Power Smart Outreach is actively involved in communities throughout the province, educating and encouraging BC Hydro customers to integrate Power Smart solutions into their daily lives. Here are some easy solutions that residents can implement into their home to help conserve energy and save money.

Computers and Televisions

Turn off your computer or printer when you are not using them. It is much more cost efficient to shut the computer down when you are not using it, and doing so actually reduces wear on your system.

If you must leave your computer on, turn off the monitor when you are not using it.

Equipment

 Use rechargable batteries - they offer both economic and environmental benefits compared to disposable batteries.

Unplug anything electrical that's not in use. Lots of equipment have charges, such as laptops, cell phones and digital cameras. When they are not charging, unplug them, as they continue to draw power whenever they are plugged in.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. As of August 2007, the government of B.C. banned certain electronic equipment from being included in trash collection. The Recycling Council of British Columbia now includes electronic recycling and disposal at “Return-It” locations throughout the province, making it easier to dispose of these materials in a safer and environmentally friendly way.

Heating

Turn down your thermostat and wear a sweater.

Set the temperature to 16 degrees celsius when asleep.

Unplug portable space heaters.

 Lower your heating (and cooling) costs by about 10% with a programmable thermostat.

Kitchen Appliances

Use your toaster oven, microwave or slow cooker instead of your oven - they use less electricity.

Turn the stove or oven off before cooking is done. A burner element can be turned off before cooking is done; it will remain hot for a short time. Ovens can be turned off 15 - 20 minutes before cooking is done.

Lighting

  Use a fixture with a compact fluorescent bulb or an incandescent bulb on a dimmer switch.

 Turn off all the lights when you leave a room.

 Use natural candles. Natural candles can be expensive, but do not buy bargain candles. Dollar store candles are the worst offenders for chemical and lead ingredients.

 Arrange the lighting in a room so you can adjust the lighting level for different uses and times of day.

  If you plan to use lights to decorate during the holiday season, make the switch to LED (light emitting diode) holiday lights.

Recycling

When typing documents, especially drafts, use a smaller font, decrease the spacing between lines, or reformat to keep your document to as few pages as possible.

Always print on recycled paper when doing drafts.

Water

Wash clothes with cold water and hang to dry.

Take a short shower instead of a bath. A five minute shower uses half as much water as a bath. With a low flow showerhead, it can use up to two-thirds less water.

Water-heating is the second-largest energy user in your home, representing about 20% of your energy bill.

Insulate your hot water pipes with pipe wrap or foam to prevent heat loss and keep the savings flowing.

Awater-saving showerhead can reduce your home’s hot water use by up to 15%.

Faucet aerators can reduce the rate of flow through a faucet by up to 40%, saving water and energy.

Fix leaky faucets. They can waste 11,350 litres or more of water per year.

Run your dishwasher and washing machine with full loads.

Power Smart programs have resulted in water savings of 4 billion litres per year in BC. That translates into annual energy savings of $4.9 million.

Want more information on how to be power smart and environmentally friendly?

BC Hydro PowerSmart at Home

Conservation Tips

TIps for the Office

Information was provided by BC Hydro.