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When the weather is warm the temperature in your home can rise quickly. Are you drying washing? If so, put a fan behind the clothes horse. Your clothes will dry more quickly and the moisture released will cool the air. Cheap and efficient.
Do you have a small garden? If so, it may be worth using a hand mower. They don’t use any energy, they don’t make any noise and when the grass is dry, the result is often better than with an electric mower. Perfect for the city!
Heating the water accounts for up 90 % of the energy used when washing. So always wash at the lowest possible temperature. If your washing is not really dirty, wash at 40° or even 30°. By doing so, you’ll save no less than 50% of the energy you would otherwise use.
Electrical appliances often have a stand-by button. Leaving a television in sleep mode uses about 20 kWh more a year. A digicorder uses over 100 kWh more. So switch off your appliances completely.
If you want to thaw meat, it’s best not to do it in the microwave. Put the meat in the fridge the evening before. That saves you using the microwave.
Have you got an old refrigerator in your garage or your cellar, too?
Did you know that it uses at least twice as much as a new one (Class A+ refrigerator: 200 kWh / Class C refrigerator: 500 kWh).
Defrost your freezer at least once a year. A layer of ice, even just a few millimetres thick, causes a loss of efficiency and overconsumption.
A lot of letter boxes in front doors cause draughts. Replace yours with a letterbox with a draught-proof brush or flap.
Insulating a house after it has been built isn’t always easy. But if you have cavity walls, you can inject an insulating substance.
If there is air in your radiators, your heating installation will be less efficient. Radiators on the upper floors in particular are likely to contain air. Bleed them regularly, beginning with the lower floors and ending with the upper floors.
Going away for a few days? Don’t switch off the heating completely, but leave it at a temperature of 15 °C. This will stop your pipes freezing and you’ll heat you home back up again more quickly when you get back.
Half an hour before you go to bed, set your heating to night mode. It will continue to give off the remaining heat for these few minutes. If you do that every day, you’ll see the difference in your bill!
Is your mobile phone charged? Pull the charger out of the plug, otherwise it will continue to use a small amount of power.
Place a movement detector in areas where you don’t go very often (corridor, garage, etc.). The light will come on automatically when you go in, and switch off again when you leave. So you don’t have to worry about forgetting to switch off the light.
Do your children prefer to sleep with a night light? If so, use a low-energy bulb or an LED bulb.
A 1.5 W LED bulb can replace a conventional 25 W bulb!
Heating up food in the microwave is far more efficient than using a conventional oven. The oven has to be preheated, and takes longer to reach the temperature you want.
An appliance that uses solar energy doesn’t need batteries. Think about calculators, garden lighting or the house number. These appliances are not just good for the environment, but good for your budget, too.
A lot of buildings in towns and cities have flat roofs. Make the most of it to create a green roof! That way you add green to the city, but you also insulate your building very well. What’s more, your home will be worth more with a green roof…
TV sets, video recorders, DVD players and hi-fi equipment also use electric power when you are not using them or when they look like they have been switched off.
A multiple outlet power strip allows you to put paid to this stand-by power consumption with the press of a single button.
The answer to all your energy questions in Brussels
