05 May 2015 | By Sun International
Learn How to Save Electricity with GrandWest Casino
With South Africa’s electricity crisis making load-shedding a daily challenge, we take a page out of GrandWest Casino’s book and learn how to save electricity.
While it may seem incongruous that the biggest entertainment destination of its kind in South Africa is also big on ways to save electricity, GrandWest has managed to reduce its energy consumption by a staggering 7%, a massive feat when you consider that lights are on at the casino complex 24/7.
How Does GrandWest Save Energy?
Firstly, GrandWest addressed ways to save electricity across its operations. Lighting was obviously the main concern, and through an ambitious lighting retrofit, that saw some 5 000 energy-intensive lamps replaced with high-efficiency LED lights GrandWest immediately achieved a 2% reduction in energy consumption.
Next, GrandWest focused their energy saving efforts on reducing consumption by water heaters, which accounted for about 5% of their energy costs. Heat pump technology was installed at the complex to provide for hot water requirements, reducing GrandWest’s water heating load by a staggering 30%.
How you can use GrandWest’s energy saving tips at home:
- Replace all your lighting with LED bulbs. LED lights are costly but use as little as 3 Watts each, have a 2-year guarantee and last up to 30 years. Practice good habits too, like switching off lights in unused rooms.
- If you don’t have a solar-geyser, there are still some ways to save electricity. Install a geyser blanket and timer to make sure your geyser is running outside of peak times.
- Appliances use most of your household energy, up to 90%. Turn off all unused appliances at the wall – this is known as phantom power and can account for as much as 5% of your energy usage.
- When it comes to big appliances like fridges and freezers, which can amount to at least 20% of your household energy consumption, best practice is to not overload these and to maintain them by regularly defrosting them.
- The same is said for dishwashers and washing machines. Did you know that dishwashers use up to 50% less energy than hand washing (taking into account the water use, and the cost of heating water in your geyser)?
- Another interesting fact: front-loading washing machines are more efficient then top loaders.
- If you can switch from an electrical stove to a gas cooker, do so. Not only will cooking on gas reduce your overall energy consumption, but boiling water on a gas stove is drastically more efficient than using a kettle.
Did you know? Leaving your laptop on and plugged in at home all day can cost you up to R85 per month, while leaving your printer on in sleep mode can cost you almost R70 per month.
Here are 3 energy saving tips that you can use at home today (and won’t cost you a cent):
- Don’t use the vacuum cleaner with a full dust bag.
- Close your curtain to keep warm air in during the colder months and to keep heat out during the hotter months.
- Make one-pot meals and keep lids on pots.
- Don’t fill up the kettle to the top, if you are only making one cup of tea.
For more ways to save electricity, head to www.savingenergy.co.za and follow GrandWest on Facebook and Twitter.