Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Electricity saving tips - At Home - Washing Machine

- Try to use washing machine only when it is fully loaded

- If clothes are soaked for sometime before washing, then the washing machine can perform same task in somewhat lesser time. This can cut down the detergent cost also.

- If feasible, use sunlight to dry clothes instead of using the dryer

- If you're using semi-automatic washing machine and using spin shower, then ensure that the water pressure is optimally adjusted. Having water supply at full force would only waste more water. In most of the semi-automatic models, if water is falling in wash-tub also along with dryer, then it is actually wastage (unless you plan to re-use that water for next set of clothes)

- Avoid opening lid of the dryer when in use. Actually, when we open the lid & dryer's timer is still on; the electricity is being wasted. The motor is consuming electricity, but the brakes applied by the lid are just holding the dryer from spinning. It would be much better to turn off the timer (or the entire machine)

Monday, May 17, 2010

Electricity saving tips - At home - AC

- You don't really need the AC at 16 degrees throughout the night. Use an appropriate temperature judiciously. Normally a 25-27 degree setting can suffice. 

- Regular service of AC can save lots of energy as well as electricity bill.

- Using appropriate curtains can also help your AC perform faster & more efficiently.

- If buying a new device like AC or refrigerator, look for star rating on the product.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Electricity saving tips - At home - Refrigerator

- Adjust your refrigerator setting as per the requirement. For e.g., during a normal day, you won't really need to have your refrigerator set at minimum temperature. So select a moderate setting. Minimum setting might be applied on the days when you've some guests visiting your home & there may be frequent demand for cool thirst quenchers.

- Keep multiple water bottles in refrigerator. This way, you won't need to refill water bottles frequently. Refilling, then can be done once in a day. For e.g., if I can manage with just three water bottles, I keep five of them; and refill all of them in the night. This way, the electricity needed for cooling water bottles is required only during night; and since at that time the refrigerator is not being operated by anyone; it happens efficiently.

- Don't keep hot or warm food in refrigerator. Allow the food to come to room temperature first. This would help the compressor in efficient cooling & lesser energy consumption.

- Keep sufficient distance between back of your refrigerator & the wall.

- Whenever going out for some days, empty your refrigerator & switch it off. However, you must ensure that absolutely nothing remains in the refrigerator otherwise you will have to deal with whole lot of mess upon returning.

- If you've kids at home, then you would need to be extra vigilant to ensure that the refrigerator door doesn't stay open. Besides, opening the door every now & then would also reduce the performance & increase the power consumption.