Energy saving is the rational use of energy.

The State issues special laws for the purposes of saving and efficient use of energy and resources. Enterprises and companies are trying to reduce energy consumption in order to reduce production costs, expenses and increase profits. Apartment buildings save energy so that each of the residents receives utility bill with a minimum amount. Depending on the type of energy, there are different methods that allow you to use this energy more efficiently.

Residential buildings are the largest consumers of electricity in the municipal economy. They annually consume an average of 400 kWh per person, of which approximately 280 kWh is consumed inside the apartment for lighting and household appliances for various purposes and 120 kWh is consumed in installations of engineering equipment and lighting of common premises. Intra-apartment electricity consumption is approximately 900 kWh per year per "average" urban apartment with a gas stove and 2000 kWh - with an electric stove. Therefore, the saving becomes the most important source of production growth.

Calculations have shown and the practice has confirmed that each unit of monetary funds spent for events associated with electricity saving has the same effect as a twice larger amount spent on increasing its production.

Furthermore, due to the periodic increase in electricity tariffs, it is becoming increasingly important to limit the costs. There are many methods for this purpose. Some methods of energy saving in everyday life, associated with new technologies may be expensive for the average consumer. However, there are methods not requiring large costs and special knowledge. We will consider them in detail below.

Tips that will minimize the cost of electricity

1. Replace conventional incandescent bulbs with energy-saving bulbs. Their service life is 5 times longer, and their electricity consumption is 5 times lower. Energy-saving light bulbs are much more expensive than conventional incandescent bulbs, but during operation they are compensated for 8-10 times.
2. Install multi-tariff metering devices. At night, the electricity rate is several times lower than during the day. If you are an "owl" and go to bed late, if you have a delayed start timer on the washing machine — you can really save a lot of money. The refrigerator, which operates around the clock, accounts for a quarter of the energy consumed by household appliances. Two-tariff payment will make its maintenance less burdensome.
3. Install light regulators (dimmers) and choose the lighting intensity of your room. The saving may reach 30% from electricity consumed for lighting.
4. Apply the appliances of energy efficiency class not lower than "A", but better "A+" or "A++". Outdated household appliances consume about 50% more electricity than modern ones.
5. Check the integrity of the wiring. Many apartments have a very old wiring, and its state is not good. Meanwhile, bad contacts are not only a source of short-circuit danger, but also a channel of "leakage" of electricity, which can not be reduced or prevented by any modern energy-saving technologies.
6. Turn off appliances that are in standby mode for a long time. TV sets, music centers, microwave oven and other appliances in standby mode consume energy from 3 to 10 W. For a year, 4 such devices, as well as chargers left in the sockets, will give an additional energy consumption of 300-400 kW/hour.

Example: standard 21-inch TV set in standby mode consumes 297 W/h per day, and 9 kW/h per month.

Music center: almost 8 kW/h.

DVD player: almost 4 kW/h.

A plugged-in phone charger uses energy for nothing, as it still heats up even if the phone is not connected. It is obvious that losses from constantly plugged-in chargers are small compared to other household appliances. However, they belong to switched mode power supply units, and such devices should not work without load. If they are not connected to a mobile phone, laptop or player, then such devices can overheat, fail and lead to a fire.

7. Approximately 30-40% of the electrical energy consumed in the house is taken by the refrigerator. It is required to defrost it regularly. This will give a 3-5% reduction in electricity consumption. It is recommended to place the refrigerator in the coldest place in the room (near the outer wall), away from heating devices. Do not place the refrigerator near a gas stove or a radiator. This increases the power consumption by 20-30%. Do not cover the radiator of the refrigerator, let there be a gap between the wall of the room and the back wall of the refrigerator. This will allow the radiator to cool due to the air layer. Check the cleanliness and tightness of the refrigerator seal - even a small gap increases energy consumption by 20-30%. Cool the food to room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator. Put the food in the refrigerator without piling up in order to ensure the required air circulation in the chamber. Do not open the refrigerator door for no reason and doe not keep it open for too long. Try to set the thermostat in the minimum or middle position during storage of products.
8. Air conditioner. Turn on the conditioner only with closed doors and windows. This saves 10% - 30% of energy.
9. The electric stove is the most wasteful of household electrical appliances. It consumes three times more energy than a TV and twice as much energy as a refrigerator. Choose electric stoves with glass-ceramic or induction panels, they allow to minimize heat loss during cooking and reduce energy consumption. Properly selected dishes will also help to reduce the cooking time, and, accordingly, the amount of energy consumed. It is more economical to cook food on a "slow fire", and it is better to use the residual heat of the burner to bring the dish to readiness. Make sure that the hot plates of the electric stove are not deformed and fit snugly to the bottom of the heated dishes. This will eliminate unnecessary heat and electricity consumption. Do not turn on the stove in advance and turn off the stove a little earlier than necessary for the complete preparation of the dish. Surely you have already encountered the following phenomenon. The kettle is boiling on the stove, the burner is turned off, but the kettle continues to boil. A simple tip: turning off the burner in advance, even before the kettle boils for 2-3 minutes, will save you up to 20% of electrical energy. You can easily determine the moment of disconnection by the characteristic noise of the heated water, which it begins to produce shortly before boiling. Heating the water to a boil will continue after switching off due to the thermal inertia of the hot burner. Do not allow the water to boil violently on the burner turned on at full power, because much less power is enough to boil on a preheated stove.

