In LA they say we need to lower our electricity usage, What do you do to conserve energy?

Question

If you were told to use less would you make an effort to reduce your consumption? could you do it if you were told not to drive your car as much to lower gas usage?

Answer 1

I don't conserve energy. For the past year all of my lights, radio,TV,and computer have been on for 24 hours a day. I drive an SUV. Sometimes I just drive around all day going no place.

Answer 2

I use flourescent bulbs wherever possible. Motion detector for outside security lights. Turn off lights when they are not needed. Watch TV together, not in separate rooms.

Wash near-full loads of clothing only during the weekend. Dry clothes to near-dry but hang to finish drying. Wash dishes by hand and rinse under just enough water to do the job, not full blast.

I think the question about driving should be restated as:

Could not do it if you were told to drive at or below the speed limit to lower gas usage? I hear people complaining about the price of gas but how many of them are driving at 75 mph or more, trying to save 12 minutes vs going at 65 over a distance of 100 miles? Only if they knew how to do the MATH!

That is not a lot of time saved, but could make the road a lot safer! This is a challenge that we can all participate to make our planet's finite resources last longer.

Answer 3

Turn off lights and appliances when you leave the room. Set your thermostat to a higher temp by a few degrees (you won't notice a difference, but your meter will), Make sure your refridgerator and freezer aren't on the coolest setting, unplug extra clocks and not in use cell phone chargers, take shorter or cooler showers, don't leave water running, air dry clothes, do a few large loads of laundry instead of many small loads and use cold water. Turn off fans when you leave the house. There are so many things that can be done to conserve energy. The benefit is helping the environment and also saving money at the same time. I do all these things, plus I recycle, turn my car engine off in long fast food lines, and try to avoid unnecessary trips to anywhere.

Answer 4

Use fluorescent lighting as much as possible. Compact fluorescent lamps have come down in price so that they can reasonably be used most anywhere. Either these, or the older long-tube fixtures, get nearly four times the light per watt as incandescent bulbs.

Also, put an insulating wrap on your water heater (unless it is quite new -- the insulation on the new ones is better), and caulk and seal cracks in windows and walls to reduce diffusion of outside air.

Especially in LA, you really can't exist without driving a car. But you can plan your driving to minimize the number of trips to stores, and when you replace an old car seek one with better gas mileage.

Answer 5

i have replaced my carbon footprint albeit in techniques i'd under no circumstances have predicted. 3 years in the past i changed into eco-friendly concious yet nonetheless left a marginally large print with my SUV and wasteful skill prepare. I washed and dried outfits after only one placed on, left the A/C on when I wasn't abode and that i drove my SUV everywhere, even to the nook marketplace. This all replaced even as my frustration with US politics and predatory comercialism reached a level the position I fled the country. Now I stay in, of all places, China. Now I dont force a automobile, I journey an electric powered motorcycle. I dont wash my outfits till they favor them and that i line dry them (no dryers in so China), My new spouse has pushed abode the favor for water/skill conservation, no longer out of any eco-friendly agenda, yet rather from a existence of being too undesirable to have the funds for such luxuries. the actual shown actuality that we may be able to have the funds for that is irrelevant, it is only no longer needed. i have discovered the lesson that severe skill intake is a cultural disese. certain, China is the most polluted position I surely have ever lived. The undesirable air high quality sometime is so undesirable my eyes burn and the poisonous waters have me swearing off fish and keeping off untreated ingesting water. do not blame the uncomplicated man or woman notwithstanding, the undertaking again is a societal one. Deng Xiao Peng advised the 1000's that to be wealthy is excellent and then he bumped off any limitations to unscrupulous techniques of achieveing stated glory. China is increasing on the fumes and exhusts from 10000 factories all dumping unhindered. possibly the question being requested must be directed at a larger entitiy. Say governments and mega businesses. the uncomplicated guy is doing what he can.

Answer 6

Use the washer, dryer and iron on weekends.

Lower the temp on your water heater to about 120f.

Avoid using the oven to cook. Use the microwave. This will save on pre-heat energy, and AC energy to compensate the heat from the oven.

Change all light bulbs to low watt usage florescent bulbs.

Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use, especially during the day. It, too, is a heat generator.

Keep window drapes closed to keep the sun out.

Check with your local utilities company, or http://www.srpnet.com/energy/powerwise/default.aspx for other ideas.

Answer 7

Move your thermostat on your air conditioner up a few degrees, make sure lights/appliances are off before leaving the room, wait until after peak hours to run large appliances (washing machines, dryers). These are things I try to do, heat wave or not.

Answer 8

first thing that you have to do is stick a lable in every switch board stating "" turn off when not required.""