Yep, most of us will groan and others will probably cuss at our Meralco bill for July. Meralco is charging us P1 more per kilowatt-hour as omski pointed out. Here’s the Philippine Daily Inquirer article on that, omski 
I’m posting on a weekend, so mommies and daddies and whoever is reading this blog, let’s inspect our homes to see which nook and cranny is consuming more power than it should. These tips come from the Live Green Movement. Sorry, I can’t find their website.
Use rechargeable batteries.
The sticker price is higher but rechargeable batteries will save you 10 to 20 times the cost of buying disposable batteries over and over again and cuts down on toxic trash.
Use a power strip whenever possible.
Live Green Movement means the kind of extension cord with a power switch. Nearly all electronic appliances use standby power even when switched off. A power strip with individual switches for the plugs is even better for multiple appliances not in use at the same time. One that is rated at 3,300 watts, with switches for six plugs and a resettable circuit breaker, is about P900 and is suited for use with multiple appliances.
Use power strips for three main areas in the modern home:
- In the kitchen for the microwave oven, toaster oven, coffee maker and toaster, etc.
- In the entertainment center, for the TV, DFD player and stereo system,
- At the computer workstation, for the PC or laptop, printer, scanner and broadband device can be plugged into one power setting.
- Peripheral devices that are used less often, like printers or scanners, can be plugged into a separate powerstrip, or simply left unplugged until needed. As an added power-saving tip: switch off the PC monitor when performing long tasks that don’t require constant attention (downloading, copying files, defragmenting hard drives, etc.)
Reconsider your screen saver.
It takes more energy for your monitor to display a brighter color, so go with darker images, such as sepia portraits, outer-space photos or nightscapes. If you’ll be away for awhile, simply switch off the monitor!
Be picky with your appliances
Cooking a dish for an hour in the electric oven generates 2.7 pounds of CO2, that same dish creates only 1.3 pounds of CO2, for 50 minutes with a toaster oven, 0.9 pounds for seven hours with a crackpot or slow cooker, and 0.5 pounds for 15 minutes in a microwave oven.
Check your refrigerator regularly.
Refrigerators are the most power-hungry appliance in the home, responsible for thousands of pounds of CO2 annually. Keep the freezer defrosted. Check for cold air leaks by closing the door on a sheet of paper and pulling the sheet along the gasket to find any breach.
Choose an air conditioner with an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 10 or higher.
Clean or replace the filter diligently to save 350 pounds of CO2 and about P7,500 per year in electric bills. Don’t set the temperature too low; keeping it just 2 degrees higher all year can save about 2,000 pounds a year on CO2 and much more on your energy bill.
I have always wanted to be an environmentalist. When I was still studying at UP Diliman, I used to pass by this great natural park four times every year whenever I go home to Bicol. I remember weeping when I saw the landscape suddenly so barren, wincing as I gazed at the wounded sides of the mountains.
But life passed by, and I have taken on a different advocacy: financial literacy. I realize, however, that we can be environmentalists in our ways – and save money in the process!
This NASA handout image recieved 17 July, 2007 shows Grey Glacier as seen from the International Space Station (ISS).
August 3rd, 2007 at 6:10 am
hi qwerty, very interesting. I tried clicking on the link but it didn’t work
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
just got this plausible tip from a forwarded email.
to those who don’t get the point, (not obvious to the average user really,) the monitor or lcd uses pixels to render stuff. think of pixels as little “bulbs” whose use of electricity depend on the color they have to display.
black being the absence of color, (as opposed to white being the presence of all colors,) doesn’t require a pixel to use up a certain amount of electricity because it remains off. when almost everything on the page is black, that translates to a certain amount of conserved energy especially when you factor in the number of times you use google in a year and more so if more people used blackle in a year.
i don’t know how accurate the 750 megawatt/hour per year is and how much the switch contributes to eyestrain though.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:34 am
PBF, Melvin, thanks for dropping by
paetechie, great tips. What kind of dimmer do you use? How much lower is its consumption? By the way, you’ve got a very interesting blog site. Keep it up!
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
qwerty, thanks for the links :). I am “turning green” quite a bit, these past few days, as you can probably see.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:27 am
omski, that’s an interesting idea but the way it works is that companies get the franchise for a certain area the way the water sector industry is also structured. I would have to check with my source on this, unfortunately he has resigned last week haha. (LOtilla). I am not sure if Angelo Reyes can immediately answer. Last I heard, when a reporter asked him about DENR issues a week after he resumed office there, he said “Are you trying to make me look like I dont know what I’m doing?” It was in good jest of course, hehe.