Most homeowners typically don’t give their electrical systems a whole lot of thought, and we wouldn’t expect them to. However, with the increasing demands we place on these systems—with the purchase of high efficiency appliances and devices such as smart phones and tablets—it is important to consider your safety as well as the effectiveness of your electrical system.

One of the most effective ways to keep your electrical outlets throughout your home as safe as possible is by installing Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) outlets in areas that need them the most. These areas include places where you use plumbing, since the main function of these outlets is to shut off the power if there is any risk of electrical shock near a water source.

Chances are, you already have a couple GFCI outlets installed somewhere in your home. You’ll recognize them as the outlets that have a “test” and “reset” button. As mentioned above, they are most used in areas with water sources—so bathrooms and kitchens. However, if you have an older home with outdated wiring, this may not be the case. In some cases you might even need rewiring services just to allow for the installation of GFCI outlets.

While bathrooms and kitchens are the most important locations for these outlets, they are not the only spaces that will benefit from them. You may want to consider GFCI outlet installation in your laundry room, crawlspace, basement, utility room, or even your garage.

Many homeowners with small children choose to update the entire home for safety purposes. Additionally, you might want to consider Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI) outlet installation as well. Unlike ground faults—which can lead to electric shocks—arc faults are caused by damaged wires and can lead to fire.

Businesses as we all know, are always thinking about the bottom line. From ways to increase revenues to ways to decrease expenses, it’s all critical stuff for any company to pay attention to.

That’s exactly why we are creating this post on energy saving tips for businesses and companies alike. And while not every business in every building will be able to implement every single tip on this list, there should be numerous ones that will be highly relevant to your business.

Saving energy will allow you to reduce overhead expenses, enhance your public view as a “going green” company (which you could use as a marketing play), or even just have better piece of mind knowing your buildings are just that much greener.

Without further ado, here is the first on the list (out of 25)…

1. Upgrade to a LED lighting system. The benefits of LED technology far surpass any other lighting technology commonly used in buildings or fluorescent, metal halide, HPS, etc). reducing the amount of energy that is going to power those lights as well.

4. Install sky lights. How about all of that natural light that is going to waste otherwise? By installing sky lights in areas where natural lighting would otherwise not get to (e.g hallways and inner rooms), you open yourself up to some huge savings by not having to have nearly as many lights on during the daytime.

5. Switch to green web hosting. This is a huge one for those companies who have lots of traffic and do a lot of business through their website. spam email has a carbon footprint? Although this won’t save your company any money, it will definitely reduce the carbon footprint associated with your company.

14. Only purchase ENERGY STAR equipment. By purchasing office equipment that is ENERGY STAR qualified, you are buying into products that are proven to be more energy efficient than those that aren’t.

15. Switch over to laptops. Desktops are always plugged in, and that can mean a lot of energy consumption. By switching to laptops, you will use 1/4th the energy associated with powering your computers.

16. Update your insulation. Those nasty drafts aren’t only uncomfortable to your employees and / or visitors, but they are also wasting a lot of energy. If you can, consider updating your insulation to stop the escape of that warm (or cold) air you are paying to output.

17. Update your windows. While you are at it, updating your windows to ones that don’t have any leaks in them will stop those drafts too. Both of these go hand in hand, and together will reduce a lot of temperature control going to waste.

18. Hold a virtual meeting. If you have days designated for meetings and not much else, then why power your entire building (and make everyone drive) if you could easily have everyone stay at home? Your employees will probably appreciate it, and you are going to save a lot of energy for that day. Technology these days makes it a whole lot easier to save on energy for business and buildings alike.

19. Take advantage of tax credits. All of this effort on saving energy will not only save you in overhead costs, but it could also phantom load is basically energy that is being consumed through a product that is entirely off. The simple solution is to unplug everything when it is not in use. Alternatively, you could shut off the power to an entire room or area when it’s not in use to ensure no phantom load waste is occurring.

23. Reduce hot water usage. By installing efficient faucets, you will reduce the amount of water that is wasted. And if you do heat that water, reducing the waste of it will reduce the amount of energy you use to heat that water.