Everyone will benefit from energy saving tricks, whether or not you are actively looking for ways to save on costs with your energy bill. What a lot of people don’t realize though is that it’s not enough to just turn off an appliance or a device when it’s not in use to save on electricity (though that helps too) because a lot of appliances and devices still consume energy by drawing out electricity from outlets when they are left plugged in. In fact, this kind of energy consumption can amount to around 10% of your energy bill—that’s 10% you don’t even know you are spending! It might not sound much on its own but that 10% will build over time, costing you an extra month of energy use by the end of the year. Got a workshop full of power tools? The only real way you can take care of this unwanted energy use is to unplug your power tools so they can’t draw out electricity when not in use.

Though the most effective, unplugging appliances, devices, and power tools is just one of the many energy saving tricks you can take advantage of. Another of the many energy saving tricks you can take note of to turn your workshop into an energy saving haven is opting for Energy Star-certified tools. Power tools that are Energy Star-certified use battery packs and chargers that meet the requirements set for energy efficiency by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Using Energy Star-certified power tools will have you using up to 30% less energy without compromising quality since these tools are offered by major manufacturers. If everyone used Energy Star-certified battery packs and chargers, up to 2 billion KWh of electricity can be saved or 1.7 million tons of emissions from green house gases can be avoided.

Aside from unplugging appliances, tools, and power tools and using energy-efficient tools in the first place, one of the energy saving tricks you can follow is to plan ahead. Planning ahead will allow you to map a course of action that will not only let you save on energy you will use with power tools since you can avoid redundancy, but will also make you more efficient so you can finish the job sooner. Power tools are generally designed to make your work easier, but how you use your tools will also affect how much more easier your work can get and how faster you can finish a job and enjoy the fruits of your labor.