about which appliances you might have on standby in the barn as well as at home. It is also not recommended to charge electronic devices at night, as they consume unnecessary power after they have finished charging.
Like horses, humans are also creatures of habit, which leads to a kind of automatic and unconscious behavior, as it does not require the same energy to perform the same movement or action. Therefore, when an existing habit needs to change, one must first know about the habit and then be constantly aware of changing one's actions until the new habit is established.
When it comes to washing and drying your riding and stable clothes, saddle pads as well as all other clothes in the household, you can save a lot of money on your electricity bill by changing some habits of how you wash and dry your clothes.
When washing your clothes it is good to remember that the machine is using the same amount of energy no matter the size of the load. So, fill it up. You can perhaps run about two washes instead of three and thereby save about 33% of electricity consumption.
You can half the energy consumption if you wash with warm water instead of hot water and if you use cold water, you can save even more.
Another way to save money on your electricity bill is to either replace the tumble dryer at home with a drying rack or reduce the use of the tumble dryer. You can save 50 % by reducing the use of the tumble dryer by half and by only using the drying rack there is 100 % reduction on the electricity.
However, you should be aware that there might be some precautions to consider when choosing to either dry clothes outside on the drying rack in different seasons and weather or inside on one. Of course, this also applies if you have an industrial washing machine for washing your horse rugs.
If you have electric heating somewhere in the stable, you can save a lot of money on your electricity bill by turning the temperature down a few degrees. This could for instance be in the riders' room, in the tack room, in the changing room. If you turn the heat down, you can make sure to keep some warm blankets in the stable, so you can still stay warm after a good training in the winter months.
Another way to save on your electricity bill is to invest in generating power on your own. Some of the more familiar solutions are solar cells and wind turbines. For the electric fence, you can consider purchasing a solar cells generator.
READ ALSO: What should you have in your stable's first aid kit?
When you want to save money on electricity bills, you can change your habits and use electricity when it is cheapest. A general rule of thumb is that electricity is at its cheapest when it is used the least. So, at the times when the least number of people is using it – in the off-peak hours. Therefore, it is often cheaper late at night or early in the morning. These are the times when you can save the most money on your electricity bill.
