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Saving Electricity Tips

The biggest electricity users in the home tend to be heating and/or air conditioning, water heating, washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, lighting, and the refrigerator. When looking to save electricity, spend the most time focussing on these big energy hogs to get the biggest effect for your efforts.

Here are a selection of tips to help you to reduce your electricity consumption:

1. Turn off your television, video, hifi, playstation, and other entertainment devices when they are not being used.

2. Do not leave your television etc in standby mode. Devices can use up to 90% as much power in standby mode as when they are on, so it is a serious waste of energy when a device is left constantly on standby. If you keep forgetting, consider purchasing a PowerSafer - a device which automatically cuts power to appliances when they go into standby mode.

3. Replace all of your inefficient incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient CFL bulbs. Replace halogen spotlights with much more efficient and longer lasting LED Spotlights.

4. Hang your clothes out to dry rather than using an electric tumble dryer. Ideally use a spin dryer before using the tumble dryer.

5. Cook many items at the same time when your electric oven is hot.

6. Use a microwave to reheat food or to cook small portions. Although a microwave uses a lot of power, it does so over a very short time and so saves energy overall.

7. Turn down your heating system thermostat. For every degree you lower your heat between 60° and 70° F you can reduce your heating bill by up to 5%. Wear an extra layer of clothing in the house so that you stay warm. Turn down individual radiators - for example, 16°-18° is warm enough for bedrooms whereas 20°-22°C is more comfortable in bathrooms. Rooms that are rarely used can have their heating turned all the way down or off.

8. Purchase energy efficient white goods (washing machines, tumble driers, fridges etc). Although they usually cost a little more initially, the cost savings in electricity will cover that many times over. As an added benefit, efficient items are usually better made and last longer than inefficient models.

9. Vacuum clean the condenser coils at the back or underneath your fridge freezer. Accumulated dust reduces their efficiency by up to 25% adding that cost to your electricity bill.

10. Keep your fridge full, but not so full that air cannot circulate properly.

11. Fold clothes straight out of the tumble drier while they are still warm to save on ironing.

12. Cool cooked food before you put it into the fridge.

13. Do not put uncovered liquids into the fridge. Their evaporation will make the fridge have to work harder.

14. Heat only as much water as you require for drinks and cooking. If you keep forgetting, purchase an energy efficient eco kettle.

15. Use a convection oven. A small fan inside circulates hot air throughout the oven cutting cooking times by up to 30%.

16. Don't preheat the oven for roasting.

17. Don't keep opening the oven door. Every time you do so, your oven loses 20°C of heat.

18. Put lamps in the corner of a room so that the light is reflected off two walls.

19. Turn down the temperature on your washing machine. Heating the water uses the majority of the electricity, so by doing a warm wash instead of a hot wash, big savings are possible. See Wash Most Clothes at 30 Degrees.

20. Defrost frozen food in the fridge since this helps to cool the fridge.

21. Running a full load in an efficient dishwasher will use less hot water than washing up by hand in the sink! Save money, save time, and save electricity.

22. Boil water in a kettle rather than on a hob to save 50-70% of the energy and to get your water boiled faster.

23. In the summer use ceiling fans on a fast setting instead of air conditioning to keep cool. In the winter, running the fans slowly will push warm air collected at ceiling height down to where you want it. (If the slowest setting on your fan is too strong, reverse the direction of the fan in the winter so that the accumulated warm air is blown up against the ceiling and bounces more gently down around the walls and into the living space.



http://www.reuk.co.uk/Ways-to-Save-Electricity.htm


RECYCLING FACTS:

Recycling is an excellent way of saving energy and conserving the environment. Did you know that:

• 1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.
• 1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.
• 1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours.
• 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials.

Some Interesting Facts

• Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in the dustbin could be recycled.
• The unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year could power a television for 5,000 hours.
• The largest lake in the Britain could be filled with rubbish from the UK in 8 months.
• On average, 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish.
• As much as 50% of waste in the average dustbin could be composted.
• Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.
• 9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it were made easier.

WATER SAVING TIPS:
-Turn off tap while cleaning your teeth, shaving or washing your face. You can waste up to 9 litres a minute by just letting the water pour down the sink.

-Take a short shower rather than a bath could save you up to 400 litres a week. If you do have baths, just half fill them.

-Fix any dripping tap, you can waste 90 litres a week which will cost a lot more than what might just be the price of a new washer.

