There is no escape from paying bills. The continuous rise in gas and electricity prices does not ease the situation either. But fortunately, you can change your lifestyle habits which will not only cause a drastic reduction in your bills, but will also save energy and the planet too.

Save Energy and Start Paying your Bills With A Smile:

1. Switch off every light when you leave the room

2. For background sound, favour the radio over the TV

3. Unplug your devices after the battery is charged. For example, mobiles

4. Use a washing line or drying racks, rather than an electric drier

5. Avoid keeping your room thermostat more than 21C

6. Keep the water thermostat less than 60C

7. Boil your kettle with only the amount of water needed

8. Use the water once the kettle is boiled to avoid reheating

9.      Remove washed clothes from washing machine within 2 hours to avoid rewashing

10. Hang your clothes after ironing to avoid another ironing session due to creasing

11. Utilise the eco setting on your washing machine and/or dishwasher

12.    Keep your fridge running properly by defrosting it regularly

13. Turn off the dishwasher prematurely to allow the heat inside complete the job

14. If you have a heater, programme it to drop by half or off after an hour

15. During the day draw the curtains to allow free light to penetrate

16. At dusk close your curtains to retain the heat

17. Keep the back of your fridge clean to boost its efficiency

18.    Switch to a green energy provider such as Good Energy or EcoTricity

Save Water As It Saves Life:

1. Use baths sparingly

2.      Utilise a (non power) shower

3. Use a bucket of water for car washing rather than a hose

4.      Use a watering jug for plants

5.      Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth

6. When washing by hand, use a bowl to soap dishes and avoid running water

7.      When rinsing, use warm water to speed up washing.

8. Use hot water from the kettle to degrease the sink rather than bleach

9. Favour the plunger over the toxic unblocking solution

10. Make sure that you turn off all taps properly after use

11. Check that there are no leaks in the water pipe system

Be Green and Wise in the Kitchen:

1. Use a toaster to make toast instead of a grill as the toaster is more energy efficient

2. Boil water in a kettle to use for cooking

3. Remove contents from the fridge to cool to room temperature before cooking

4. Maximise the efficiency of your fridge by keeping it full

5. Use a pan matching the amount of food to be cooked

6. Use the smallest pan as far as you can

7. Use a pan that matches the size of the burner, not smaller, to avoid 30% of heat loss

8. Cover the pan with a lid to avoid the loss of heat

9. Keep the oven window clean to avoid opening the oven during cooking time

10. Use the right lid for the right pan to avoid loss of heat through the peeps

11.    Turn off the heater prematurely to allow the steam to complete the cooking

12. Use less fat and liquid to cook at a quicker pace

13. Plan your cooking and make extra to freeze and reuse

14. Leftovers take less time to be reheated. Use them as quick ‘fast food’

15. Pressure cooker and microwave are more energy efficient compared to the oven

Waste can be Recycled

1. Turn your wasted vegetable and fruit peelings into compost

2. Use the compost to plant your own vegetables, fruits, herbs or flowers

3. Do not buy excessively to avoid wastage

4. Reuse aluminium foil for packing food

5.      Where possible, buy loose fruit and vegetables without the wasteful packaging

6. Donate your clothes which you do not use anymore

7. Reuse plastic objects for other purposes

8. Use plastic food containers to plant herbs

9. Use shoe boxes to store items

10. Use food before they expire to avoid wastage. If expired, convert them into compost

11. Recycle cans, paper, plastic, etc…

12. Reuse newspaper for cleaning windows, for instance

13. Think twice before buying

14. Take your Recyclable bag or Bag for life to the shop

15. Reuse old T-shirts to sleep in or when doing messy work such as painting

Good Luck!

Posted under Gas & Electricity, House & Home, How To's & Guides, Lifestyle & Fashion, Money & Finance

Finding an appliance which needs absolutely no fuel and costs nothing to run is difficult to say the least. However, solar cookers and ovens require only sunlight as their energy source. The advantages of such contraptions are being embraced by humanitarian groups as a means of helping poverty-stricken communities cook food without having to rely on fossil fuels such as wood and coal. Solar cookers also minimize the risk of forest fires due to the fact that they do not require fire for the creation of heat. 10,000 solar cookers have already been donated to various refugee camps in Darfur.

