Monthly Energy & Money saving tips

So, my tip is to simply turn off all lights. Sounds simple but there is a myth that fluorescent strip lights use heaps of energy to power up. The truth is they use about 5 seconds worth of the electricity used to run them to start them up. So as long as you're not turning them on an off every 5 seconds, it's worth turning them off. However the lamps (bulbs) are affected by continual switching on but not so much that it's anything to worry about.

Other things to consider regarding lighting is occupancy sensors, great to use in walk through areas and bathrooms, especially if you have kids who don't turn the lights off! These are becoming more and more widely used in domestic situations as well as Guest Houses and Hotels. Not only does it save you money but there's a bit of a wow factor too.

This month I thought I'd lend some insight in to the emerging technology of LED lighting. This unfortunately is still a mine field and I hope I can help you make decisions about which bulbs and fittings to buy.

Firstly let me explain the advantages of LEDs. Conventional incandescent and halogen bulbs use 97% of their energy to create heat and 3% to create light. LEDs flip that sum on its head by using 97% of the energy consumed to create light and a mere 3% creates heat. This means they are incredibly efficient.

They are also very cool which has other advantages. Overheating light fittings can cause problems with cables which reduce the life of the cable as it is heated and cooled through continual use. It also means that LEDs will last an incredibly long time, more than 10 times the life of incandescent bulbs.

The problem with LEDs is that being a new product there are many that will not perform as you would hope. The key is not to buy the cheap ones and to bear in mind that a 3watt LED is better than 3 x 1 watt LEDs, the less LEDs the better as they are better quality.

LEDs are expensive to buy but will pay for themselves in reduced energy costs and savings from not buying any more bulbs.

This month I've been trying to get to grips with standby power. I've been asked by many people what to do about it and here's my advice which could save you pots of cash.

The basics are this, you pay for electricity in watt hours. That is to say if you have an appliance that uses 1 watt and it runs for one hour then that's one watt hour. A kilowatt hour is one unit of electricity which costs around 10p.

The problem with standby power is that appliances vary greatly. Some TVs my use almost the same power to run as they do on standby, some are more efficient. One way to find out how much your devices use is to turn everything off and see how much your meter is spinning, then put one appliance on standby and see what difference it makes. You may have heard of electricity monitors that can be used to monitor how much electricity you're using.

This monitor is easy to fit and use and you'll be surprised at how much various appliances use. Once you've used one you'll be able to make informed decisions on which appliances to keep switched off. Clearly the best option is to switch everything off. Using an extension lead with a switch means you can turn several appliances off at once.

Using these monitors can easily save the cost of buying one within a year or less.

If you have any questions about power consumption then please Contact Us.

The first monthly energy saving tip is this. A kettle boiling for one minute longer than it needs to uses a similar amount of energy as leaving a light on all night, so, to ensure you don't boil too much water fill the cup up and pour the water from the cup in to the kettle, repeat for however many cups you are making.

Simple and effective, it'll also mean the kettle boils quicker!