Electricity savings tips

At home
There is a golden rule that applies to saving electricity in the home: If you are not using it, switch it off.

• By partnering with Eskom and changing the way we use energy every day, you can make a difference to the electricity supply shortage in our country.
• Geyser – it uses up to 39% of your monthly energy. Switch it off to reduce your energy demand. Don’t forget to insulate the geyser and water pipes.
• Shower – it uses less water than bathing, and using less hot water means less work for the geyser. Use an aerated shower head since it uses less water.
• Lighting – replace all your incandescent bulbs with energysaving compact fluorescent lamps (Cfl) and switch off the lights in unoccupied rooms.
• Standby electricity – don’t leave your TV, DVD player, etc. on stand-by mode. They still use up to 50% of their operating power. Rather switch them off at the power button and don’t forget to unplug your cell phone charger after your phone has been charged or it will continue to draw power.
• Refrigeration – close your fridge door quickly so it doesn’t use extra power to get back to its optimal cooling level.
• Temperature control – keep the room temperature between 18°C – 22 °C – this is known as the ‘’ golden zone’’. Use extra clothes, blankets and hot water bottles to keep warm without using extra heaters.

Commercial tips

• ask an energy services company to perform an electricity audit
• install a building management system to automatically connect the lighting, and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC)
• keep doors closed between conditioned and unconditioned spaces – use automatic doors, selfclosing doors or air curtains etc
• install efficient lighting systems
• many companies and industries leave their lights on unnecessarily during the day/night. Lighting controls in buildings can make sure that energy is conserved during periods of low occupancy
• make use of the services of lighting specialists when making choices on lighting system design
• switch off equipment that is not used. They waste electricity and generate heat that has to be overcome by the HVAC system when cooling
• enabling power save mode on computers can reduce their electricity consumption by around 40%
• check insulation of cooling systems