Sustainability

Electric power

You can save a great amount of electric energy by adopting a responsible behaviour and the so-called “good practices”, such as:
• turn off the lights in those rooms you are not occupying
• choose lamps with a low number of bulbs (for the same light produced, lamps with more bulbs consume more energy as compared to the ones with only one bulb);
• position the fridge or freezer in ventilated areas, far from heating sources;
• regulate the thermostat of fridges or freezers at intermediate level (colder temperatures mean a useless increase of consumption by 10-15%)
• for washing machines, whenever it is possible, use low temperature washings
• for television sets, video-recorders, and electronic devices avoid keep the stand-by on
The adoption of these simple rules, that does not require economic investments, allow to save up to 10-20%. Significant energy savings can be obtained by replacing common devices with high-efficiency ones (in western Countries domestic appliances consume almost 50% of the total electric energy produced). It is possible to act on the lighting system and on domestic appliances. With regard to lighting, replacing incandescent lamps with low consumption lamps (an efficient lamp is the one that consumes less energy to obtain the same light) reduces light consumption by around 80% (in Italy 13.5% of electric energy is consumed for household lighting and a good behaviour in this sense can result in a significant consumption reduction). With regard to domestic appliances, it is possible to buy high efficiency domestic appliances. Fridges, freezers, washing machines and dishwashers carry an energy label. These labels have become compulsory due to a community directive and define seven energy efficiency classes that rank from A (low consumption) to G (high consumption). High-efficiency domestic appliances can consume up to a third of the electric energy consumed by the other appliances. The modern models (fridges, dishwashers, washing machines) allow to save up to 74% of the energy consumed.