Earth Hour is a campaign by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness and to inspire action against climate change. So, last March 28, 2020, people around the globe were encouraged to turn off the non-essential lights in their homes from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. that night.
While participating in Earth Hour is a nice gesture, know that what we really need is a long-term action for us to make a meaningful change to our Earth.
So instead of just switching off the lights for an hour, why not practice these energy-saving tips all year long.
EVERYDAY ENERGY SAVING TIPS
1.) Unplug appliances on standby
Up to 20 percent of the energy that households consume is coming from items that aren’t even being used. Items like TVs, chargers, coffee machines, consume tons of energy when they are just resting. What you should do is to unplug these devices between use or plug them all into a powerstrip and just flip the switch to cut off all power.
2.) Try to rely on natural ventilation
Summer is just around the corner and everyone is expecting that hot summer heat. Instead of using your electric fans and air conditioning units, try to keep all your windows open during the day and let the air circulate through your household. At night, if you don’t use air conditioning units or electric fans or are trying to save energy, crack your bedroom windows open a little and close them briefly when you wake up the next day to trap the cooler air in.
3.) Use LED lights
Aside from switching off the lights, a more effective method to conserve power is to choose the right light bulbs.
LED bulbs are more energy efficient and have a longer lifespan than incandescent bulbs. This means that for a span of three years, a room may need 21 incandescent bulbs but only one LED bulb.
4.) Don’t go too low with your AC units
The smaller the difference between the temperature outside and the temperature inside, the less expensive it’ll be. So keep your air conditioning units as high as comfortably as possible, and perhaps keep a timer on it as well so it will shut off automatically after a few hours or so.
5.) Make sure your cooling equipment are in good shape
Electric fans and AC units take up more energy because they’re in need of maintenance and are working extra hard to cool the room. If possible, schedule a maintenance for your cooling equipment, and it is guaranteed to cost less in the long run./dbs
_________________________________________________________________________________________ This is part of Cebu Daily News Digital’s Earth Hour series as the company joins Earth Hour 2020.
This series is also supported by our partner, AboitizPower. https://www.aboitizpower.com
