Due to the ongoing energy crisis, many people are saving electricity wherever possible. These tips will help you monitor your consumption and reduce it.
Baking cookies, a cozy warm living room, and festive lights: that’s what the Christmas season means to most people. But because of the sharp rise in energy costs, many households are preceding the big splurge this year and striving to save extra energy. This is also shown by a recent Civey survey commissioned by energy provider Eon, of which around three-quarters of Germans (74.6 percent) pay attention to the energy-saving aspect of Christmas lighting, for example.
Here are tips on saving energy without sacrificing the Christmas feeling.
- Christmas Lighting
If you don’t want to do without your festive lights but are still using conventional bulbs for days gone by, you’re looking at substantial potential savings thanks to modern LED lighting. The consumer advice center talks of a five to tenfold reduction in electricity consumption and, for two months of lighting, CO2 savings of more than 20 kilograms if you replace your old-fashioned fairy lights with a modern LED version. This applies to outdoor lighting and the Christmas tree in the living room. Related video: Energy crisis: How cities save electricity during the Christmas season (spot-on-news.de)
To check the actual savings yourself, it’s a good idea to use an electricity meter between the power socket and the string of lights. This is a proven means of locating other electricity guzzlers in the household and, if necessary, replacing them with more efficient alternatives. For Eon Managing Director Jens Michael Peters, this is a sensible approach beyond Christmas: “Transparency about consumption is a prerequisite for understanding: the more precisely you understand what you consume, the better you can take measures to reduce consumption.”
- oven
For many, the smell of cookies mulled wine and the holiday roast is as much a part of the Christmas season as festive lighting. The problem: Compared to the stovetop, an oven usually consumes more electricity. Also, savings can be made here, especially when baking cookies, gingerbread, and the like. “Stiftung Warentest” recommends not just putting individual trays in the oven but several. It also recommends preparing roast dishes in high-quality pots instead of in the oven to save more energy. - TV, Internet, and Co.
For many people, only certain movies on TV ring during the Christmas season. But whether it’s “Kevin, Alone at Home,” “Sissi,” or “Sleepless in Seattle,” even those who don’t want to miss out on these flicks can save electricity. The options range from lower screen brightness to watching on smaller devices, such as a tablet instead of the TV, to downloading videos rather than streaming them via Netflix, Disney+, and the like. Finally, late in the evening, remember to disconnect devices from the power supply entirely instead of letting them eat up power in standby mode.
Always disconnect devices from the power grid
Switching off your appliances completely or disconnecting them from the mains also applies to all other devices. If you’re not at home, you should disconnect your Wi-Fi router, decorative lighting, stereo system, or the power supply units of your laptop, tablet, or smartphone from the power supply. Eon CEO Peters believes that all these tips together can make a difference: “If everyone implements measures, the overall effect will be enormous.
- source: k.at/picture: Bild von Stefan Schweihofer auf Pixabay
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