Use electronic appliances efficiently in summer

Electricity consumption peaks during the daytime in summer and might end up giving you a 'shocking' bill. However, there are ways to ensure that you are using your electronic appliances intelligently and efficiently.

Divyan Gupta, CEO, Gizmofashion.com, has shared some tips to go low on energy consumption.

Air Conditioners:

* Try to keep the temperature at 24° C or more.

* Using fans instead of ACs reduces consumption by approximately 50 percent. Using a ceiling fan will make the air feel up to six degrees cooler.

* Usage of bamboo blinds to absorb sunlight helps reduce energy consumption by approximately 10 percent.

Refrigerators:

* Don't overload your refrigerator as that puts more pressure on it to cool

* Avoid opening the refrigerator door repeatedly and don't leave it open for extended periods. Every time your refrigerator opens, cool air escapes and must be replaced causing the refrigerator motor to work harder

* Make sure the door seals are in good condition and are closing properly when you close the door. Otherwise escaping cool air would mean more work for the refrigerator to cool the insides.

* Ensure that the temperature in your fridge is set to 'medium' and not 'strong'.

Lights and other appliances

* Turning off lights especially those you don't need help you reduce energy consumption by approximately 5 percent.

* Use CFLs instead of standard incandescent lighting as they use three quarters less electricity while generating 75 percent less heat.

* Turn off appliances at the main switch rather than through remote which keeps the appliances on standby power mode.

* If using a dishwasher, use it once it gets full. An automatic dishwasher requires the same amount of hot water and electricity to wash a partial of full load.

--IANS

sug/rb/bg