If you unplug only one electronic in your home, make it your gaming console. Gaming systems like PlayStations and Xboxes may be a lot of fun to play with, but they are massive users of energy when they are powered up. They also draw a significant amount of power, even when they aren’t being used. When you add up the amount of electricity used when it’s in use and standby mode, it totals on average over $100 worth of power every year. Making a habit to unplug your machine when it's not in use can help significantly reduce your utility bills.

One of the biggest energy hogs in the kitchen is the oven, and choosing the right appliances to cook with can make a big difference for energy savings. A halogen countertop “oven” uses special lights that create radiant heat that can roast, bake and do whatever an oven can do. When you cook something in a halogen appliance instead of a conventional oven, you reduce your energy usage by 75 percent. It also cooks food about 50 percent faster than a traditional oven. A combination of both time and energy savings makes it a good investment for the kitchen.

Does parking in the shade in the hot summer months make a difference for your car? Researchers in Phoenix tested the theory and found that cars in peak sun were significantly hotter than those in the shade. That’s obvious, but what’s interesting is that the sun-parked cars heated to temperatures that exceeded 160 degrees, which is when materials like car seats and dashboards can burn your skin. And when it came to cooling the interior of the car, a shaded car took just 12 minutes to cool down, while the car in the sun took 21 minutes. When it comes to long-term car parking, seek shade whenever possible.