Do more than Earth Hour

Earth Hour is a fantastic initiative, which launched in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million people and more than 2 000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. This has grown into an annual global call-to-action, with hundreds of millions of people in an estimated 135 countries worldwide - including South Africa - switching off their lights.

This year Earth Hour is on 31 March this year, which is a Saturday and makes it that much easier to relax in the moody glow of candles and spend time connecting with your family, friends and partner. You can even make an evening of it by inviting everyone around for a braai. Enjoy the last days of summer under the stars with candles and great conversation.

However, saving electricity does not have to be limited to just one hour; there are a number of small changes you can implement in your daily life that can make big changes to saving energy.  Efergy Technologies - manufacturers of energy-saving products – has offered some great energy saving tips:

1. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator and freezer to the optimal temperatures and ensure the energy saver switch is turned on.

2. Set your washing machine to the warm or cold water setting, instead of hot. Only use the machine once you have a full load.  

3. Make sure your dishwasher is full before you run it and use the ‘energy saving’ setting, if available, to allow the dishes to air dry. You can also turn off the drying cycle manually, which will reduce your dishwasher's total electricity consumption by 20%.

4. Turn down the thermostat on your geyser.  

5. Unplug your cellphone charger, TV and other electronics from the wall socket when you are not using them, because they still use energy when on standby.

6. Turn off all lights that do not need to be on.

7. Replace light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs.

8. Take a shower! We know that there’s nothing better than a good soak but you’ll be saving up to 400 litres of water a week.  

9. Fill your kettle and pots with just enough water. It’ll reduce your electricity bill, since you are not using energy to heat water you won’t use.

10. Water your garden early in the morning or in the evening, when temperatures are cooler.

Do you have any energy-saving tips you would like to share with us? Tell us in the comments section below.