Contents Introduction..3 Food refrigeration. 4 Cooking. 6 Microwave oven. 8 Electrical kettle / Water Heaters. 9 Lighting. 10 Laundering. 13 Ironing. 15 Cooling system. 17 Television & Video Sets. 19
Introduction When you avoid wasteful use of electricity, you will be able to control electricity charges without sacrificing your comfort or convenience. Energy conservation or efficiency involves the use of technology that requires less energy to achieve a desired result. Replacing an incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent one to produce the same amount of light, is an example of energy efficiency. Introduction 5
1Food Refrigeration Refrigerators and Freezers Keep freezers filled to capacity, but avoid overcrowding refrigerator shelves as cold air does a better job if allowed to circulate. Dust the condenser coils after every three months, as dust-covered coils impair the efficiency of the compressor operation and increase energy usage. Refrigerator door gasket seal should close tightly to prevent penetration of warm air. Test the effectiveness of the seal by placing a piece of paper between the fridge door and the refrigerator. It must hold tightly without falling. Do not place uncovered liquids in refrigerators. These absorb undesirable flavours and also give off vapours that add to the compressor workload. 6 Food Refrigeration
Anytime a door of a refrigerator or freezer is opened, the compressor has to run a bit longer to replace the cold air that spills out; therefore, plan ahead and remove all ingredients for preparation of each meal at a go. Discourage frequent opening of refrigerator door. Locate refrigerators and freezers away from direct sunlight and other warm air sources. Provide space underneath, behind, and on top of the refrigerator to allow hot air to escape Your refrigerator works efficiently at a temperature of 3 degrees Celsius. Any degree lower means that you are using 5% more electricity than necessary. To measure the temperature of the inside of a refrigerator, place a thermometer on one of the lower shelves inside the refrigerator and leave it there for at least 20 minutes with the door closed. Allow hot foods to cool before placing them into the refrigerator. Remove all heavy wrappings from food before storing in the refrigerator. Food Refrigeration 7
2 Cooking Range Tops If cooking is to be done efficiently, heat must be transferred from the electric cooker to the food with minimum loss to the surroundings. To help you do this: Select pots and pans with absolutely flat bottoms. Spherical bottoms leave air gaps which provide ready escape routes for heat. Tightly fitted lids help keep heat within the utensils, permitting the use of lower temperature settings and shorter cooking times. Match pots and pans sizes to stove plate. A small pot on a large plate means that heat around the pot is wasted. Reflector pans beneath stovetop heating element should be kept bright and clean. Shiny pans help focus heat rays on utensils bottoms. Dull or soiled pans absorb heat wastefully. Be sure to use the right size of pot for the element. Carefully measure water used for cooking to avoid having to heat more than is needed. 8 Cooking
Begin cooking on highest heat until liquid begins to boil. Then lower the heat control setting and allow food to simmer until fully cooked. Thaw frozen foods first to reduce cooking time When pre-heating an oven for baking, time the pre heating period carefully. Five to eight minutes should be sufficient. There is no need to pre heat for boiling and roasting. Don t wait until food is completely cooked before turning off the oven. Turn it off a few minutes before the food is ready and let the heat in the oven finish the job. Rearrange oven shelves before turning the oven on. To do this after the oven has heated allows heat to escape and also poses as a safety hazard. Cooking 9
3 Microwave Oven 10 Microwave Oven A microwave oven reduces electricity used for cooking by up to 70 per cent compared to an electric cooker. Use it to re heat food. Do not use the microwave oven to defrost food-stuff, because it will use more electricity; rather defrost foodstuff in the open overnight to conserve electricity. Allow free circulation of air in your oven. Place pans and containers so that they do not touch each other or the sides of the oven. When roasting or baking, avoid making frequent progress checks that entail opening the oven door, instead look through the oven door if need be. The oven s temperature drops by about 10 degrees Celsius whenever the door is opened.
