Energy Conservation Techniques

A low-energy policy allows for a wide choice of life-styles and cultures. If, on the other hand, a society opts for high energy consumption, its social relations must be dictated by technocracy and will be equally degrading whether labeled capitalist or socialist.
~ Ivan Illich

From electricity to petroleum, energy takes a myriad of forms to uphold the perpetual progress of human civilization. Most of the time, when we talk about conserving energy, we impliedly refer to electricity. However, other conventional energy sources, most of which are non-renewable, should also be included when talking about saving energy. Energy conservation techniques can be classified under two broad categories - decreased energy consumption and optimized energy consumption.

In case of the former, energy saving steps are taken to deliberately and consciously cut down on the frequency, duration and amount of energy consumption by being alert to wasteful and unnecessary energy consumption. In case of the latter, the method or medium of energy consumption is manipulated and modified such that energy is consumed more efficiently and optimally to reduce any wastage even without cutting down the consumption. This second way also includes introducing new energy sources into the mainstream as more economic substitutes of conventional energy sources to address energy conservation problems. Continuing in this note, let's take a look at some interesting and practical energy saving techniques.

Techniques of Energy Conservation

Following are some tips, tricks and techniques that can be employed to save power at home, in offices as well as in large industrial establishments. Take a look.

Energy Conservation Techniques for Home and Office

• Use solar powered or other energy efficient water heaters instead of the conventional electric geysers.
• Paint the interiors of your house with a light shade as darker walls absorb more light, compelling you to use high powered light sources which consume more electricity.
• Refrain from keeping hot or even warm food items in your refrigerator as this causes the fridge to consume more electricity. Also, do not keep the refrigerator door ajar for a long time.
• Follow household waste management methods.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) as the latter act as energy efficient light bulbs and give more light but consume way less units of electricity compared to the former.
• During warm weather, try line drying your clothes instead of using your clothes dryer.
• Install energy efficient insulation in your home attic. You may refer to the attic insulation guide on Buzzle to learn how to go about with it.
• Make sure to turn off the lights and air conditioner when you leave the room.
• When buying home and office appliances, make sure that are Energy Star compliant. These are energy efficient appliances that help conserve energy.
• Switch off and unplug all appliances when not in use. Plugged in television sets, DVD players, cell phone chargers, etc. consume energy even when not in use and merely switching them off is not enough. Unplug them for conserving electricity.
• Having shade plants and trees outside the windows, especially the ones where the air conditioners are installed, help keeping the house cool and this decreases the overall domestic energy consumption. Also, the ACs hog lesser power units when they are kept under shade and remain cool. When selecting heating or cooling appliances for your home or office, consider the size of the room where you intend to install them. A bigger-than-necessary appliance wastes more energy.
• Task lighting is an excellent way to save energy, especially in offices, as the lighting is available at the exact place where it is specifically needed, eliminating the necessity for a high power diffused lighting system which illuminates the entire area even when such is unnecessary.

Energy Saving Techniques for Large-Scale Industrial Setups

• Using high-efficiency motors in the relevant industrial processes go a long way in reducing power consumption and costs.
• Lighting retrofit is a good way to conserve energy.
• Installing building control systems, mechanical system upgrades, industrial processing enhancements and metering technologies result in large-scale conservation of energy in industrial setups.
• Adopting industrial processing enhancements, pumping system modernization techniques and demand response improvements also lead to a significant cut in energy costs and consumption.
• Installing an enterprise energy management software for tracking real time use of electricity is an excellent way to gauge how much power is used and what portion of this entire consumption is unnecessary or can be done without. This will help in proper power planning and managing electricity loads with regards to lighting, the HVAC system and backup generators.

All the energy saving techniques mentioned here are easy to implement, especially the ones that are meant for conserving electricity in the house and office. Just a little conscious effort can save oodles of power and drastically slash your electricity bills. With the development of alternative energy sources (such as wind energy, geothermal energy, nuclear energy, biomass energy and photovoltaic systems) to generate and distribute domestic and industrial power, we should look forward to a lot more creative and pragmatic ways to save energy that would change the face of technology and promote the much coveted Green Living conditions that are the need of the hour, what with this global warming thingy breathing down our necks.