Save $100 Million on Energy by Loosening Tie
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Gentleman, loosen up your neckties and save the country more than 95 billion won (about $100 million) per year. Here's the thrifty equation: Undoing the tie cools you down by two degree Celsius, which cuts billions of won in energy costs. All this may become necessary because the mercury is already inching up fast with the early summer heat.
With record-high oil prices and predictions of a long and scorching summer season, the Korea Energy Management Corporation (KEMCO) Tuesday stressed the importance of energy saving and highlighted some tips to keeping cool economically.
And losing the tie was singled out as one of the simplest everyday practices.
``Because a tie-less fashion makes you feel less hot, you can raise the air conditioner's target temperature by about two degrees Celsius,'' said a KEMCO official. ``The energy that's saved by doing this equals to about 95.4 billion won.''
An easy household habit is to unplug unused appliances because the standby power gobbled by items, including rice cookers, toasters, computers and irons, adds up.
``About 11 percent of the total amount of household energy consumed gets wasted through standby power. Each home can save about 30,000 won per year by unplugging,'' said the official.
The national energy body also pointed out that one air conditioner uses energy equivalent to 30 fans, therefore upping the target temperature and using a fan together can reduce about 10 percent energy usage.
Some of the other easy-to-do tips include maintaining an air temperature of 26 to 28 degrees Celsius while limiting the indoor and outdoor temperature difference at just five degrees, switching off bright lights during daytime and using energy-efficient home appliances.
The afternoon hours were those gulping down the most power because the heat gets stronger after midday.
``It's smart not to use other high-powered goods such as microwaves, vacuum cleaners and so on,'' said the energy expert, adding that cleaning out air conditioner filters once every week can also keep the cooling gadget about five percent more efficient,
``Running elevators to every other floor and turning off office lights and computers during lunch hour are some cost-cutting measures for the workplace,'' said the official.