Energy efficiency at home
We all know that changing our behaviour we can use energy in a more rationally way in our daily activities. This conduct on responsible use of energy can be achieved easily taking in account some habits that do not involve decreasing our quality of life and. In addition it means a significant financial savings and it helps the conservation of the environment.
It is true that these measures of efficiency and energy savings may seem insignificant, but collective little changes can conduct to big changes in the society. Then we give the basic advice to keep a household efficiently.
Lighting
Open blinds and curtains to maximize daylight.
Change incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps or fluorescent tubes. With the same light that an incandescent but they spend only 20% of the energy consumed by a standard bulb and lasts 10 times longer.
Do not leave lights on in unoccupied rooms. Clean the bulbs. This increases the light and will last longer.
Insulation, heating and air conditioning
The key element for a proper temperature is the insulation. A proper insulation can reduce heating use in winter and cooling in summer.
We must renew the air and ventilate the home for 10 minutes. The appropriate time will depend on ambient temperature (midday when it's cold, early morning during summer).
Installing double glazed windows, we can save 25% energy getting a more comfortable ambience and it protects you against noise.
Use blinds and curtains: let enter the sun in winter saving heating and to prevent its passage saves a lot of summer cooling.
Don’t heat or cool your home too much. An internal temperature of 19 to 20 degrees when it's cold gives a good sense of comfort during the day and can be lowered to 16-17 degrees at night. When it is hot, 25 degrees is enough. For every degree increased in heating or decreased in cooling 8% more energy is consumed.
Turn off the heating at night and the morning did not start until after having ventilated the house and closed the windows.
Hot water
In general, accumulation systems are more recommended than instant heating.
Solar thermal energy is an ideal application for the production of hot water. With the setting up of 2m² of solar panels can provide up to 60% of annual hot water needs a home.
Shower instead of bath saves energy and water. A shower consumes 30-40 litres per shower and a bath consumes 100-130 litters (4 and 5 times more water).
Appliances
The energy label is enclosed to the appliances to inform on energy consumption and other characteristics of the device. In this way, consumers can learn, quickly, the energy efficiency of appliances and buy the most suitable to their needs.
There are 7 kinds of efficiency, identified by a code of letters and colours ranging from green and the letter A, A+ or A++ for more efficient equipment, to the red and the letter G for less efficient equipment.
Before purchasing a device, look at its power consumption to see if it suits your needs.
We should turn off the switch of devices (not the remote) to avoid them to remain in standby mode.
Use rechargeable batteries. They are more expensive than others, but are cheaper in long term.
With respect to small appliances to consider:
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Hair dryer: the high power it has makes necessary to control its use.
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Vacuum cleaner: cleaning the filters regularly ensures lower energy consumption and makes longer the life cycle of the device.
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Toaster: the closed type is preferred because it prevents dispersion of the heat and save up to 50% of energy.
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Iron: the steam saves time and therefore energy. Do not use it only for one piece.
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Microwave: Use it instead of conventional oven. It saves between 60 and 70% of energy and a considerable time.
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Computers: programming required energy saving and shut down them if you anticipate spending a longer than 30 minutes without using them. The monitor consumes 80% of energy, so it must shut down if the computer has to work a long time independently.
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