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We’ve all been there: You’re hit with an unusually high energy bill and you aren’t sure why. While we expect our energy bills to increase during certain times of the year, we still expect some consistency. When there are unusual bumps, we want to know why. In some cases, these unusual bumps can be traced to hidden energy drains, or “energy vampires.” Most of these energy vampires are far more insidious than a noticeable bump to your energy bill. Why? Because we’re often paying for electricity we didn’t even realize we were using.
Some electronics offer settings that allow people to truly turn them off, but even that’s not a guarantee. Another option, however, is to use energy-saving power strips or plug-ins. These power strips allow you to control power to select devices — and ensure these devices are only powered when you want them to be. APPLIANCES Appliances like refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers can be used very inefficiently. Refrigerators, for example, work best when they’re full. If you have a fridge with only a few things in it, you’re wasting a lot of energy. When it comes to dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers, make sure you run larger, less frequent loads. Running the appliances for smaller loads is very costly — even with ENERGY STAR-rated appliances. One of the biggest energy drains in the home is the electric water heater. For the most part, that’s to be expected. But what people don’t realize is that sometimes, the water temperature is set too high. In this case, your water heater has to work extra hard to keep the temperature up, resulting in an energy drain. The best way to combat this is to simply lower the temperature on the unit.
What are these energy drains and what can you do about them?
ELECTRONICS TVs, PCs, surround sound equipment, and video game consoles typically drain energy. It comes down to the simple fact that practically every electronic device made today stays “on” even when we turn it off. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that these electronics — while off — still contribute to more than 10% of household energy bills.
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protection from the bad guys. I was mainly talking about those trying to get your personal information, or trying to get at your money and other investments tied to technology. That theft is happening daily to folks who have their investments online. All of that is still the case, and it’s even worse today, but you can bet that investing in and owning your own apartment community will ALSO keep you well insulated from dot- com business competition. Your money is safe no matter how many billions venture capitalists want to spend online. You will never be “Amazoned.” Hundreds of business categories are in danger of being impacted negatively by the internet, but apartment communities ARE not and WILL NOT be one of them. The internet can eliminate hundreds of traditional business categories, but it cannot eliminate a person’s need for a home. The demand for apartments will always exist — no
I bet not a month goes by that you don’t hear about or see a business closing its doors as a result of competition from the internet — or, as I call it, dot-com competition. Billions of dollars of venture capital are pouring into the market and those investors have no real goal of making a profit, so many business categories are under constant pressure from dot-coms. A good example of a dot-com is Uber. Uber loses billions and has never made any kind of a profit, but it still sent local cab companies scrambling to compete when it stole their business and revenue. There are, of course, other examples. But one place where all of this dot-com madness has ZERO IMPACT is apartment community investing and ownership. Over the last year or so, I’ve told you that one of the reasons to OWN your own apartment community, either actively or passively, is for
matter how many new dot-com businesses, apps, websites, and IPOs are created.
Here at Heartland, our active and passive investors are fully aware of this, and it has been our “secret” for years now. Many people aren’t aware of it or refuse to acknowledge the power of apartment communities.
And that is fine by us.
–Darin Garman
2 DARINGARMAN.COM
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