Solar cookers work by concentrating sunlight using mirrors or other highly reflective materials, such as certain types of metal. Concentrating the sunlight into a smaller area concentrates the energy and allows the area to heat up more quickly. In order to maximize the amount of heat created by the concentrated sunlight in the cooker, the cooking pot within the oven is usually black in colour and made of a highly conductive material – black objects will usually absorb most (or all) of the sun’s light and turn it into heat. It is vital that the air within the solar cooker’s glass or plastic cover is isolated from the air outside. This is because the cooker works much like a greenhouse: once the light is absorbed by the pan and converted to heat, this heat is effectively trapped inside the cover. This is a huge advantage because it means that the solar cooker can also be used on cold or windy days. Below is a list of the various types of solar cookers with brief descriptions of each.

Box Cookers: A box cooker is literally a box (big enough to hold a cooking pot) with a transparent glass or plastic window at the top. They usually have reflective panels that extend vertically from one or two sides of the box which allows sunlight to be reflected more effectively through the window. This type of solar cooker can reach temperatures of 150 degrees Celsius.

Panel Cookers: This type of solar cooker uses panels lined with a reflective material (such as aluminium foil) to direct sunlight towards a cooking pot that is enclosed in a plastic bag. These are cheap to make and can be produced from everyday materials found around the house such as cardboard, foil and regular plastic bags.

Solar Kettles: Solar kettles use vacuum solar glass tube technology to capture, accumulate and then store solar energy within the kettle itself. They can often store enough energy to keep the liquid contained inside hot throughout the night.

Posted under Uncategorized

Photovoltaic is a process used that converts light into electricity. This is done by using the solar cells that are in the photovoltaic modules, frequently electrically linked in solar photovoltaic arrays to transform energy from the sun into electricity. Photovoltaic solar panels take photons from the suns rays and convert the electrons into higher states of energy, which is electricity.

The solar cells produce direct current electricity from light, which can be used to power electrical equipment or to recharge things. Today the majority of photovoltaic modules are used for grid connected power generation. Which is very useful because that means that we can now use photovoltaic energy as a way of providing electricity for things that don’t require a high demand of energy such as road side emergency telephones and remote sensing. A great example of this is a calculator, have you ever noticed the strip of brown film /glass across the top of your calculator? This is because cells require protection from the environment and are usually concealed behind a glass sheet. When more energy is required than a single cell can deliver, cells are electrically connected together to form photovoltaic modules, or solar panels.

Although a single module is enough to power an emergency telephone, it would take a large amount of arrays of modules to power a house, the modules are very expensive however therefore they cannot compete with normal grid electricity which is un-environmentally friendly, but is still used by every body just because of its price.

How can we use photovoltaic?

We can use them in society to help save energy by using them on things like buildings: Photovoltaic solar panels can be put on a house roof.

This is becoming increasingly incorporated into new domestic and industrial buildings as a primary source of electricity. It is one of the fastest growing areas of the photovoltaic industry. We can do this our selves by purchasing roof tiles with integrated PV cells.

Arrays can also be retrofitted into existing buildings, meaning that we don’t have to build entirely new ones; we can simply adjust them, usually by simply fitting the tiles on the roof structure. If this is not possible an array can be situated separately from the building but connected by a cable to supply electricity for the building.

A mountainous area would be the best location for a building to use PV efficiently due to its good exposure to light, the same goes for wind powered sources too.

The main transport that has used PV successfully is mainly space crafts. PV is hardly ever used for large motion vehicles, but it is being used a lot to provide other power for boats and cars. There have been recent advances in solar technology, which have proven the cell’s ability to create significant hydrogen production, making it one of the most prospectus energy sources for automobiles.

PV in products and devices:

As we already know, PV has been used to power calculators and other similar devices. Solar powered remote devices have seen increasing use recently; this is because of the growing cost of labour for connection of mains electricity.

Posted under Cars & Transport, Gas & Electricity, House & Home, Renewable Energy