How do YOU conserve energy at home and elsewhere?

Question

It's summer here and I use the fan instead of my air conditioners if at all possible, turn off lights when not in the room, use rainwater to water the plants instead of tap water.

Because I have an SUV which is quite heavy on petrol, I no longer drive as fast as I used to and try to avoid the downtown areas when possible when commuting.

Answer 1

We do that too and recycle as well.

I also now walk as much as possible instead of taking the car. (It's great to get fresh air)

Answer 2

I use TDi cars which give me about 50mpg, and try to use them as little as possible, I have no air conditioning, use almost exclusively economy light bulbs, turn off all electrical appliances at the mains when they are not actually being used, removed nearly all electrical heating in favour of wood fires, and so on.

The electricity company actually sent a man round to check my consumption; they couldn't understand why my bill had dropped so effectively!

Oh, and I no longer drive an armoured vehicle at work. But I gave that up a long time ago!

Answer 3

Its not safe to walk or cycle in SA (in my opinion) I have seen others do it, the only place I feel safe walking is in the shopping mall - and thats not often.

We have flourescent bulbs throughout the house & rechargable batteries - but none of those a recent changes, we have been doing it for years. Turn off lights that are not being used. Only heat the room you are in, etc I have some solar powered lights in the garden

Im sure I could try harder, I read about some families who dont eat a hot meal when they get home at night in order to save electricity. We dont do that.

Answer 4

Hennie since April we had no loadshedding, but the electricity is not cheap here. I have energy saving bulbs everywhere, have solar powered lights in the garden, we switch the lights off all the time and I have a 13kg washing machine so I can wash one massive load of clothing at once. I do not use my tumble dryer except in a real emergency and use the washing line for drying. We have 2 geysers, I only turn the one on when we have guests that stay with us. That is about it. Oh most of the plants in my garden are indigenous, the rest are in pots, easier to water and to maintain. I have a V6 3.5 litre so I really cannot save petrol, but I hardly ever drive fast.

Answer 5

We also only turn on our air con later. We have decided that in the mornings the air con is off until 11am. Some days it drags on. We have ours set at 27 to save power. We take the kids to school on our bicycles and for short trips. We use the scooters more now because it is much warmer and it is not raining.  We also do the same with lights in rooms, only fans on in the rooms being used where as before we kept the ceiling fans on the whole summer. Tumble dryer doesn't get used now and I also cut the use down in winter.

Answer 6

I did the same and I used public transport.

If you really did as you told us, you are good human being. Try to at least have another passanger with you in the car if you can - nah! don't take strangers - car pool with those you know.

Good luck and share those out there share with us what else can we do - thank you

Answer 7

One of my geysers are permanently turned off, and I replaced all the light bulbs with the low watt ones. i save in the region of 600kwh per month. I sold my 4L navara, and I ride my bicycle in short trips.

Answer 8

I boil a kettle in the morning and make myself a flask of coffee then I don't have to boil it again. I bought a motorbike for the quick trips and only use the car when I have to. In SA it's important to have a SUV so you can escape carjackers.

Answer 9

I just lay on the sofa that doesn't take much energy at all.

Answer 10

We changed to energy saving globes, only 3 lights switched on in the evening, we make a fire in the fireplace, and depending on how mush we plan to buy, we walk to the store  - 6 blocks is not that far and it's good exercise..........we only have a cat so we take each other for a walk (^_^)