How can you save money despite the power consumption?

The energy situation for the coming winter will probably be less comfortable than we are used to. Bottlenecks are at the door, at worst the government can pull the plug on us with restrictions. In addition, we can expect very high price increases next year – we feel the energy being wasted (wasted) in our wallets more than ever.

Therefore, it is useful to take a closer look at our consumption. According to the Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), we need particularly large amounts of electricity throughout the year for lighting (13 percent), cooking (11 percent), refrigerators (10 percent) and tumble dryers, consumer electronics and appliances. dishwasher (9 percent each). The washing machine has an 8 percent share.

The kilowatt-hour check (see box) shows which device actually consumes how much. That means you can charge your cell phone 100 times or cook pizza twice with the energy needed for a quick, warm shower. If you want to know exactly, you can install an ammeter.

How easy and how much savings we can now save on a normal day, from the morning toilet to the washing up of the dinner at home, is illustrated in the diary of the imaginary average Swiss Daniel (42). He is an accountant, single and works from home three times a week. The annual average consumption as a single-person household in an apartment is around 1800 kWh. (For comparison: a two-person household consumes 2750 kWh, a four-person household consumes 3850 kWh, according to SFOE.)

07:00: Breakfast

Daniel’s is nothing without coffee. He needs two glasses in the morning. He still uses his old fully automatic machine for this, but because it is in standby, it consumes a lot of electricity when not in use. The new, energy-efficient coffee machines have an automatic shut-off function that saves up to 60 percent electricity. Important: When purchasing, choose at least A+ energy efficiency class according to the energy label.

Daniel is handing out two sandwiches with his coffee. Butter from the 5 °C refrigerator does not disintegrate immediately, which is a sign that the refrigerator is set too cold. According to experts, 7 °C is sufficient for most foods. Two degrees less cooling reduces power consumption by at least 12 percent. Daniel’s refrigerator also consumes electricity unnecessarily due to various icings. These increase power consumption by up to 15 percent. This is where defrosting the fridge and freezer twice a year helps.

07:30: Morning toilet

Go to the shower. Daniel does a lot of things here. Showering takes much less energy than bathing in a tub: 15 liters per minute (Daniel takes a 5-minute shower, that’s 75 litres), a full bath needs 120 to 150 liters. But Daniel could have achieved even more: If he had just stood under the shower for three minutes instead of five, 30 liters of water could have been saved. It is the optimum economical shower head. This means that only 6 liters of water flow through the pipe instead of 15 liters per minute. Other tips: When soaping and shampooing, turn off the water and only take a warm shower instead of a hot one. Another tip would be to not shower once a week (for example, when working from home).

08:00: home office

It’s an overcast day, so Daniel leaves the lights in the entire apartment on, even though he spends almost all of his time in his office until lunchtime. Turning off the lights continuously in unused rooms also has a substantial saving effect. If you like its convenience, you can buy a motion detector. It would also make sense for Daniel to convert all light sources to LEDs, which would save at least 80 percent of the energy. The accountant, on the other hand, does a lot when it comes to warming up. He decided to permanently lower the room temperature by one degree.

Fly: Here you can learn more about saving on light and heating – and why sealing windows is important.

10:00: wash

During a short break, Daniel runs a wash drum. The most important rule here: Only start the washing machine when it is sufficiently full. If it’s only half full, it uses more water than necessary. In most cases, a temperature of 30 to a maximum of 40 degrees is sufficient. Newer models have economy or eco programs: These usually run longer but use less water.

Since it is no longer warm enough outside and it is quite humid, Daniel dries the clothes in the dryer. Here too it is important to fill the drum well, so fewer passes are required over the course of a year. In the warm season, it is definitely worth hanging up to dry in the fresh air on a rope as much as possible.

12:00: Lunch

Since Corona, Daniel has become more and more used to cooking himself. However, he is not familiar with all the energy-saving tricks. For example, the simplest of all tips: Close the lid of the pot and you can save a third of the energy. Glass covers are particularly good. So you always have your eye on the food and you don’t have to open the pot every time, which wastes energy.

After dinner, Daniel decides to put the leftovers in the fridge for the next day. Drains it from the still hot pan into a Tupperware and puts it in the fridge. However, in terms of energy savings, it would be better to let the food cool first at room temperature or on the windowsill so that the refrigerator does not need additional energy to cool the leftovers.

Tip for the faucet: Here so-called aerators help save water.

15:00: Tea break

Daniel always drinks his tea at 3 o’clock. For this, he boils water in a pan. There is always something that grows, throws it away. The kettle will be more energy efficient, especially if only enough water is heated for the tea.

17:00: Christmas lights

Suddenly, the light came on on the balcony in front of Daniel’s living room window. The Christmas lights were on. Daniel has been using this traditional array of lights for balcony railings for years and has fitted a timer that allows the plumbing to turn off again at 11:00 pm when he goes to bed. However, when it comes to saving electricity, it would be even better to rely on LEDs and the huge savings potential mentioned above. An example: LED Christmas lights that burn 6 hours a day for a month (i.e. 180 hours total) consume no more electricity than drying hair for 22 minutes. Good to Know: LED Christmas lights are available for indoor and outdoor use.

18:00: Closing time

Around 6 pm Daniel leaves his home office. Turns on the TV without actually looking, so as not to be too quiet in the apartment. Instead, she folds the washed laundry and does other household chores. He also leaves the computer running after work because he wants to check back later if an Excel list he needs for the next day has arrived. The computer also hangs overnight because Daniel is too lazy to restart the computer every day. However, you can save a lot by constantly turning it off. A switched socket array is ideal so that all devices used in the office can be easily turned off at the same time.

19:00: Dinner

Daniel open. Not wanting to eat leftovers from lunch or cook something new, he decides to put a frozen pizza in the oven. It preheats the oven. But that’s not really necessary: ​​Modern appliances heat up so fast that preheating isn’t worth it—that saves 20 percent. It’s also important to constantly use convection while cooking, so you can save up to 15 percent more energy per batch of pizza. Another tip: turn off the oven 5 minutes before the end of cooking, it’s still enough for the pizza to be crispy. Also: Don’t open the door too often to look inside. About 20 percent of the energy is lost each time.

19:30: Washing the dishes

One thing Daniel learned: Always prime the dishwasher well before running it, so it doesn’t use it every day. But it always relies on the normal program for rinsing. Even better with the Eco function, because the machine needs almost twice as much electricity as the normal program requires the water to be heated faster and more intensively.

20:15: Netflix evening

Daniels TV is now planning to catch a few episodes of her favorite show on Netflix, after running for about two and a half hours as a background show only. However, it would be better to focus on the targeted use of the device. Also, the same applies to the PC in the office: turn it off completely after use! Otherwise, the television will continue to consume electricity even in standby mode.