Looking to save money on your energy bill?
The energy crisis is hitting all of us with soaring bills, using less energy is the only way to cut your bill. Here are some of our smart tips for saving energy in your home.
THE LIVING ROOM
• Use your Smart meter. Simply seeing how much your energy use is costing you each day has an impact on how much you use. • Turn off all the lights when you leave the room. Don’t leave lamps on if you don’t need the light and turn them off when you leave the room. • Replace your light bulbs. By replacing your light bulbs with low-energy lamps or LED lamps, you can decrease the amount of electricity you use • Turn off the TV and computer with the power switch. Your TV, computer and other kinds of electricity use energy even in standby mode. Make it a habit to always turn them completely off. • Unplug your chargers. As long as the mobile charger remains in the socket, it draws power, even if the mobile is disconnected. It is also a fire risk. Make it a habit to unplug your charger when you don’t need it for charging. • Use a smart power strip so that you can easily switch things off. Use a power strip so that you can easily switch off several things at once. It is not only energy efficient, but also very convenient – you can turn off all things at once and you always know where the charger is. • Purchase energy efficient appliances that will save you money
THE KITCHEN
• Do the washing up in a smarter way. Avoid washing dishes by hand under running hot water and scrape off your plate rather than rinsing it under running water. • Defrost the freezer 2-3 times annually. Clean the backside of the fridge and freezer. This will decrease energy use and prevent fire hazards. • Only boil the right amount of water in the kettle to save energy. • Let your food cool down. If hot food is placed in the fridge, unnecessary energy will be used to cool it down, so let your food cool down before you put in the fridge. • Heat small portions in the microwave. It’s smarter to use the microwave oven than the regular oven if you are only heating a small portion of food.
THE BATHROOM
• Turn the tap off. Don’t let the tap run while you are washing your hands or brushing your teeth • Fill the washing machine. It takes almost as much energy to wash a sweater as to wash a full machine. Try not to wash if you cannot fill an entire machine. • Shower quickly and efficiently. The average person disposes of approximately 200 litres of water per day. • Wash at 30 or 40 degrees instead of 60 degrees and use cold water. Modern detergents work well in a cold wash – then you halve the energy consumption. • Air-dry your laundry. Try to avoid dryers that use a lot of energy.
THE BEDROOM
• Curtains help keep the cold out and you can keep the heat in your room. • Use thick rugs to keep the heat from escaping through the flooring. • Keep the doors closed to keep the heat within the rooms.
• Don’t block your wall heaters. Don’t place large furniture such as a bed, wardrobe/chests of drawers in front of the heaters, as this prevents the heat from spreading into the room.
• Air your home and create a cross breeze. Air out your rooms in a short and efficient way and preferably by creating cross breezes.
• Switch off and disconnect devices. Don’t forget to turn off your devices when you go to bed and don’t let your mobile phone or iPad charge during the night.
