Power Saving in Household Electricity Items

REFRIGERATOR

Do you know that there are chances that your Refrigerator/s account for 25% of your electricity energy usage. The condenser coils behind or underneath your refrigerator help it get rid of the heat it takes out of the food compartment. When dust builds up on the coils they don't work as efficiently, so the motor has to work much harder. Make sure the refrigerator is not up against an outside facing wall.

• Keep the fridge as full as possible.
• Make sure that the refrigerator is not placed against outside facing wall or walls exposed to the direct sunlight.
• Keep your refrigerator and freezer at the right temperature. If they are only 2-3 degrees colder than necessary, your energy consumption may go up by approx. 25 %.
• Cleanout beneath and behind the fridge every month or so, for better air flow & cleaning of dust deposits to get better heat transfer.
• Make sure the door is sealed tightly. If it's not, you're wasting energy.
• Do not put uncovered liquids in the refrigerator. The liquids give off vapors that add to the compressor workload.
• Allow hot food to cool off before putting it in the refrigerator.
• Plan ahead and remove all ingredients for each meal at one time.
• If your fridge is over 10 years old, consider getting a new one.

OVENS / MICROVEN

A typical home uses 200-700 kilo Watt-hours per year with its oven. To become more energy efficient with your range/oven, follow these tips:

• Test the thermostat in your oven to be sure it measures temperatures accurately.
• Every time you open your oven door during cooking, you lose 5 to 7 degrees or more.
• Microwaves use around 50% less energy than conventional ovens: they're most efficient for small portions or defrosting.
• Check the seal on your oven door to see if there are cracks or tears in it
• Develop the habit of "lids-on" cooking to permit lower temperature settings.
• Keep reflector pans beneath stovetop heating elements bright and clean.
• Carefully measure water used for cooking to avoid having to heat more than is needed.
• Begin cooking on highest heat until liquid begins to boil. Then lower the heat control settings and allow food to simmer until fully cooked.
• Cook as much of the meal in the oven at one time as possible.
• Rearrange oven shelves before turning your oven on - and don't peek at food in the oven! Every time you open the oven door, 4°-5° C is lost.
• There is no need to preheat the oven for broiling or roasting.
• When preheating an oven for baking, time the preheat period carefully. Five to eight minutes should be sufficient.
• Use your microwave oven whenever possible, as it draws less than half the power of its conventional oven counterpart and cooks for a much shorter amount of time.
• For large items, stove-top cooking is most efficient, especially with gas.

WASHING MACHINES

• Washing machines can account for as much as 20 % of the electricity you use.
• Use Cold water, as almost 90 % of the energy consumed by washing machines goes to heating the water. Set the washing machine temperature to cold or warm and the rinse temperature to cold as often as possible.
• Each wash cycle uses upto 60 to 90 liters of water. Use washing machine on full load and plan washing periodicity to save on water too.
• Follow detergent instructions carefully. Adding too much detergent actually hampers effective washing action and may require more energy in the form of extra rinses.
• Wash only full loads of clothing- but do not overload machine. Sort laundry and schedule washes so that a complete job can be done with a few cycles of the machine carrying its full capacity, rather than a greater number of cycles with light loads.
• Soak or pre-wash the cloths for effective cleaning.

AIR CONDITIONING

• To cool your house efficiently, you air conditioner has to be cool itself. So try to keep it in the shade. An air conditioner exposed to direct sunlight uses 5 percent more energy than a shaded one. If your air conditioner is already in the sun, you can build a simple shade screen for it.
• Don't block the air flow at the back of the Air Conditioner.
• Don't switch your air conditioner thermostat to a colder setting when you first turn it on. It won't cool your home any faster and it will waste energy when you forget to turn it back up.
• Minimize the amount of direct heat entering your home by pulling shades and curtains on hot days.
• Have your air conditioning unit checked every 6 months. If the Freon level is not correct, you will waste a lot of energy and your home will never be as cool as you want it.
• Every time you open a door you're letting in new air that needs to be de-humidified, thus making your air conditioner work much harder. Set the temperature as high as possible while still being comfortable.
• Set your thermostat to as high as comfort permits, may be a few degrees higher. When the weather is mild, turn off the AC and open the windows. You can use combination of AC with ceiling fan Ceiling fans consume as little energy as a 60 watt bulb. Ceiling fans are often used instead of air conditioning, but it's not necessarily one or the other. Fans produce air currents that carry heat away from the skin, so even air conditioned rooms feel cooler when one is running. Ceiling fans save energy in reverse as this pushes warm air caught near the ceiling down to where you can feel it.
• Close your blinds and curtains during the hottest part of the day.
• Close cooling vents in unused rooms and keep doors to unused rooms closed.
• Check and clean or replace air filters every month.
• Clean the outside condenser coil once a year.