:: SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AUTHORITY ::

AM I ENERGY EFFICIENT?

LIGHTING

(1)

Which of the following should be best for lighting up your homes?


Incandescent lamps	CFLs	Florescent lamps

Answer : Incandescent lamps are out of use now. Get rid of them if you still have them at home. CFLs – the most sought after lamp for household applications. Make sure you use the energy star rated lamps. LFLs should be used with electronic ballasts.

(2)

Which shade would be more suitable for energy saving household interiors?

(a)	Lighter Shades
(b)	Darker Shades
(c)	No preference as such

Answer : Lighter shades are best because they reflect light minimising the need to use artificial lighting to illuminate the interior. Darker shades absorb light, therefore it requires more of artificial light to compensate for the absorbed light energy.

(3)

If you were studying in your room at night, which of the following would you do?

(a)	Turn on the room light
(b)	use a table lamp

Answer : Use a table lamp. This is called task lighting. It directs the light in adequate amount to the focal area (in this case the focal area is the book you are reading). If you use the room light instead, it would light up the entire room, scattering light all over, which is a wastage.

TELEVISION USAGE

Tv with LCD screen

(4)

Which of the following actions save energy?

(a)	Switch off the television with the remote controller
(b)	Switch off the television at the ‘on/off’ switch

Answer : Don’t leave TVs, computers on standby mode. They consume energy.

(5)

How many TVs function in your home in the evening?

(a)	Only one set
(b)	Two or more sets

Answer : One should be quite enough for a normal family. Extra TVs means extra energy.

IRONING

(6)

How should you rest the iron while ironing?

(a)	Surface upright
(b)	Surface in contact with the ironing board

Answer : Surface upright. Solid surfaces are generally better at conducting heat than air. Therefore, more heat would be conducted (leaked out) if the iron came into contact with the solid surface than air.

COOKING

(7)

Which of the following stoves is least efficient?

LPG cooker or Kerosene cooker

3-stoned hearth

Improved wood stoves
(Anagi, Lanka Shakthi…etc)

Answer : The 3 – stoned hearths. The LPG cooker is the most efficient. The rest of the stoves have improved efficiencies. They are fuelwood stoves.

(8)

Which utensil conducts heat best and therefore saves the most of energy?

(a)	Stainless steel saucepans
(b)	Clay pots

Answer : Stainless steel. They are better at conducting heat than clay. Therefore they warm up quickly and cook quickly, which is slower in the case of clay pots. But not all foods are advisable to be cooked in stainless steel utensils. Certain food stuff could react with metal. Your mom would know this. Therefore stainless steel utensils should be used as appropriate.

REFRIGERATOR USAGE

(9)

If the refrigerator doors are not airtight, what of the following would it facilitate?

(a)	Air leakage
(b)	Heat leakage
(c)	Air and heat leakage

Answer : Both heat and air leakage. Warm air from outside would creep into the refrigerator through these unsealed spaces and as a result, the compressor would have to work hard to cool the air again. You could check whether the doors are air tight or not by a simple experiment. Open the door, get a ten rupee note and place it in such a way that half of the note will be on the inside, and the half would stick out (jut out). Then close the door with the ten rupee note and try pulling it out while the door is closed. If you could pull it out easily, this means the door seals are not air tight. But if you could not pull it out, then this means that the door seals are air tight. If the door seals are not air tight, please get it fixed.

THERMAL COMFORT

(10)

Which fans is more energy efficient?