By the way, using an electric kettle is preferable to boiling water on the stove. The kettle efficiency is 90%, and efficiency of the burners of the electric stove is 50-60%. In this case, using a kettle, you can save up to 40% of electrical energy. In other words, using the same amount of electricity, you can heat almost twice as much water in a kettle to boil as on a stove. An ordinary boiler has the efficiency record. Almost all of the electricity consumed is spent on heating water.

After cooking, one or two burners usually remain hot. You should put cold water on them before pouring it into the kettle or coffee maker. This can save from 10 to 30% of electricity (depending on the temperature of the disconnected burner) during subsequent boiling, since the temperature of the water poured into the kettle will not be 8-10°C (the temperature of cold tap water), but 25-40°C (after heating on the cooling burner). By the way, for cooking both food and tea and coffee, it is advisable to use pre-settled water, and not from the tap. First, when the water settles, it heats up to almost room temperature (and this is about 10% energy savings when it is subsequently boiled). Secondly, the water partially removes the elements that are used in its disinfection (for example, chlorine), which is important for health.

It is recommended to have dishes in the kitchen with a thickened bottom, which is specially designed for cooking on the burners of electric stoves.

Do not use the burners of electric stoves for heating rooms — this is of little use, and the risk of disabling the burner running at idle is high

10. When buying a washing machine, choose the volume of the tank that corresponds to the number of people living at home: the higher the number, the greater the volume. Wash when the drum is fully loaded – so less electricity and water are consumed. In the case of incomplete loading, the machine will consume up to 15 percent more energy, and with an incorrectly selected program, losses will amount to up to 30 percent. Set the optimal and shorter washing program, the result of which suits you. The greatest amount of energy in machine washing is spent on heating the water. Washing at 90° consumes three times as much energy as washing at 40°. At the same time, it is known that the powder dissolves and reacts actively with dirty laundry at 40°.
11. If possible, buy an electric iron with a thermostat and a switch on the handle — these are probably the most economical irons, since they work when they are ironed. When using the iron, try not to twist the electric cord and regularly check its integrity. First iron things that need to be handled at low temperatures, and then increase the heat of the iron as needed. Do not forget to clean the work surface of the electric iron, as this makes it easier to iron and saves energy. Do not over-dry the laundry, as this requires a more heated iron and more time. You can use one "trick" that will reduce costs – this is to use aluminum foil, which is placed under the fabric of the ironing board. The foil does not allow the heat energy to be dissipated, but concentrates it in the ironed fabric.
12. Use local lights when there is no need for general lighting. A multi-lamp chandelier on the ceiling provides lighting for the entire room, but leads to undesirable shadow formation when working at a desk, sewing machine, or in a corner with toys. Targeted lighting, despite the lower power of the lamps, will provide better illumination without unwanted shadows. You should often use a desk lamp, which with a 30-watt bulb allows you to achieve better illumination on the desktop than a chandelier with three or even five bulbs with a total power of watts. The result is a double gain: the preservation of vision and the conservation of electrical energy.
13. Make the combined turning on possible of a chandelier of general lighting – use multi-button switches that allow you to gradually turn on from one to several horns, rather than all at once, depending on your needs.
14. "When you leave, turn off the light" - this golden rule has been known since Soviet times. Given the electricity tariffs, this expression is more than relevant today. Turn off the light, not only leaving the apartment, but also leaving the room for more than 10 minutes. Think about whether you need a TV set in every room turned on? It often happens that the TV set works in the kitchen, in the bedroom and in the living room, and there is only one viewer in the apartment.
15. Equip low-traffic areas in your home (stairwells, vestibules, entrances) with automatic lighting control devices. Switches with a motion sensor, time relays, and presence sensors allow you to reduce electricity consumption in public areas by almost 2 times.
16. Set your home computer to an economical mode of operation (adjust the brightness of the monitor, set the parameters for switching to sleep mode, turning off hard drives).
17. Make the most of natural light – this is one of the ways to reduce the energy consumption of artificial lighting. Keep this in mind and make sure that the window panes in the apartment are clean. Skillfully combine all three types of artificial lighting in the house: general, local and combined. Train yourself for regular, about 1 time a month, wiping of the dust from the lamps, which will ensure both cleanliness and improved lighting in the house.
18. Do not use electric heating units in the house, unless there is an urgent need. It is better to carry out the work on the insulation of windows and doors.
19. Every month, on the same day of the month, take the readings of the electricity meter, compare the electricity consumption in this month with the previous one, analyze why there was a saving (or overspending) of electricity, and draw appropriate conclusions.
20. Do not try to steal electricity. Firstly, it is dangerous, and secondly, know that there is no such way of stealing electricity that would not be revealed by an experienced electrical expert. Keep in mind that with the help of laboratory tests, it is easy to determine whether there has been an interference with the operation of the electric meter.

In general, it is quite possible to reduce electricity consumption by 40-50% without reducing the quality of life and keeping your habits.