Original Article : (testing trackback)

 http://interiorspaces.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/save-electricity-go-green/

If you have the will, here are some simple ways by which you can save energy and cut down on the ever-mounting electricity bills.

1: Replace an ordinary bulb with a CFL (compact fluorescent lamp), which uses one-quarter to one-third the energy to produce the same amount of light. Even if we replaced just one GLS bulb (incandescent lamp) with a CFL in every electrified home in India, we could save 10,000 MW of electric load, enough to light up 100 million homes.

2: Always remember to turn off the lights that you’re not using in the house. You will be surprised to know how far this goes in conserving energy.

3: After use, take household gadgets off their stand-by mode and switch them off. Not many know that plugged-in gadgets, even in stand-by mode, use energy. In fact, gadgets in stand-by mode can amount to about five to 10 per cent of your electricity bill.

4: Use task lighting instead of general room lighting and use multiple switches in order to conserve power.

5: Make use of natural daylight in combination with artificial lighting at the design stage itself. Also ensure effective insulation as poor insulation causes a great deal of energy to escape outside.

6: Go Green. Switch to new methods like solar lighting or make use of renewable sources like wind and bio-gas. This will increase efficiency as well as control energy costs and save energy, all at the same time.

(The writer is the President of Indian Society of Lighting Engineers)

Source : India Today Home