The big thing these days is to reduce the size of your "carbon footprint" on the environment, meaning of course, that you try your best to use less non-renewable energy. One of these energy resources is electricity, which is usually generated from Coal fired or nuclear power stations. Coal, as a fossil fuel, generates a lot of carbon emissions, and even nuclear power leaves hazardous waste to be disposed of.

So how do we reduce the amount of electricity we use, and what real difference does it make? Let's look at 10 ways to save electricity:

1. Replace all the light globes in your house with low energy globes; the flourescent tube type. These globes save about 82% of the electricity used by a normal incandescent globe. What this means, in a family of 2 adults and 2 children, having a house with 20 light globes on in a four hour evening, is a reduction in electricity usage from 8 Kilowatt hours down to 1.44 KW hours, a saving of 6.66 KWh. If you multiply this by the amount of homes in America, say about 50 million, this is a saving of 333,000 Megawatt hours. What this means in real terms is that you could probably completely do away with 2 or 3 large coal fired power stations, just on this saving alone.

2. Switch off lights and appliances that you are not using. Don't walk out of a room and leave everything going. Switch off when you leave.

3. Insulate your water heater, or "geyser," with an insulating blanket. This can save you about 2KW hours a day, possibly more in cold climates. Also put insulation around your hot water pipes, to further reduce heat loss and consequent energy usage.

4. Don't use the hot water tap to wash your hands, etc. By the time the hot water gets along the pipes to your hands, you're finished. Then the water heater has to heat up that bit of water that you didn't actually get to use anyway.

5. When boiling a kettle, only put in the amount of water that you intend to use. The rest of the water is just going to cool down again, unused.

6. Try and avoid using appliances that use a lot of energy, like tumble driers, stoves and heaters. There are situations of course where you have to use these appliances, but if possible, use another method. For example, don't use the tumble drier when the sun is shining warmly on your washing line.

7. Make sure your energy use is efficient. For instance, don't run heaters with the windows open, as the heat is then lost. Please note that if the manufacturers instructions tell you to leave a window open, then do so, as this is normally for a good reason.

8. Try and shower rather than bath, as this uses less water, which in turn saves energy.

9. If you leave outside lights on for security reasons, make sure that they have a light sensor, so that they will automatically switch off when it gets light, preventing them from being left on all day accidentally.

10. In the kitchen, use a microwave oven rather than a stove where possible; don't leave the refrigerator or deep freeze door open, and use a dishwasher if you can afford one. Apparently, dishwashers use less hot water than doing the dishes by hand, thus saving energy.

By saving these little bits of electricity we save ourselves money, we help the environment, and if we all work together on this, we can slow down global warming by reducing carbon emissions.

Sounds like we all win for a change!

Duncan Kelly

Hi,

I hope that you enjoyed this article.

You can find others like it, as well as a lot of free information, software and other free stuff at: http://wrinklyo.googlepages.com

Thank You for your support!

Regards

Duncan Kelly