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Electric Energy Conservation
Tips
- Turn off lights when not in use. Use "task
lighting" rather than lighting the whole room
unnecessarily for close work.
- Replace incandescent lamps, (ie. regular light
bulbs) with compact fluorescent lights. While
sometimes more expensive to purchase, they pay
for themselves over time, using 25% of
the power and having a life of 7 to 10 times
longuer than incandescent lights. They also
generate much less heat which is a big bonus
during the summer.
- If you are going to use incandescent lamps,
(i.e. regular light bulbs), use them with an
electronic light dimmer, so that when you
don't need as much light you can dim the lights
and use less power. When set at 50% the dimmer
will save you 40% on your electricity bill.
(Does not work for fluorescent lights.)
- Dust your lamps and light fixtures with the
power off. Even a thin layer of dust reduced
light levels.
- Unless absolutely necessary, use a fan rather
than an air conditioner during the summer. Our
East-Ouest exposure is ideal for natural breeze.
- Use window shades to reduce or block sunlight
and heat during the summer, particularly if
you have windows that receive direct sunlight.
- Computers and particularly laser printers
can really run up your power bills. Keep your
printer turned off using the switch on the printer,
when not in use. Some printers take as much
power as 660 watts, the same as keeping a small
microwave oven cooking continuously! We all
have a tendancy to keep the computer on if we
are not using it because we don't want to wait
a couple of minutes to boot up again, but if
you are going to be away from the computer for
a hour turn it off as you will save more power
in that hour than that used to power one 14
watt compact fluorescent lamp for 24 hours.
- While there are many small items you will
not want to ever turn off such as clocks or
perhaps your telephone answering machine, they
are costing you too. A 7 watt clock or answering
machine, adds up to 0.168 kWh per day (or $1
per month approximately at $0.22 per KWH). But
there are many items which never turn off, they
stay in standby mode eating up power. Examples
are TV's, VCRs, DVD players and Cable TV converters.
Each of these items eat up power, but by putting
them on a power bar with a power switch (with
prices starting at $5 each) you can often save
in excess of 0.6 kWh per day (20KWH per month
or $4.5). NOTE: If you have pay-TV services,
particularly pay-per-view, you will want to
keep your cable television converter powered
up at all times, otherwise the cable company's
system may have to reset you as a pay-user each
time you turn the power back on to the converter,
though you can put the TV, VCR and DVD on the
power bar which you turn off when the equipment
is not in use.
- Thaw, or partially thaw, frozen foods in the
refrigerator before cooking.
- Save money by using a microwave oven rather
than a regular electric oven/stove if you have
a choice. Cooking with a microwave oven typically
uses less than half the energy of an electric
stove/oven because it wastes less heat (something
to think about on a hot summer day).
- When replacing appliances, do not only look
at the purchase price, compare energy efficiency.
A bad choice could cost you over time.
- Refridgerators: Keep the refridgerator section
at between 2C and 5C (36 to 42° F,) and the
freezer at -18C (0° F). These temperatures help
ensure food safety, but lowering the temperatures
further only wastes power.
- It is important that the refrigerator door
closes tightly and forms a tight seal, otherwise,
warm air will get in and the unit will have
to work harder to keep things cool, costing
more energy. If you can put a piece of paper
between the door and the gasket and can easily
pull the paper out when the door is closed,
the gasket is probably worn out and should be
replaced. Keep your fridge and the seal around
the fridge door clean. Also, don't spent time
and waste electricity by "grazing" in front
of the refridgerator with the door open to browse
through its contents.
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