Please can you give me some tips on how to save electricity in the home & which items use the most...?

Answer 1

Anything that heats uses most electricity. I experimented by turning my water heater off during the day when I am not at home. It saved about 20% of my bill so I am having a timer fitted. I also do not use my drier very much but hang my laundry outdoors to dry.

Answer 2

10 Ways To Save Electricity I would like to introduce you to the '10 Ways To...' series. The number of posts in this series have not been decided, but I shall write in this series twice every week. Here is my first post in this series... Did you know that according to a World Bank report, roughly 40 percent of residences in India are without electricity? But, in a way, concepts like 'power cuts' and 'load-shedding' are not new. In fact, they have become an everyday routine. People in some parts of India live without electricity for 6-10 hours everyday. From the bottom of my heart, I feel we Indians don't deserve such ill-treatment. The only way to stop this menace is to save electricity. So, here are 10 ways I think shall prove very effective in saving electricity... 1. You are reading this...it means you have a computer or a laptop and undoubtedly, a computer monitor. Whenever you feel that you won't be using your computer for about 15-20 minutes, please take the efforts to switch off the computer monitor. This will slim down your electricity bill significantly. If you turn off your monitor for a minute, a bulb can be lit in some remote part of India for about 2 minutes. 2. Well, if you have a computer, you may also have a T.V set. If you are a person who hangs on to only 1 programme, you can put off the T.V. during ad commercials. For that, you must know the duration of the interval. This will ensure that you don't miss out anything of the programme! 3. If you reside at an above sea-level region, minimize the use of fans. You can enjoy pleasant breezes by keeping all your doors and windows open. 4. Try to switch off all your electrical appliances for at least half an hour everyday. 5. If you are a millionaire, go solar. Try solar water heaters, solar cookers, solar cells, etc. And if you are not a millionaire, use renewable resources as much as possible. 6. The most famous sentence I have ever heard - SWITCH OFF ALL FANS AND LIGHTS WHEN NOT REQUIRED. 7. Don't take the above advice very seriously. You don't need to turn off a fan if you are going to use it after a minute or so and vice versa. If you do so, you will end up spending more electricity! 8. Roam around (in your home!) every once in a while to ensure all electrical appliances are used only as per their requirements. 9. Get paranoid about this trend. Let people call you 'The Electric Nerd' or 'The Complete Saver' or something similar. 10. Spread the word. Make your family, friends and relatives aware of this. Encourage them to save electricity.

Answer 3

Computers, especially desktops, use an ASTOUNDING amount of energy. Turn your computer off when you're not using. Turn the monitor off too, particularly if you have an old CRT monitor (these put off so much heat that I have used them as my "warm spot" for bread to rise). If you're not willing to turn the computer off entirely, at least set the energy saver properties so that the computer "hibernates" after 30 minutes or so of inactivity. You WILL see a noticeable decrease in your next electric bill.

Chargers for cellphones, mp3 players, etc. should be unplugged completely after charging is done. These continue to draw current if they remain plugged in-- not a huge amount, but why pay for electricity that's not doing you any good?

Other devices, like TV's, DVD players, stereos etc. also draw power even when apparently "off". Plug all these into a power strip and turn off the entire strip when done with the TV. (easier than unplugging 16 components...) (A regular television will probably use more electricity than a plasma... but probably not enough to justify the cost of the plasma)

Definitely switch to lower-wattage bulbs. The fluorescents come in lots of styles now to fit almost any fixture. Some halogen bulbs are actually more energy efficient than standard incandescents. LED bulbs are very efficient, but they cost a fortune.

Washer and dryer: The washer doesn't use that much, but only run it as long as you need to--set the water level, heat and agitation time to suit the size and type of your load. The dryer uses a lot more energy, so only run full loads in the dryer, and only as much as needed to dry the clothes. If you are allowed to have a clothesline, it's a nice way to save money and keep the house cooler in the summer.

Dishwasher: A good Energy Star dishwasher MAY use less energy than washing dishes by hand, but only run it when it's full.

Turn the thermostat down 5 degrees in winter and up 5 degrees in summer. (If you're at work anyway, you'll never notice the difference)

Answer 4

I installed those flourescent bulbs as the old regular ones blew out. My electric bill came down about 10%. The appliances that are coming on the market now are very efficient, but I have no intentions of replacing what I have until the ones I bought just about 5 years ago go belly-up. Especially on dishwashers - that may be the first one you want to replace.

Answer 5

anything that heats or cools uses more power, including light bulbs left on

biggest energy wasters are: old fridge, or an "extra" fridge that is plugged in 24/7, and poorly insulated water heater or entire house + thermostat set too high or not turned down at night (or for day if everyone is at work or school)

electronics don't use much power, though much of it is wasted "stand-by" power

large houses with rooms that are not used are big energy wasters in some cases

some people who have grown up with dishwashers have no idea how easy it is to just wash your dishes and put them away by hand, of course if you have a large family that is different, but for one or two people with a couple of plates and cups the dishwasher uses a lot of power to run an entire wash/dry cycle

Answer 6

Switch to the fluorescent compact bulbs,
turn lights off when you leave the room,
turn the thermostat down a little in the winter and up a bit in the summer (get a programmable as well),
try to reduce hot water use,
only put as much water in the kettle you need,
if you are using the oven, try to do a couple of things (dinner, baking, etc).

Answer 7

The air conditioner and electric heater uses the most electricity because they run more minutes. Other appliances that burn a lot of energy is the toaster and electric iron.

Answer 8

The biggest wast'er is an electric hot water heater. It's left on when not needed.

AC is the next largest user.

Answer 9

energy saving lightbulbs turn off lights when not in use same with tv wash clothing once weekly if you can shut computer down at night when not inuse all these little things add up and help in the long run o yes put thermostat at one setting in the day and a little lower at night.