Household electricity saving tips

Having grown up in the Bushveld, a place of extremes, we did not only face minus 0 temperatures in winter, but had to deal with extreme heat in summer. I clearly remember the days when we, as kids took an afternoon nap on the cement floors in our house, as it was the only cool place (Bushveld summers easily reach temperatures of 40+ degrees in summer). No air conditioners, or fans even as we did not have electricity.

A couple of years later my dad upgraded to gas. I remember some winters where the gas froze in the pipes outside and we had to warm up the pipes so that my mom could cook breakfast on the gas stove.

It was only around 1980 that we first got electricity. All of a sudden we had the luxury of lights, deep freezer and Television.

I think the energy crises in Cape Town and other cities in South Africa came as a big shock to many people as they never experienced having to cope without electricity. Whether we are hot or cold, we just flip a switch and do not suffer any discomfort. One thing that remained from my childhood days is a saving awareness, which I think many modern children and even Adults lack, and this brings me to the following points in this article.