Released June 19, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Chances are, if your dad taught you to turn out lights when you left a room, you'll keep up the practice as an adult. At least that has held true for Trish Ouei.
"Energy conservation is a real concern of mine, and I'll have to admit that this is my dad's fault," says Ouei, extension stormwater educator for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. "He raised me to always turn the lights off when I left a room, and to never leave a door open, even if I was just going to walk back inside in seven seconds!"
Ouei says those early energy conscious lessons have stayed with her, and they have affected her life and decisions.
"As my husband and I have upgraded and remodeled our house, we have been very careful with our purchasing. To start with, we replaced all the windows with energy saving windows. This cut our electric and heating bills a good amount, and we got a tax credit for buying Energy Star windows."
Ouei replaced a couple of light fixtures with fixtures that are Energy Star rated. Most of the light bulbs in her house have compact fluorescent bulbs that use a fraction of the energy of an incandescent bulb, while the providing the same amount of light.
"You probably don't think about items that are turned off and still use energy, but many of them do," she says. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off.
Energy savings tips
- Plug in your cell phone charger only when you're charging your cell phone.
- Turn off your computer when you're not using it, including the monitor.
- Turn off the monitor if you're not going to be around your house or apartment for a few days.
- Leave the toaster oven and can opener unplugged until you need them.
- When going on vacation, unplug as many electronic devices as you can.
- Plug in lamps and alarm clocks in the guest room only when guests are coming.
"And don't forget to close the windows and doors when the air conditioner is running," says Ouei. "Dad always said that leaving the door open was not going to make the outside any cooler. One way or another, his points came across, and I am an energy conscious person because of it."
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http://www.uaex.edu/news/june2009/0619energy_conservation.htm
Writer: Elizabeth Fortune, (501) 671-2120, efortune@uaex.edu
