Ways to reduce energy consumption
By adopting energy efficient ways, one can save money and electricity without giving up the comforts of home – whether you live with your parents, rent an apartment or own a house. The smartest, economical and potential environmental action you can take is to conserve energy. By saving energy, you save money on your power and gas bills and you also save the planet by producing less carbon dioxide (CO2), the prime contributor to global warming and other pollutants.
Let’s look at the ways on how one can save energy:
Home appliances
Refrigeration:
Refrigerators account for about 20% of household electricity usage. Set your refrigerator temperature to about 38-42 degrees Fahrenheit and your freezer near to 3 degrees as possible. If your fridge has a power save switch, turn it on. Make sure the door seals tightly and keep the door clean. If you leave your fridge door open, it tries to cool down your whole room, using large amount of energy.
In order to run the system efficiently, you need to defrost your fridge or freezer regularly. Do not keep your refrigeration equipment near to other heating devices. If your fridge/freezer is next to a hot appliance, then it has to work even harder to keep your food at the apt temperature, using more energy, wasting your money and leading to carbon dioxide emissions.
Laundry:
Washing with cold water can cut 80% to 90% off running costs. Use lower temperature on your washing machine. Modern washing machines are effective at lower temperatures. Wash clothes at 40°C rather than 60°C, this will reduce carbon emissions by a third. Always remember to put full loads in washing machine. Hang clothes outside to dry rather than in a tumble dryer. Tumble driers use large amount of energy so by drying your clothes naturally will reduce carbon emissions.
Turnoff appliances when not in use:
Turn television, games consoles, computers, mobile phone and other chargers off at the power point when not in use. This can account for up to 10% of your power bill. These appliances if left on standby pump one million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. The waste energy could power tens and thousands of homes. Don’t leave appliances charging unnecessarily.
Home improvements
Insulate walls and ceilings:
By doing this, you can save up to 35 percent of home heating bills and thereby lessen carbon dioxide emissions. In cold climatic conditions, consider super insulating. This can save up to 5.5 tons of carbon dioxide per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat.
Remodel windows:
Using argon filled, double-glazed windows can save 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
Plant shade trees and paint your house:
If you live in warm climatic conditions, paint your house with light colour and if you live in cold climatic conditions, use dark colours. Shade trees can reduce energy consumption and apt painting can save up to 2.4 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Weatherize your home:
This can be done by using weather stripping to plug air leaks on doors and windows. This will reduce carbon dioxide emissions per year for a typical home.
Control home temperature
Home heating and cooling:
a) Install ceiling insulation
b) Set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night during winter
c) Set thermostats to 78 degrees or more during summer
d) Clean or replace air filters; by cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save five prevent of energy consumed
e) Set thermostat of water heater between 120-130 degrees; lower temperature can conserve more energy
f) During summer, close windows and blinds to keep the heat out
g) Use fan instead of air conditioners during summer season
h) Close curtains to lessen heat loss during winter
Reduce, reuse and recycle
Buy minimally packaged goods to reduce the amount of waste produced. Choose reusable products over disposable. Recycle whenever possible. When you eliminate or recycle waste, you are saving energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Also if you cut down your garbage by half, you are saving a huge amount of carbon dioxide emissions. Use products made with recycled materials.
