Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2015 | Page 32

TRENDS

Load
Shedding

How to reduce your electricity
consumption

BY MEGAN DIENER

1. Switch off lights you are not using. Use natural light
instead.

Tips on

Reduce your consumption

What you can do when the lights go out
To lessen the impact of load shedding switch off and
unplug all household appliances from plug points. This
prevents a power surge when the power comes back
on, which can damage your appliances. Switch off all
lights.
Power alternatives
Use candles when the lights go out. Other alternatives
include gas, liquid paraffin or a diesel generator.
Green energy, however, is more efficient. Get a doit-yourself kit at your local hardware store and install
small photovoltaic (PV) panels onto the roof of your
home.
These solar panels are connected, via a wire, to a
small rechargeable battery. Some of these kits can
provide power for five energy efficient light bulbs.

Resources
Sharenet have developed a free web-based service that notifies
you of load shedding status changes, the current times it will
affect your chosen area, as well as providing 15-minute warnings
of impending load shedding. For those areas that appear first on
the days’ load shedding schedule, an early warning is provided
to ensure you are not taken by surprise. For more information,
visit the website at sharenet.co.za/loadshedding.
Another web-based service is GridWatch from News24, which
can be viewed on your cell phone or computer. It allows users to
search for a particular suburb or zone and save various locations
as ‘home’, ‘work’ and ‘gym’ to see load shedding schedules
for the week ahead. For more information, visit the website at
loadshedding.news24.com.
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March 2015 SA Real Estate Investor

2. Change your light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lamps
(CFLs), or even better use long-lasting Light Emitting Diodes
(LEDs). LEDs use 85% less energy than incandescent light
bulbs.
3. Switch off all unused appliances, ensuring that none are
left in sleep mode (for example, your computer, TV set,
DVD player and hi fi system etc.) The golden rule is, ‘If
you are not using it, then switch it off.’ When left on, these
appliances use up to 50% of the power.
4. Use less hot water, shower instead of bathing and install an
energy efficient showerhead. Your geyser uses 40% of your
monthly electricity consumption – switch to solar power and
save.
5. Boil only as much hot water in your kettle as you need at a
time.
6. Switch the swimming pool pump off during peak times.
7. When using a heater or air-conditioning system, keep the
room temperature between 18 and 22 degrees.
8. For security lighting, use motion sensor lamps instead of
leaving lights burning all night long.
9. Unplug your cell phone charger.
10. Use solar powered garden lamps.

RESOURCES
Eskom, Sharenet, News24
www.reimag.co.za