Do a juicer or a mixer with a blunt blade have anything to do with an escalating electricity bill?

Is there anything really important one should know about a rechargeable emergency light for it to have a fairly good battery life? “Yes,” say energy conservation experts.

The focus of a session on ‘Energy conservation’, jointly organised by the Regional Science Centre (RSC) and a city-based progressive residential forum Niravu Vengeri here on Wednesday, was a series of such ‘dos and ‘don’ts about energy conservation. “Saving energy is saving money,” said Thomas John, RSC’s Technical Assistant, who led the session for group of 35 housewives from the city.

The participants were given instructions on a variety of things that will help them consume less energy at home. This included handling electricity, cooking gas and other forms of fuels effectively. With live demonstrations on the use of various home appliances such as gas stove, mixer, and refrigerator, Mr. John explained the difference awareness can make in conserving energy.

Also, the participants were told about the need to be “amateur electricians”, who can fix minor power problems themselves, as seeking an electrician’s services was a tough task nowadays.

Most of such problems including reconnecting a fuse, reinstating a tripped lever on the power distribution board, and changing the brush of a defective juice-maker can be solved by such amateur electricians if they were given a little training, said Mr. John.

According to him, most people do not know how much cooking gas will be wasted if the burner on the stove is not cleaned properly. “Similarly many don’t know a juice-maker will get tripped automatically if the load is excess in the jar,” he said.

For the rechargeable emergency lamp, discharging is as important a procedure as charging it is. “Keeping an emergency lamp for a long period without discharging the power will surely damage it,” he said.

The participants were also given training in first-aid for an electric shock, besides the basics of electronics as well as some elementary repairing lessons of electronic gadgets during the programme. “They will be used as resource persons in the future to spread further awareness among households about energy conservation, said A.P. Sathyan president of Niravu Vengeri.

Huong Truong