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DAILY ENERGY
Your daily energy consumption
Your alarm clock in the morning. Hot water in the bathroom. Breakfast in the kitchen, using the hobs and the toaster, with the lights on, and the radio, stereo or TV playing in the background. Get your car keys and set off to work. Or rush to the tube station or bus stop (not many people cycle in the city). The computer, the phone, the microwave timer, the mobile phone message and the mp3 player. A meal out, then on to the cinema or a night club. All these moments, these lights and these scenarios have something in common. Energy. They are energy, they are made possible by energy and they consume energy.
It is important to reduce the environmental impact of our lifestyle. This is why it is important to adopt specific habits, actions and focuses, such as choosing renewable energy and doing small things to save energy.
Out with the old light bulbs
When unscrewing an old tungsten light bulb you can see that it is incandescent. This is because 95% of the energy that it burns is given off as heat, while just the remaining 5% turns into light. A great waste! Energy-saving light bulbs and the new LED bulbs consume 80% less while providing the same degree of light. On average, they last from 10,000 to 50,000 hours and save a lot of energy and a lot of money. If 2/3 of all the old light bulbs are replaced by 2015, there will be savings of 7 billion kilowatts a year, equivalent to the energy produced by two medium power plants.
Ratings for new domestic appliances
In order to reduce your running costs and environmental pollution, choose class A rated appliances. How long can a fridge run on 1kWh of electricity? An old fridge runs for 16 hours. A new A-rated fridge runs for a good 43 hours! Three times as long. Don’t hold onto old domestic appliances just for the sake of it. Even if “they still work”, they can consume huge amounts of energy.
Washing awareness
It is best to only use the washing machine for full loads: the “1/2 load” button only saves around 20%, which is misleading. Lowering the washing temperature by 10 degrees in your machine reduces energy consumption by 36%; this reduction can rise to 55% if it is reduced by 20 degrees compared to your average temperature. Today, however, the washing machine is often used at over 60 degrees which, for around 21.7 million Italian households, means using 1.5 billion kWh a year more than if we all did a "cold" wash at 30 degrees. To explain, 1.5 billion kWh of energy would light 44 thousand Italian squares for an entire year or cover the energy demand of the entire city of Florence.
Air conditioning units: climate and environment
It’s best to use air conditioning units in moderation. Don't install them on sunny walls and close all the windows when they are in use. These units should never be installed on walls exposed to the sun: protected from the sun’s heat, they save around one third of the energy used to cool the room. The room will require less power and less time to be cooled if it is shaded from the sun. You can use blinds or curtains to cover the windows and prevent the sun’s rays from heating up the air conditioning unit. We should also not underestimate the cool sensation created by air circulation (with fans or ventilators): a speed from 0.05 to 0.25 metres per second is comfortable, both in the summer and the winter, according to standard UNI 10339
DAILY ENERGY
Your daily energy consumption
Your alarm clock in the morning. Hot water in the bathroom. Breakfast in the kitchen, using the hobs and the toaster, with the lights on, and the radio, stereo or TV playing in the background. Get your car keys and set off to work. Or rush to the tube station or bus stop (not many people cycle in the city). The computer, the phone, the microwave timer, the mobile phone message and the mp3 player. A meal out, then on to the cinema or a night club. All these moments, these lights and these scenarios have something in common. Energy. They are energy, they are made possible by energy and they consume energy.
It is important to reduce the environmental impact of our lifestyle. This is why it is important to adopt specific habits, actions and focuses, such as choosing renewable energy and doing small things to save energy.
Out with the old light bulbs
When unscrewing an old tungsten light bulb you can see that it is incandescent. This is because 95% of the energy that it burns is given off as heat, while just the remaining 5% turns into light. A great waste! Energy-saving light bulbs and the new LED bulbs consume 80% less while providing the same degree of light. On average, they last from 10,000 to 50,000 hours and save a lot of energy and a lot of money. If 2/3 of all the old light bulbs are replaced by 2015, there will be savings of 7 billion kilowatts a year, equivalent to the energy produced by two medium power plants.
Ratings for new domestic appliances
In order to reduce your running costs and environmental pollution, choose class A rated appliances. How long can a fridge run on 1kWh of electricity? An old fridge runs for 16 hours. A new A-rated fridge runs for a good 43 hours! Three times as long. Don’t hold onto old domestic appliances just for the sake of it. Even if “they still work”, they can consume huge amounts of energy.
Washing awareness
It is best to only use the washing machine for full loads: the “1/2 load” button only saves around 20%, which is misleading. Lowering the washing temperature by 10 degrees in your machine reduces energy consumption by 36%; this reduction can rise to 55% if it is reduced by 20 degrees compared to your average temperature. Today, however, the washing machine is often used at over 60 degrees which, for around 21.7 million Italian households, means using 1.5 billion kWh a year more than if we all did a "cold" wash at 30 degrees. To explain, 1.5 billion kWh of energy would light 44 thousand Italian squares for an entire year or cover the energy demand of the entire city of Florence.
Air conditioning units: climate and environment
It’s best to use air conditioning units in moderation. Don't install them on sunny walls and close all the windows when they are in use. These units should never be installed on walls exposed to the sun: protected from the sun’s heat, they save around one third of the energy used to cool the room. The room will require less power and less time to be cooled if it is shaded from the sun. You can use blinds or curtains to cover the windows and prevent the sun’s rays from heating up the air conditioning unit. We should also not underestimate the cool sensation created by air circulation (with fans or ventilators): a speed from 0.05 to 0.25 metres per second is comfortable, both in the summer and the winter, according to standard UNI 10339 |
