Money Saving Garage Plan Designs - Electricity Saving Tricks

Today, when we are on threshold of economy crisis, everyone is striving hard to cut down his/her living costs. Our energy bills play a pivotal role in this. A garage plan design will most probably increase your household energy costs. Here are great ideas to keep your electricity bill as low as possible.

Many households convert to garage apartment with the intention of giving their growing kids some measure of intimacy and autonomy within their own living area. If you are planning to use the garage apartment for an additional living space for your teenage kids, then you'll remember that their TV, game console, hi-fi system and DVD player consume a lot of energy.

A TV or a computer left on standby continues using electricity. You can bring down your electricity bill by simply switching them off and unplugging them. Encourage your kids to practice energy saving habits like not to leave the TV on standby and switch the lights off when they are not inside. Your kids are probably still at school. Creating a nice work area for them to do their homework is pretty easy: choose energy-efficient light bulbs.

What electrical appliance do I need to install?

The garage purpose will determine the number and type of electrical appliances you'll have to install. I advise you sit down with a pad and a pencil and work out exactly how many electrical appliances will go in (fridge, TV, workshop machinery etc) while creating garage plan design.

Once you have a mental idea of the number and type of equipment, work out the average amount of electricity these will need to run. For that, do some internet research on, for instance, the average amount of electricity used by plasma TV etc. You will probably be horrified when you translate those numbers into their cash equivalent.

This will hopefully provide enough incentive to pass to the final step, which is to try and reduce to a minimum the number of electrical appliances by eliminating the ones you judge unnecessary. For instance ask yourself if there is really a need for an extra fridge.

Simplicity is the main principle in a great garage plan design

How many plugs will I install and at what height? A couple of plugs are often enough for the needs of a small apartment garage. You can always use a cheap multi-plug extension cords if you later need more power connections. If you are setting up a workshop, then you will preferably put up plugs a little above the workbench.

How many and what type of tools are you going to use in the workshop? Avoid overloading the circuit by running two powerful electrical machines at the same time. Although it will cost you extra, it's a good idea to run an autonomous electrical circuit for your workbench, with a minimum of a 20-Amper breaker.

Finally, it is a good idea also to turn your garage plan design into an autonomous unit altogether as far as energy generation and consumption is concerned. Why not for instance, installing solar panels? There are also in the market sun-powered water boilers. Some have even decided to invest in the purchase of a generator.

Thomas Johnsen is the Author and Leading Expert on making garage plans work and the creator of the book on garage building. Visit his website for easy to understand step by step guides on garage planning available online today.