-Don’t overfill the kettle when making a cup of tea. Only fill and boil what you need, this will save

you money on your energy costs too.

-Only use the washing machine and the dishwasher when you can put on a full load. It wastes both water

and energy to run only a half full machine.

-Keep cool water in the fridge so that you do not need to run water down the sink to have a cold drink.

Fit water saving device in your cistern to save when flushing, this can save you 3 litres a flush.

Think before throwing used water down the drain, eg water in a pan after cooking, this could be reused
for watering plants around the house when cooled down, or in the garden.

ELECTRICITY SAVING TIPS:

Don’t Leave Electrical Appliances on Standby

Many of us with use the remote to switch off the TV or stereo, leaving the appliance running on standby.

This actually means the appliance is still using up electricity and wastes a considerable amount of energy. By switching off at the main power button, or even the socket, you could be saving both energy and money.

Items left on standby use up to 85% of the energy they would use if fully switched on. An extra million tonnes of carbon will be released into the atmosphere through this power wastage.

Electric tumble dryers are commonly the second biggest energy user in the home, after the fridge. They are obviously used a lot less, but still use a huge amount of electricity when switched on.

You can avoid using the dryer so often by line drying clothes whenever possible or using an indoor clothes dryer when the weather is bad.

If you do need to use the dryer, then ensure the clothes are as dry as possible after washing, eg, they have gone through a fast spin so that there is minimum excess water. This will reduce drying time considerably.

Lighting

In most homes, about 10-15% of the electricity bill is for lighting so energy saving light bulbs can cut your costs considerably. Traditional bulbs waste a lot of energy by turning it into heat but energy saving bulbs work in the same way as fluorescent lights, the tubes coating glows brightly as an electric current passed through gas in the tube.

They may be more expensive to buy than traditional bulbs, but they are worth the investment as last over 10 times longer and use up to 4 times less energy. Where you would use a 100w ordinary bulb, you would only need a 20-25w energy saving bulb. With savings like this, changing bulbs throughout your house could really cut your electricity costs.

No matter what type of lighting you are using, always turn the lights off when you leave a room.

Economical Washing and Drying

Your washing machine and tumble dryer are two of the appliances in your home that use the most energy. You may not be able to cut down how often you use them, but you can make some small changes to how you use them that will help you save energy and money.

When using the washing machine, between 85-90% of energy is used just to heat up the water. Therefore, dropping the water temperature of your wash could significantly decrease your energy consumption. Over a year, by using a warm wash rather than a hot wash, you could cut consumption nearly in half.

Other tips for conserving energy when washing are: Only use the machine when you have a full load, and if you have to do a smaller wash, use the half load function. The spin on the machine may mean that more energy is used but by spinning your clothes you are removing more excess water, therefore reducing your drying time in a tumble dryer.

Fix a Dripping Tap

A dripping tap can be not only annoying but if it is a hot tap it can cost you in both water costs and water heating costs.

If left to drip, over time a hot tap can waste enough water to fill half a bath. So don’t pour water and your heating costs down the drain, make sure you fix it.

Efficient Cooking

There are a few easy ways to save energy when cooking which can also speed up the amount of time you spend over a hot stove. Always use the correct size pan, and when heating water only use the amount you need so the electricity is not burning unnecessarily to heat the excess.

If only using a small pan, then use a smaller burner. Boiling water in the kettle first will save the time the burner needs to heat the water, and putting a lid on will help it come to a boil quicker.

Fridge and Freezer

When making a cup of tea, only boil the amount of water that you need. Boiling a full kettle unnecessarily is a waste of electricity.

The location of your fridge can make a difference in how energy efficient it is. Make sure it is out of direct sunlight and not close to the oven. It is best to keep it against an outside wall so that the heat it generates can escape easily, and always make sure that there is a few inches space all around the fridge so that air can circulate.

Make sure you defrost your fridge and freezer on a regular basis or whenever necessary. An iced up freezer will make the freezer work harder, therefore wasting more energy than needed.
Only set your fridge to as cold as you need it and avoid keeping the door open for long periods of time as the more cold air that escapes, the harder the fridge has to work. You should check the seal regularly as well, as if it is damaged then cold air will be escaping also.

You should never put warm or hot food into the fridge as this will make the fridge work extra hard to try and keep it cold; always allow food to cool down first.

Another good tip is to defrost frozen food in the fridge as this helps to keep it cool as it thaws.
http://www.electricity-guide.org.uk/tips-kitchen.html