With the government encouraging everybody to become more energy efficient, we present five ways to reduce your carbon footprint and reduce the running costs of your home and business.
Switch to sleep mode
Most digital and electrical appliances now come with a handy feature known as sleep mode, which automatically switches off your equipment, though not completely from the mains. Home computers often need to be left on for one reason or another but having them running at full capacity while your away is a huge waste of energy.
Using sleep mode on a computer cancels 80% of energy that’s used by the monitor. The screen saver isn’t enough to stop this type of energy consumption, so make sure you have sleep mode activated on your computer. You can access this feature on the Start menu of most models.
Monitor the thermostat
If you have yet to upgrade to the latest programmable thermostats, we seriously recommend you give it serious consideration.
A common misconception associated with thermostats is that a furnace works harder than normal to warm the space back to a comfortable temperature after the thermostat has been set to a lower level, resulting in little or no savings.
In fact, as soon as your house drops below its normal temperature, it will lose energy to the surrounding environment more slowly. The lower the interior temperature, the slower the heat loss. So the longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more energy you save because your house has lost less energy than it would have at the higher temperature.
The same concept applies to raising your thermostat setting in the summer. A higher interior temperature will slow the flow of heat into your house, saving energy on air conditioning.
Close doors and windows when cold
In the colder months you should have windows and doors closed so that heat isn’t escaping.
You will save a small amount on your heating bills by doing this, while it’s also helpful to rely on more clothes instead of walking straight over to your heating appliance. Take a hot water bottle to bed with you and do your best to cut down on the amount of times you switch on the heating. It might be difficult at times but it will save you money.
Unplug power adapters and chargers
We all like to keep our mobile devices fully charged, but remember to remove the charger from the socket when not in use. Failure to do so means the power is still being sucked up from the mains even if they aren’t plugged into a chargeable device.
Use power extensions to switch off equipment
These helpful cable extensions can extend wiring throughout the home but they can also be used to switch off numerous appliances. You can be using up to 40 Watts of power when electronics are plugged into wall sockets and are using standby power.
A plug extension cable cuts the power to the circuit when switched off, so you won’t be using up those 40 Watts. They are an excellent way of monitoring a multitude of electronics at once and can be used to switch of more than one appliance overnight.
Article provided by Mike, working together with www.appeng.co.uk; an Application Engineering specialist company operating in East Sussex since 1983.
