Reducing energy usage at home - sooth your CO2nscience
Most households can make immediate reductions in energy consumption just by changing habits. Here are a few suggestions;
- Switch to high efficiency fluorescent lightbulbs but remember you can't use them with a dimmer. High efficiency bulbs have most impact in areas that are used frequently or where a light is usually required continuously. If you can, use the LED type as these are even more efficient - they're expensive to buy, but use less energy and run at full brightness immediately.
- If you must use filament bulbs, fit a dimmer so that you can turn them down as required. Remember that turning the dimmer to 50% reduces consumption by 75%.
- Switch off appliances that you normally leave on stand-by, e.g. televisions, DVDs, satellite and set-top boxes, computers, game systems, printers.
- If you have outside lights that switch on automatically, adjust them to come on when it's darker and to remain on for a shorter period.
- Check that your 'fridge light goes off when you close the door. A 15W bulb in the fridge will actually cause more than 30W to be consumed because the fridge must extract the heat generated by the bulb. At 9p/kWh, this is about £8 per year!
- Avoid using tumble dryers. Avoid using condensing models completely, they use even more energy.
- Upgrade your gas or oil central heating boiler to a condensing type to improve fuel economy.
