Environmental
Energy Saving Practices
Help Reduce Your Emissions With These Summer Energy Saving Tips
...at home
- Keep your air conditioner in the shade. An air conditioner exposed to direct sunlight will use 5 per cent more energy than a shaded one.
- Adjust your air conditioner's thermostat when you go out and shut down your system when you are away for extended periods.
- Turn down the temperature of your water heater to the warm setting (120ºF) for everyday use, and turn it down when you go away.
- Turn off and unplug stereos, radios, TVs, VCRs and clocks when you leave for holidays. These appliances have a stand-by function that uses energy even when they are turned off.
...on the road
- Don't use the air conditioner in stop-and-go traffic and you save on fuel consumption by as much as 20 per cent. Stay cool at highway speeds by using your car's flow-through ventilation.
- Don't idle. Idling for one hour uses 1.4 litres of fuel. If every Canadian motorist avoided idling by only 10 minutes daily, approximately three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions would be avoided every year.
- Remove roof racks and put luggage in the trunk. (Saves up to five per cent of fuel by reducing aerodynamic drag.)
- Gradual starters save money. Avoid flooring the gas pedal from a dead stop. This uses 50 per cent more fuel than gradually pulling away.
- Keep your tires inflated. Under-inflated tires can increase your fuel consumption by five per cent.