Save energy - eco-friendly tips?

I won't be surprised if electricity bill will reach 2,000 pesos.

My husband and I spent around 100 to 150 pesos for electricity per month past months. Compare to that amount, it is quite big jump.  And for me, it is no way. It is too much. The reason behind is simply we moved to the house of mother in law. 

The house has refrigerator, TV, desktop computer and so on, which we did not have. 

My husband and I had been paying minimal per month because we simply did not have much appliances. Our laptop, light, radio and electronic cattle are all that we have. 

In addition, many people come and stay here to see and spend sometime with mother in law. Then, most of all certainly have electronic gadgets such as laptop, smatphone, and so on. So, no wonder why bill will be that expensive. 

Our case is not ecologically friendly neither economically friendly. It is an urgent matter. We have to think and find the way to save energy. So, I try searching any possible actions to save energy and money. 

Knowing energy consumption of each appliances

Without knowing how much we pay for each appliances and gadget, our effort will be wasted. 

Check annual energy consumption of each appliances. It is usually stated in the leaflet of the appliance. If not, we can still check in the website of these companies. 

Annual energy consumption X price of 1kWh = cost

We should not forget that this consumption is just an estimate. 

But it is nice to have idea how much I might pay each appliance.

Refrigerator

One of appliances works 24 hours. Several website cites it is one of appliances which consumes energy and shares tips to save energy consumption. It might be helpful. 

1) Keep proper temperature. 

If it becomes unnecessarily cool, it surely costs. Check temperature. 

Ideal temperature: 

refrigerator: 1 ～5 C
freezer: -18 ～-22C

2) Keep it distance from the wall

At least 10 cm is needed to get the refrigerator cool. You may notice surface of refrigerator is getting hot. It is sign to consume more energy.  It is also not good to place on the top of refrigerator.

3) Not block the air inside the refrigerator

In order to do so, not place any stuff in front of the root of cold blast inside the refrigerator. 

4) Not open the refrigerator often

Then, you may complain you need to open this for getting foods inside. Or in our house, it is used for the small store selling ice. So, every time our customer want to buy ice, we open our freezer 

to get ice. Then how we can stop opening this? Try to minimize the time to open it. 

5) Buy new refrigerator

I do not want to recommend this option much because here is no consideration how much our society consume limited resources. But if we see only  energy consumption, few years uses old refrigerator consumes more energy than new eco-friendly product. Old one will be garbage!  

TV

One of these appliances consumes energy a lot. What we can do is to change the setting the screen. Screen should not be so blight and sounds must be lower. 

Computer

If you won't use your computer more than 90 mins, you better shut off it. This is, I think, widely known. And it is as same as TV, to desaturate　monitor is also effective.  It is better use laptop than desk top computer. Desktop computer consumes about three times higher energy than laptop. But it does not mean nice to use laptop whole day. 

Each region has different distributor. If you live in Metro Manila, you can take a look at this webpage http://apps.meralco.com.ph/appcal 

According to the website of electronic company, 40 percent of electricity will be spend for refrigerator, light, TV and air condition. But in the Philippines where I live, this percentage will be different and electric fan must be one of appliances which consume much energy instead of air condition.

A week ago, electric fan in the house was overheated because it was used more than 24 hours continuously :( It shows how hot it is and how we tried to survive this heat. Now Philippines is in the middle of summer and consumption of energy is peak. 

Therefore, it is nice to think of energy-ecology and economy.    

As a Japanese, I would like to say that Uchimizu is one of good practices to get our surrounding cool without using energy. Uchimizu is sprinkling of water in gardens and streets. There are certain ways to do. When you do Uchimizu, you use recycle water (water was used in kitchen washing foods and so on). It is Japanese traditional practice.
Another way to save energy, is to sleep early and wake up early. Let's try ecological and economical way to survive this heat :)