10 tips to save energy at home
Here's a list of energy saving tips for home appliances.
AS Eskom struggles to meet the increasing demand for power, each individual is being encouraged by the Energy Office to do their bit to save electricity.
The Energy Office is encouraging people to go back to basics to minimise their use of electricity for as long as they can.
This may be a surprise to some, but repeated use of electric kettles to boil water throughout the day can really add up in terms of energy consumption. A better option would be to boil a full kettle once in the morning and keep that water warm in a large vacuum flask, or switch back to gas kettles.
Here are some tips on what you can do to reduce your household consumption:
* When washing dishes, fill the sink with warm soapy water instead of letting the hot water run while washing items individually.
* It is not true that you should leave fluorescent lights on rather than turning them off. Fluorescent lights require little electricity to start up, and although it does decrease the tube’s life if you turn the lights off and on, the value of the saved electricity is greater than the cost of replacing the tube.
* Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power even when they are switched off. These ‘phantom’ loads occur in most appliances that use electricity. You can avoid this by unplugging the appliance from the wall.
* Switch off your computer if you’re not going to use it for the next two hours.
* Replace ageing appliances with new ones after 10 to 15 years. Replacing them with a modern, energy-efficient ones will pay off as much as 60 per cent in energy savings.
* Defrost food in the fridge instead of defrosting in a microwave oven.
* Instead of leaving appliances such as a TV or DVD player on standby mode, rather switch off at the main switch.
* Soak beans, lentils and the like in cold water overnight. This will save several hours of cooking.
* If you are about to buy or replace an oven, consider buying a convection oven, which uses less energy than a conventional oven and reduces cooking times substantially.
