Not an energy tip as such, but I found this on Vimeo and thought it was worth sharing
energy Let’s saving from Naji on Vimeo.
Energy Saving Tip 4: The posibilites are endless
December 4th, 2009Energy Saving Tip 3: Save Money on Heating
December 3rd, 2009During winter we spend a lot of money heating our homes. I’m not suggesting that we should all sit shivering huddled up in the corner of the room, but spending some time reviewing your heating could lead to some significant energy (and cost) savings.
Simply by turning your heater thermostat down by as little as 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10% – a potential reduction of somewhere in the region of £40 per year.
To make your house warmer, you can try some of these tips:
- Only heat the rooms you are using. If the spare room is only used when you have people staying over, does the room need to be heated all of the time?
- Open the doors on rooms which receive the most daily sunshine – this will help warm air circulate around the house.
- Close your curtains and blinds as it gets dark – this will reduce the heat lost through the glass windows.
- Keep furniture and large objects away from radiators – these objects will absorb and block the heat.
- Avoid drying clothes on radiators.
Try to use draft excluders which will help to reduce heat loss around doors and windows. Inspect your window and doors – any seals that look old and cracked must be replaced. If windows and doors do not fit correctly then fix/call someone in order to fix them.
If you are still to cold – put a jumper on!
Energy Saving Tip 2: Computer Energy Consumption
December 2nd, 2009Do you realise the how much power your PC or laptop uses?
New computers & laptops consume less power
- On average a standard desktop computer uses between 65 to 250 watts of power.
- On average a typical computer moniitor will use between 60 to 120 watts of electricity (dependent on screen size).
- A laptop will generally consume around 8 to 30 watts depending on the screen size and tasks performed.
There are lots of ways to reduce the power consumption of your computer:
- Don’t use screen savers, set up your monitor to turn off when inactive for a long period of time. When activated, a screen saver will run the monitor at the full amount of power usage.
- If you are still using an old CRT monitor switch to a newer flat screen LCD one. In addition to freeing up lots of room on your desk, you will also be making an energy saving between 40 to 60%/.
- Set up your laptop or computer to sleep or standby after a long period of inactivity. It will only take a few moments to re-boot next time you sit down ready to use it.
- When you are nipping out or leaving work, turn off your computer and monitors. Don’t leave the monitor on stand by, press the button and switch it off. If you have a networked printer in the office, do you ever switch it off?
Energy Saving Tip 1: Energy Saving Lightbulbs
December 1st, 2009
low energy spiral bulb
I had to start with an obvious one…
Energy saving lightbulbs can last up to 10 times longer than an ordinary bulb. This means that over the lifetime of the bulb it could save you around £40! If you replace a high wattage incandescent bulb with an energy saver this saving could be increased further to around £65 over the bulbs lifetime!
Over recent years the technology behind energy efficient light bulbs has become much more advanced. Modern energy saving bulbs are up to 5 times brighter than a traditional light bulb, and with a 10 year life span there is less time spent tripping over in the dark looking for a torch too! Nowadays, dimmable energy efficient bulbs are also available in a wide range of shops too.
Energy efficient lighting can make your home or business greener and save money in the process.
Energy Saving Tips for Christmas!
November 30th, 2009
I’ve been really neglecting this site over the past few months. Most of the free time I’ve had recently has been spent taking photos for the site which has meant that the development has taken a back seat. I do have a hard disk full of pics though!
Most of the pictures I have will eventually be featured on the site, or on the Turn Off Your Lights flickr group that I have just created – if you have any of your own, please feel free to uploaded them to the group too!
To get the blog going I will be publishing an energy saving tip each day in the run up to Christmas – who needs advent calendars?
If you have any of your own tips that you would like to share on the site then please send them in to info@turnoffyourlights.co.uk
What a waste!
August 13th, 2009The photo for this blog post didn’t need much effort! This is the view from the window of my flat and was taken this week (Sunday 9th August).
The building is an old house that has been converted into office space. The light in this room was left on for almost a week! There is a “For Sale/To Let” sign on the building, so I think the estate agent must have left the light on after showing someone around the property.
We called the number on the board outside the building, but didn’t really get anywhere. The light has been switched off now though.
At last.. a new blog post!
June 29th, 2009It has been a long time since I last updated the blog! I’ve been quite busy over the last few months, but I will hopefully get more chance to work on the site over the summer.
I have still been going out taking pictures of companies leaving their lights switched on. It is quite difficult taking pictures, but I have been reading a book called the Complete Guide to Digital Night and Low-Light Photography
Creating and working on this website has been much more time consuming that I first imagined. It’s good practice though and I’m learning more wordpress, php, and photoshop skills. The SLR Camera
I have nearly finished building the homepage of the main site which I’m pleased with. Up next is writing some content for the main pages!
As ever, please email in or send me links to pictures you have of companies who have left their lights switched at night!
TOYL: Featured on the BBC
February 19th, 2009
This week Turn Off Your Lights was featured on BBC Radio Nottingham. The station recently held the Energy Experiment, to promote energy saving across Nottinghamshire.
Andy Whittaker, the presenter of the breakfast show mentioned this site and encouraged listeners to get online have a look. The clip, which was recorded from the BBC iPlayer, is avialable here:
Turn Off Your Lights – Radio Nottingham
The full results of the Energy Experiment will be released in March, but early signs are that it was a big success. Central Networks who monitor the power consumption, estimate that in the between 9pm to 12pm on Wednesday 18th Feb, 1600kwh of electricity was saved.
I would like to thank the Andy Whittaker for mentioning the site, and also thank the BBC for the link on their website.
Please let me know if you have spotted businesses who are leaving their lights switched on and wasting energy! Take a photo and send them in to be featured on the site. All photos can be sent to: photos@turnoffyourlights.co.uk
Radio Nottingham Energy Experiment
February 18th, 2009
On Wednesday 18th February Radio Nottingham are conducting an energy experiment to see how much energy Nottingham can save – between 9pm Wednesday night and 6am on Thursday morning.
If you would like to take part it’s fairly simple – just avoid using as many electrical items as possible during the above times! The experiment isn’t designed to push people to extremes – just make an effort to turn things off that you don’t really need to be switched on.
The results of the experiment will be revealed in March!
I think that the experiment is a really good idea. Household and business energy consumption could be dramatically reduced across the UK if people used common sense and thought to switch appliances and lights off if they are not needed – if only people at Capital One cared!
Honda: The power of not saving electricity!
February 3rd, 2009A couple of nights ago I went out with my camera. I felt a bit bad, I had praised the Honda garage in Nottingham for turning all of their lights off, but not featured them on the site.
I went back to take a picture of the garage, but it was a bit different compared to a few weeks ago! This time, lots of lights had been left on!
I’m still working out how to take good pictures at night using my new camera, but this picture clearly shows that the building was well lit!
The garage has an office/admin area in the top right hand corner of the building, these lights should definitely have been switched off!