4 Electric Kettles / Water Heaters Use the electric kettle to boil small quantities of water, not the electric cooker. It is cheaper to use the electric kettle to boil water rather than the electric cooker. When boiling water use only the required amount of water. For instance, if you want one cup of tea, boil water that is just enough to cover the heating element. Store hot water in thermos flask for later use. This helps save energy by avoiding constant use of the kettle. Electric Kettles / Water Heaters 11
5 Lighting Design new houses that maximize on natural sunlight as much as possible during the day. Ensure that your house has large windows facing away from obstructions, to let in as much natural sunlight as possible. Admonish people to turn off the light when leaving any unoccupied room. This habit can be encouraged more easily when every area has its own switch. Select the type of lighting fixtures on the basis of their efficiency. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) produce about four times as much light per watt as do incandescent bulbs. Please note that the emerging 12 Lighting
Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps are more efficient and expensive than CFLs. The reflectance of interior surfaces has an important bearing on lighting efficiency. In home decorations, therefore, choose lighter colours for walls, ceiling, floors and furniture. Dark colours absorb light and would require higher lamp wattage for a given level of illumination. Light coloured surfaces should be kept clean for maximum reflectance. In lamps and fixtures having two or more sockets, consider using a single large bulb in one socket rather than filling all sockets with bulbs of smaller wattage. A 100-watt bulb, for instance produces 50 percent more light than four 25-watt bulbs for the same amount of energy. If possible locate floor, table and hanging lamps in the corner of a room rather than against a flat wall. Lamps in corners reflect light from two wall surfaces instead of one and therefore give more usable light. Lighting 13
Clean lighting fixtures regularly. Dust on lamps and reflections impair light efficiency. Invest in energy saving bulbs. The initial cost is high but this is offset by the lower electricity consumption cost in the long-term. Make sure that outdoor lighting is turned off during daytime. Dimmer switches allow you to regulate the light intensity and so reduce electricity consumption. 14 Lighting
6 Laundering Use cold or lukewarm water for washing clothes. Front loading washing machines use less energy than top loading models. Set the wash temperature selector to cold or warm as often as possible. Not all fabrics require extremely hot water for washing. Laundering 15
Sort out laundry and schedule washing so that a complete job can be done within a few cycles. Always dry your clothes outdoors. 16 Laundering
7 Ironing A pressing iron consumes as much electricity as about ten 100-watt bulbs. Several steps can be taken to increase ironing efficiency. Prevent scorching and wasting energy by not over heating the iron. If you remove clothing promptly from the drying line and fold them carefully, many items will require just a quick press. First iron those fabrics that require lower temperature and work up to those requiring higher heat. An iron heats faster than it cools so it is quicker to go from low to high than the reverse. Less energy will be needed too. Ironing 17
Turn the iron off five minutes or so before all clothes have been ironed, and finish ironing with the heat stored in the sole plate. Always turn the iron off when work is interrupted by the ringing of the telephone or doorbell. Always use an iron which has a thermostat to regulate the temperature of the sole plate. 18 Ironing
8 Cooling Systems When selecting a central air conditioning unit, be sure to choose one with the proper capacity and highest efficiency. Install a whole house ventilating fan in your attic or in an upstairs window to help air circulate in your home. Although not a replacement for a central air conditioning system, a fan is an effective way to stay comfortable on milder days. Set your thermostat at 25 degrees Celsius, which is a reasonably comfortable and energy efficient indoor temperature. Avoid setting your thermostat at a colder temperature Cooling Systems 19
than normal when you turn your air conditioner on. This is to eliminate long cooling periods as it will cool to a lower temperature than you need and use more energy. Consider using a ceiling fan with your window air conditioner to spread the cooled air to other rooms. But be sure the air conditioner is large enough to cool the additional space. Don t place lamps or television sets near your thermostat. Heat from these appliances is sensed by the thermostat and could cause your system to run longer than necessary. Clean or replace air conditioning filters. Dirty air filters should be cleaned or replaced every month. Foam filters can be rinsed with water and wrung dry. Fiberglass filter needs to be replaced regularly. No matter what kind of central air conditioning system you have, clean the outside condenser coil once a year. To clean, turn off the unit and spray coils with water at a low pressure. (High water pressure may bend the fins.) Use duct tape to seal the cracks between each section of an air duct on your central conditioning or forcedheating system. 20 Cooling Systems
9 Television & Video Sets Turn off TV and video sets that are not being watched. Children especially are likely to leave a set on when called outside to play. Do not switch on the TV at the same time that the radio or Hi-Fi system has been switched on. Listening is ineffective at this point. Effectively, a TV can be watched by selecting specific programmes rather than leaving it on continuously. Television & Video Sets 21